Pooping isn’t generally thought of as the most polite happy hour or dinner party conversation. But it’s high time we talk sh*t a bit more, because a lot of us are having far too few bowel movements.
Chronic constipation has been correlated withchronic inflammationthat can increase disease risk as well asmental health conditionssuch asanxiety and depression. But there’s still a lot we don’t know about thegut-brain axis, or the relationship between our digestive health and our cognitive health.
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While they might seem to have zero things in common, a healthy GI tract can significantly impact our long-term capacity to think, learn, reason, solve problems, make decisions, pay attention and remember, a new study suggests.
Chronic constipation—or pooping less than every 3 or more days—has been linked to 73% higher risk for perceived cognitive decline, according to a first-of-its-kindstudythat dives into how constipation might affect the aging mind that was presented July 19, 2023 at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Amsterdam.
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What This Brain Health Study Found
“Our body systems are all interconnected,“Heather M. Snyder, Ph.D., Alzheimer’s Association vice president of medical and scientific relations explains in anAlzheimer’s Association press release. “When one system is malfunctioning, it impacts other systems. When that dysfunction isn’t addressed, it can create a waterfall of consequences for the rest of the body. Still, there are a lot of unanswered questions about the connection between the health of our digestive system and our long-term cognitive function.”
This study set out to try to help answer more of these outstanding questions, in hope of inching the medical community closer to novel therapies and potential solutions forhow to reduce riskfor Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, Dr. Snyder adds.
Dr. Ma and her team collected data on each participant’s bowel movement frequency during 2012 and 2013, and then asked individuals to complete self-assessments about their cognitive function from 2014 to 2017. They then measured objective cognitive function via tests between 2014 and 2018. A total of 12,696 participants completed all three of those categories.
Those who pooped more than twice per day seem to be at higher risk for earlier cognitive decline, too, but less so than the cohort who was constipated.
Individuals who had fewer of certain kinds of “good” bacteria in their gut had less frequent bowel movements and seemed to have less-sharp brains, too.
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The Bottom Line
A new study hints that, over time, pooping less than once every 3 days may do a number on your brain health. This research does not prove that constipation causes cognitive decline or more rapid brain aging, but it does suggest a link. More studies are required to identify why this happens, and to discover if there’s any causal link involved in this gut-brain axis connection.
Until we know more, it’s important to keep in mind that there are several totally normalreasons you’re constipated. But if you are, it’s best to try to get your system back on track so you can lower the chances of having to deal with bloating—and possible brain health collateral damage. Torelieve constipation fast:
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