The fastest way to make yourself fart is to get into a position that puts gentle pressure on your abdomen while relaxing your lower body. Lying on your back and pulling your knees to your chest works for most people within a few minutes. But if trapped gas is a recurring problem, a combination of body positioning, movement, massage, and dietary choices can help you find relief more reliably.
Best Positions for Releasing Gas
Gravity and compression are your two best tools. When you fold your body so your thighs press against your belly, you physically push gas through your intestines toward the exit. The most effective position is called the Wind-Relieving Pose: lie flat on your back, pull one knee up toward your chest, wrap your hands around it, and gently lift your head toward that knee. Breathe deeply, hold for a few seconds, then release. Repeat on the other side, then try both knees together. A gentle rocking motion while holding both knees can also help move things along.
Other positions worth trying:
- Child’s pose: Kneel on the floor, sit back on your heels, and fold forward so your chest rests on your thighs. This compresses your abdomen while relaxing the muscles around your pelvis.
- Deep squat: Squat with your feet flat on the floor, knees wide. This opens the pelvic floor and straightens the path gas needs to travel.
- Lying on your left side: Your descending colon runs down the left side of your abdomen and connects to your rectum. Lying on your left side lets gravity pull gas in the right direction.
Abdominal Massage That Follows Your Gut
Your large intestine is shaped like an upside-down U. The right side goes up (ascending colon), the top goes across (transverse colon), and the left side goes down (descending colon) to your rectum. Massaging along this path can physically push trapped gas toward the exit. The technique is called the ILU massage because the three strokes look like the letters I, L, and U.
Lie on your back with your knees slightly bent. Start with the “I” stroke: place your hand just under your left rib cage and press gently downward toward your left hip bone. Repeat about 10 times. Next, the “L” stroke: start below your right rib cage, move across to your left rib cage, then down to your left hip. Repeat 10 times. Finally, the “U” stroke: start at your right hip, move up to your right rib cage, across to the left rib cage, and down to your left hip. Repeat 10 times. Use gentle, steady pressure. You can apply lotion or oil to reduce friction.
Go for a Short Walk
Walking is one of the simplest ways to get gas moving. Research published in Scientific Reports found that gut motility increases significantly within one to two minutes of walking, based on measurable changes in bowel sounds (an indirect marker of intestinal movement). The physical bouncing and swaying of walking appears to stimulate the intestinal muscles that push contents, including gas, toward the rectum. Even a five- to ten-minute walk around your home or office can be enough to trigger relief. People who walk less than half a kilometer a day have a noticeably higher risk of constipation and sluggish digestion, which also contributes to gas buildup.
Drink Warm Water
Warm water can speed up the process. In a randomized controlled trial of post-surgical patients, those who drank warm water passed gas in an average of 11 hours, compared to 18.6 hours for the control group. That’s a meaningful difference, and the mechanism applies to everyday trapped gas too: warm water helps relieve gastrointestinal spasms and encourages the wave-like muscle contractions that move gas through your intestines. A cup or two of warm water, herbal tea, or warm water with lemon can help, especially first thing in the morning or after a meal.
Foods and Drinks That Produce Gas
If you’re trying to fart because you feel bloated but nothing is coming out, eating certain foods can increase gas production and create enough pressure to get things moving. Common gas-producing foods include beans and lentils, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and bran. Dairy products work too if you’re even mildly lactose intolerant, since undigested lactose ferments in the colon and produces gas. Carbonated drinks like sparkling water, soda, or beer introduce gas directly into your stomach, and some of it will work its way through.
The reason these foods cause gas is that they contain certain sugars and fibers your small intestine can’t fully break down. When those compounds reach your large intestine, bacteria ferment them and produce gas as a byproduct. Foods that trigger gas in one person may not affect another, so you’ll learn your own patterns over time.
Relax the Right Muscles
Sometimes gas is trapped not because your gut isn’t moving it, but because the muscles at the end of the line are too tense. Your anal sphincter is supposed to stay closed most of the time, but you need to be able to relax it on command. If you tend to clench (from stress, from sitting all day, or simply out of habit), consciously relaxing that area can help. Try sitting or lying with your knees slightly apart, then tighten your sphincter muscles as hard as you can for five seconds. Release for four seconds. Repeat this five times. This contract-and-release cycle actually improves your ability to relax those muscles when you want to, and NHS guidance notes that these exercises can specifically help with passing wind.
Deep belly breathing also helps. When you breathe deeply into your diaphragm, your abdominal organs get gently compressed on each exhale, and the parasympathetic nervous system (your “rest and digest” mode) activates, which relaxes the smooth muscle throughout your digestive tract.
Over-the-Counter Options
Two types of products work in very different ways. Simethicone (sold as Gas-X and similar brands) works by breaking up large gas bubbles in your gut into smaller ones that are easier to pass. It doesn’t reduce gas production, but it makes existing gas less painful and easier to move. You can take it after symptoms start.
The other option is an enzyme supplement containing alpha-galactosidase (the active ingredient in Beano). This enzyme breaks down the hard-to-digest sugars in beans, vegetables, and grains before they reach your large intestine, so bacteria have less to ferment. You take it with or just before a meal. It prevents gas rather than treating it after the fact.
When Trapped Gas May Be Something Else
Normal trapped gas is uncomfortable but temporary, and it responds to the techniques above. If you’re experiencing severe abdominal pain or cramping, vomiting, a visibly swollen abdomen, loud or unusual bowel sounds, and a complete inability to pass gas or have a bowel movement, that combination of symptoms can indicate a bowel obstruction. A complete intestinal obstruction is a medical emergency. The key difference: ordinary trapped gas comes and goes, shifts when you move, and eventually passes. An obstruction gets progressively worse, and nothing you do brings relief.