The Art of Digestion: Your Complete Daily Routine For Better Bowel Movements

When I wrote about the viral 7-second poop routine recently, it got me thinking about how the best routine for healthy bowel movements isn’t a quick practice you do once in the morning and then forget about. 

Digestion is a complex process that interacts with the other systems and processes in your body throughout the day. When it’s working well, you’re more likely to have healthy, regular poops. So the best “poop routine” is really more like a daily way of living that supports optimal digestive function. 

This isn’t to say that you need to be thinking about your bowel movements all day long. But when you support an overall healthy gut and digestive system, you’re encouraging better poop. With that in mind, I wanted to walk you through how to create your own complete daily routine for better digestive health (and bowel movements). Let’s take a look. 

Morning Routine: Set the Tone 

Your morning routine can make a huge difference when it comes to digestion. I also find that the more I follow my healthy habits in the morning, the more I’m able to keep that momentum up throughout the day. 

Hydrate

Drinking a full glass of water in the morning helps you both rehydrate after overnight dehydration and stimulate your digestive system to wake up. I recommend warm or room temperature filtered water, and if desired, you can add a squeeze of lemon or a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to further encourage your digestive system to start moving. 

Make sure to also drink plenty of water and stay hydrated throughout the day! Dehydration is more common than most people realize, and is one of the simplest and most prevalent causes of constipation. 

Move Your Body

Getting your body moving in the morning also helps to get your bowels moving (it also helps to reduce stress and inflammation, and sets a positive tone for the day ahead). (1) You don’t necessarily have to do your most intense physical activity or workout in the morning—work this into your day wherever it feels best for you. But it’s great to at least stretch or practice a few minutes of yoga in the morning to stimulate motility. 

Breathe

Start your day mindfully with a few rounds of deep breathing. This can help to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (your rest and digest mode) for better digestive function, vagus nerve function, and less stress throughout the day. And as the day goes on, you can come back to your breath—even just for a minute or two—to keep up the tone of mindfulness and calm. 

Drink Coffee (Mindfully) 

Coffee has always been controversial in the health space. At the end of the day, it really comes down to the individual. There are potential health benefits to drinking coffee, but for some people and at some times, it can trigger or worsen digestive issues. It’s all about listening to your body.

If you do tolerate caffeine, a cup of black coffee after your full glass of water can help to further stimulate your bowels. If your digestive system is a bit more sensitive but you still tolerate caffeine, it’s best to consume it with or after food. 

Mealtime Routine: Find a Rhythm 

From a truly holistic perspective, it’s important to consider not only what you eat but when and how you eat. Here are a few considerations for your mealtime routines. 

Breathe First

In order to properly digest our food, the nervous system needs to be in its parasympathetic, or “rest and digest”, mode. But when we’re stressed out, rushed, or eating on the go, the nervous system is often in sympathetic (“fight or flight”) mode—which shuts down digestion and other functions to focus on protecting us from danger. Taking a moment to slow down and breathe before you start to eat can help to transition your nervous system into parasympathetic mode, turning digestive function back on. (2) 

Stick To a Rhythm 

Your gut has its own circadian rhythm, or 24-hour clock, and it thrives when you stick to a regular routine. (3) Eating at scattered or irregular times can confuse the digestive system and disrupt the gut microbiome. Of course, it may not always be possible to eat at exactly the same times every day, but the more you can stick to a general rhythm the better. 

Prioritize Fiber and Healthy Fats

To bulk up your stool and keep it moving through your digestive tract, it’s important to eat insoluble fiber (fiber that doesn’t dissolve in water). A few great high-fiber foods include almonds, chia seeds, broccoli, artichokes, and avocado. Healthy fats combined with enough fiber also help to support digestive function. I recommend a high fat, high fiber meal in the afternoon. 

Adding in prebiotic foods, including bananas, plantains, and beans or legumes if you tolerate them, also helps to feed health-promoting gut bacteria (just keep in mind your unique triggers). 

READ MORE: The Best Prebiotic Foods For Your Gut Health | Dr. Will Cole 

Chew Thoroughly

This goes hand-in-hand with taking a few deep breaths before your meal. When you eat more slowly, you absorb your nutrients better and digestive enzymes have an easier time processing your food. In addition to improving gut motility and reducing stress, eating slowly can also help to prevent overeating by giving your body a chance to recognize when you’re full. 

Bowel Movement Routine: The Art Of the Act 

If you’re following your routines for better digestion throughout the day, ideally, you don’t need to go through a multiple-step ritual every time you want to have a bowel movement. However, there are a few simple things you can do when going to the bathroom to help pass stool 

On this note, you want to aim for at least one, but preferably 2-3 bowel movements per day (one after each meal), in order to detoxify and eliminate excess hormones and chemicals. 

READ MORE: How to Achieve the Perfect Poop: Gut Health Secrets For Better Digestion 

Get Into Position

The best poop posture according to science is squatting. (4) This position helps to relax your muscles, align your rectum, and get things moving. To achieve the ideal squatting posture, you’ll start by sitting comfortably on the toilet, with your feet on a stool or something similar. The goal is to get your knees above your hips. Then, you can lean forward a bit and rest your elbows on your thighs. 

Breathe (Again) 

Breathing helps you again here. For a good bowel movement, you want your pelvic floor muscles to be relaxed. One of the best ways to achieve this is to simply take a few deep breaths. I recommend starting here rather than straining or pushing too hard, if you’re struggling to have a bowel movement. 

Evening Routine: Winding Down 

In the evening, you want to support your digestive system in transitioning to a state of rest and repair. Here are a few tips for your nighttime routine. 

Eat Light and Early

If you had a high fat, high fiber meal in the afternoon, you can choose a lighter dinner, eaten early, in order to give your digestive system time to rest before sleep. Then, when you go to sleep, your body can focus on rest and repair instead of being too busy digesting what you just ate. 

Move Gently

Gentle movement after dinner can help to support digestive function and balance blood sugar. A quick 10-15 minute walk, or a relaxing yoga or stretching sequence, are a couple of great examples.

Optimize Your Bedtime Routine

Sleep is one of the most underrated and essential tools for gut health. While you’re sleeping, your body is working on repairing the gut lining, reducing inflammation, and resetting your microbiome’s natural rhythm. The better your sleep, the better this digestive repair process is likely to be. 

To help your body wind down, limit the use of screens and bright lights for a few hours before sleep, and practice whatever helps you wind down, whether this involves meditation, journaling, aromatherapy, yoga, or anything else that brings you calm. 

READ MORE: How To Cultivate A Bedtime Routine For Restful Sleep Every Night 

Support Digestion All Day 

Digestion doesn’t need to be on your mind 24/7. Actually, by introducing supportive practices for better gut health into your daily routine, you might find that you’re ending up thinking about your digestion less—because things are running more smoothly. And remember that better gut health means better overall health. 

If you’re experiencing digestive concerns including constipation, bloating, diarrhea, abdominal pain, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), SIBO, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, or other symptoms or medical conditions, you may need a more specific, customized plan to optimize digestive health. 

For more comprehensive support with optimizing your digestive function, you can book a consult with our telehealth functional medicine practice. We’d love to work with you. 

As one of the first functional medicine telehealth clinics in the world, we provide webcam health consultations for people around the globe.

Sources

• Ortiz-Alvarez, L., Xu, H., & Martinez-Tellez, B. (2020). Influence of exercise on the human gut microbiota of healthy adults: a systematic review. Clinical and translational gastroenterology, 11(2), e00126.
• Cherpak, C. E. (2019). Mindful eating: a review of how the stress-digestion-mindfulness triad may modulate and improve gastrointestinal and digestive function. Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal, 18(4), 48.
• Voigt, R. M., Forsyth, C. B., Green, S. J., Engen, P. A., & Keshavarzian, A. (2016). Circadian rhythm and the gut microbiome. International review of neurobiology, 131, 193-205.
• Bhattacharya, S., Chattu, V. K., & Singh, A. (2019). Health promotion and prevention of bowel disorders through toilet designs: A myth or reality?. Journal of education and health promotion, 8(1), 40.