Yes, You Can Probably Poop Better. Here’s How

A few small steps can make your toilet time smoother, faster, and more comfortable.

September 12, 2025

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Picture it: You wake up, have a cup of coffee, and head to the toilet for a smooth bowel movement. Then you get on with your day.

Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? For some people, this is a daily occurrence. For others, it feels like an out-of-reach fantasy. Instead, going to the bathroom is painful or uncomfortable, irregular, and unsatisfying.

Julia Barten, DPT, a physical therapist at the Stanford Pelvic Health Center, calls the aforementioned ideal a unicorn poop, or “a well-formed stool. It’s the right time, it’s the right moment. You sit down, relax, and everything just happens.”

There are a handful of habits that increase the chances of having regular easy and complete-feeling bowel movements, like getting seven to eight hours of sleep per night, prioritizing fiber-rich foods, moving your body daily, and managing stress levels. But sometimes you do all that and still, no dice. So we asked two experts: Is there anything you can do in the moment to make pooping feel better? Here’s what they said.

Hold back until you feel the urge

It’s important to wait until you really have to go and not a second sooner, Barten says. You don’t want to wind up sitting on the toilet for too long as it could give you even more gut trouble. “If you have an abdominal cramp or sensation where you think a bowel movement might be coming soon, but it’s not quite the right time, you can’t force the gut to have a bowel movement before it’s actually ready,” she explains.

So how do you know when it’s really time to go? You should feel some pressure in your bum that needs to be released—a sensation that makes you think, “Oh, it’s coming soon,” says Barten. That’s your cue it’s time to find a bathroom.

And if you ignore that call because you’re in a meeting or stuck on a highway? This isn’t a big deal if you do it every so often, but try not to make it a habit. “Chronic deferring of urges over time can lead to stretching of the rectal wall, which may decrease your awareness of future urges and lead to bowel problems,” says Barten.

Do some gentle stretches

You can do a few small exercises a couple of minutes before you head to the bathroom (or while you’re literally on the toilet to speed things up). First: Give your belly a little massage—Barten recommends rubbing in a clockwise direction or stroking the lower left side of your abdomen, which is where poop travels down your colon. This doesn’t push it out, per se, but it stimulates the descending colon to promote motility. Twisting your body from side to side, per this guide on yoga poses for digestion, compresses and stimulates your colon to move things along.

Get into the right position

Once you’re ready to go, arrange your body for the best results. What does that look like? Just as it would if you were going to the bathroom in the middle of the woods. Squat with your torso slightly forward and your knees a bit higher than your hips. Sitting with our feet flat on the floor causes the rectum to bend like a hose with a kink, which makes it harder for waste to flow, says Roshini Rajapaksa, MD, a gastroenterologist with NYU Langone Health, tells SELF. When your knees are raised, “it’s like a straight tube as opposed to a tube that’s bent,” making it easier for everything to pass through.

This is where the viral Squatty Potty—or something like it—comes into play. (Yes, they are scientifically proven to help.) Slide a stool (like this fancy one, or any of these) under your feet so your knees are above your hips, Barten says. Even a mini trash can can work—anything that prevents your legs from resting at a 90-degree angle.

Take some calm, deep breaths

Next, relax your body. Doing so can help ease tension in your pelvic floor and abdominal muscles. When those areas are tight, there’s less room for stool to squeeze by, Dr. Rajapaksa says. When they’re calm and loose, your brain sends a signal to your rectum that it’s time to open the gates.

To get there, Barten recommends practicing deep, gentle diaphragmatic breathing while on the toilet. Don’t overthink it: Just take 5 to 10 gentle, deep inhales and exhales. You want to imagine air traveling from your nose, through your stomach, and out of your bottom, Barten says. Barten also recommends lifting one knee to your chest and then repeating the exercise with the other knee to open up the pelvic floor, or doing any of the pre-pot stretches listed above.

Push—but don’t strain

If nothing’s happening, don’t force it. Yes, you want to squeeze slightly, but it’s best to avoid straining. To push properly, engage your abdominal muscles and, as Barten sings in her parody of the Spice Girls called Wanna Poo, “breathe and bear down and start to feel it crown.” A few clues you’re overdoing it: You’re holding your breath, squirming around in discomfort, or your sphincter is clenching (remember, the goal is for everything to relax).

The ideal push, according to Barten, should feel more like passing gas. “Imagine you’re in a quiet room and you want to pass gas very quietly so that no one hears,” says Barten. That’s the ticket.

Don’t linger on the pot

Barten says you shouldn’t hang out on the toilet for longer than 5 to 10 minutes. “If nothing’s happening, try later,” Dr. Rajapaksa advises. Sitting in that position for too long can stress your anal blood vessels and up your risk of hemorrhoids. If things still won’t budge, and you’re not going to the bathroom more than three times per week, here are four remedies that can help ease constipation.

Keep unnecessary wiping to a minimum

In a perfect world, you won’t need to use a half-roll of toilet paper each time you go. “You should be able to wipe with one or two pieces of toilet paper and be clean,” Dr. Rajapaksa says, as too much can agitate or even break the skin around your anus. “That can be painful and irritating or it could bleed, but also those tiny breaks in the skin could let bacteria enter and cause infection,” says Dr. Rajapaksa.

If you struggle with repeated swiping, consider wet wipes. (Just be sure to throw them away—don’t flush, as doing so can clog pipes.) And whether you’re using wet or dry, don’t forget to wipe front to back to avoid giving yourself a urinary tract infection. If you really want to up your bathroom experience, you can try a bidet, which is a plumbing fixture (you can usually install yourself) that can eliminate the need for toilet paper in general and be gentler on your skin and anus. See our favorite bidets here.

Instill good “maintenance” habits

Ideally, your poop should come out looking like a long, single, smooth sausage, or something that looks like corn on the cob. If you’re backed up, bloated, have to wipe endlessly, or notice that your bowel movements are soft, sticky, or loose, pay attention to how much fiber you’re eating, as taking in too much or too little can cause issues. (Women should aim for 25 to 30 grams per day, while men should take in 38 grams per day). Look at your water intake too, as dehydration can slow things down. Aim for roughly 8 to 10 cups a day, or as much that makes your urine light yellow.

A sedentary lifestyle is also a recipe for constipation, and as Dr. Rajapaksa says, the more you move, the more your colon moves. Finally, if things seem off—if you’re in pain or constantly have diarrhea—then it might be time to talk with a gastroenterologist. They can run some tests to figure out what’s going on and recommend tips or treatments to get your bowels running smoothly again.