Hi.
Eric Bakker, a naturopath from New Zealand.
Thanks for coming back.
Every now and then I get a great question from someone and then I wonder whether the
person is nine years old or 90 years old, or 19 years old.
Who knows?
"Eric, why doesn't my poo float?"
Isn't that a good one?
You'd expect a three year old to say that.
There are many reasons why a stool won't float, but a healthy stool is like an iceberg, all
right.
And if we look at an iceberg it's going to partially float, but most of it will be underwater.
So if we get a piece of paper, and we draw an iceberg ... Have you all thrown a piece
of ice in a cup of water and seen what happens?
I'm sure you all have.
So if we look at an iceberg, we will see ... Oh, there we are.
We'll see that the iceberg predominantly sinks, but a little bit floats above the water.
Now that's what a healthy stool looks like too, it should look like that.
That means that the stool has got the right amount of fiber in it, and the correct amount
of water in it for it to form a healthy stool, to just bob in the water like that.
It can float a tiny bit higher, like 50% above water and 50% under, but it shouldn't float
on top of the water and have nothing under it, okay?
That's not really good, that's often a sign of poor fat absorption and gallbladder problems
can have that sometimes or liver diseases, especially if it's a light colored stool.
And if it sinks to the bottom of the pan it usually means that it's either very compressed
or lacks sufficient water.
It's all hard and compacted, not enough fiber and it will sink.
So sinking stools can mean you've got something wrong with the colon generally, but also the
small bowel potentially.
So make sure that you chew food properly and that you're relaxed when you eat your food.
You could be eating under stress or watching a screen of some sort, which is not a good
idea.
Sinking stools, my first question is, how much fiber are you eating?
Are you eating sufficient fruit and vegetables, are you chewing properly, are you drinking
enough water?
Now look at the shape of the stools, are the stools skinny or are they fat?
Do they come in long pieces?
Do you have to do multiple trips to the bathroom to fully empty out?
So all these things, I ask patients these questions and then dissect these questions
and try and work out why the stool is the way it is.
Now here's an interesting one you may not be aware of, but the digestive system is superbly
affected by stress.
Every tiny little thing that goes through your mind will affect your autonomic nervous
system, the sympathetic or the gas pedal, parasympathetic or the brake.
So every thing that you're thinking about will have some effect on accelerating or braking
stress responses in the body, which have the direct impact on the bowel.
All right?
The biggest nerve that relaxes our body is called the vagus nerve.
Now that connects parts of our brain with our digestive system, our heart and our breathing
in particular.
So the relaxation response is very, very important for your digestive system to work effectively,
very important.
And many people with skinny stools that sink, for example, could suffer more from anxiety
or stress or tension.
These can be people that are wound up like a top, they can't relax.
Relaxed people, in my opinion, have got bigger poos, uptight people have got skinnier poos.
This is just from personal experience.
So look at the type of personality where look how relaxed you are, look how stressed you
are, look how quick you eat, look at the types of foods that you eat.
Look at other symptoms that may be produced like bloating, burping, constipation, diarrhea,
gas, nausea, heartburn, all of these things could be telltale signs that something's not
right internally, that needs investigating.
Often a stool test will show these sort of things, but an inquiring physician, who works
with someone like you, who asks all the right questions, will often get to the bottom of
the problem.
And in many cases, it's a simple change of lifestyle or attitude or diet that can correct
things like this, all right?
In many, many cases.
But then again, we also don't know your name or your age or anything, okay?
All I've got is, "Why doesn't my poo float?"
So I need to know your age, what type of work you do, are you a student?
Do you go on Xbox?
Are you a PlayStation person?
Do you gamble?
What kind of job have you got?
You know what I mean?
All these questions, so they will come into it.
So the poo shouldn't float, remember?
But it shouldn't sink, it should sort of be halfway.
One good bowel motion per day is the norm for most people, when you've got multiple
motions we need to understand why this is occurring too.
There could be many reasons why, and for many people it's either not eating properly or
eating too much food or eating at weird times.
Again, this comes into habits.
So, I hope that gives you a little bit of insight into the poo floating saga and if
you've got any more questions regarding this, feel free to ask.
So I hope that answers that question.
Thank you very much.