Right now, you or somebody you know is constipated. At least, that’s statistically speaking, with 1 in 7 adults estimated to be affected at any given moment.
Women unfortunately bear the brunt of this, experiencing constipation two to three times more often than men, thanks in part to hormones like progesterone, which slow the gut down.
Whoever's suffering, though, it's no bueno for their gut health. Digestion runs on one simple principle: waste is meant to leave the body, not linger inside it.
There’s no single ‘correct’ number of bowel movements – anything from three a day to three a week falls within the normal range, and dropping below that is one classic sign of constipation. But frequency is only part of the picture.
“Most think constipation simply means infrequent bowel movements or hard stools, but it is more than that,” explains Prof Purna Kashyap, gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic.
