The best way to empty your bowels combines proper positioning, timing, breathing technique, and long-term habits that keep stool soft and moving. Most people can improve their bowel movements significantly without medication by making a few changes to how and when they sit on the toilet.
Fix Your Position First
The single biggest improvement most people can make is changing their posture on the toilet. When you sit on a standard toilet, the muscle that wraps around your rectum (called the puborectalis) stays partially contracted, creating a bend of about 80 to 90 degrees in the passage stool needs to travel through. That bend acts like a kink in a garden hose.
When you raise your knees above your hips into a squatting position, that angle opens to roughly 100 to 110 degrees, straightening the pathway and letting stool pass with far less effort. Studies comparing sitting, leaning forward, and squatting have found that squatting requires less abdominal pressure and reduces strain on the rectal muscles. You don’t need a squat toilet to get this benefit. A small footstool (about 7 to 9 inches tall) placed in front of your toilet lets you bring your knees up while still sitting. Lean slightly forward, rest your elbows on your thighs, and let your belly relax. This replicates the key advantage of squatting posture.
Use the Right Breathing Technique
Straining by holding your breath and bearing down hard is one of the most common mistakes. It increases pressure on the pelvic floor, can worsen hemorrhoids, and actually tightens the muscles you need to relax. A better approach is sometimes called “brace and bulge.”
Start by taking four or five slow, deep breaths, letting your lower belly expand with each inhale. Then, to generate gentle pushing pressure, make a low “M” sound, which widens your waist and engages your core without clenching. Follow it with a long “OO” sound, letting your lower abdomen push forward. This combination creates the abdominal pressure needed to move stool while simultaneously relaxing the pelvic floor muscles that guard the exit. You can repeat the cycle as needed, but if nothing happens after a few minutes, get up and try again later rather than forcing it.
Time It With Your Body’s Natural Signals
Your colon has a built-in trigger called the gastrocolic reflex. When food stretches the stomach, your nervous system sends a signal that increases contractions throughout the large intestine, essentially telling it to make room. This reflex is strongest in the morning and immediately after meals. Within minutes of eating, electrical activity in the colon spikes, and the gut begins stronger, more frequent contractions called mass movements that push waste toward the rectum.
The practical takeaway: eat breakfast (even a small one), then head to the bathroom about 15 to 30 minutes later. Establishing this daily routine consistently is one of the most effective strategies for improving regularity. For both children and older adults with constipation, using the toilet right after breakfast has been shown to reduce symptoms over time. Skipping breakfast or ignoring the urge when it comes weakens this reflex over the long term.
Why Coffee Works (and It’s Not Just Caffeine)
If you’ve noticed that coffee sends you to the bathroom, you’re not imagining it. Coffee promotes the urge to defecate in at least a third of the population, and this effect is stronger in women. Interestingly, decaf coffee triggers it too, which means caffeine isn’t the main driver. Researchers believe coffee contains compounds that act on receptors in the stomach or small intestine, triggering the release of gut hormones like cholecystokinin and gastrin that amplify colonic contractions. A warm cup of coffee with breakfast essentially stacks two bowel-stimulating triggers at once: the gastrocolic reflex from food plus the hormonal response from coffee.
Fiber: How Much You Actually Need
Fiber adds bulk and water to stool, making it softer and easier to pass. The U.S. dietary guidelines recommend about 25 grams per day for women and 28 to 30 grams for men, depending on age. Most Americans get roughly half that amount. Hitting this target makes a noticeable difference for many people, but increasing fiber too quickly can cause bloating and gas. Adding an extra 5 grams per week until you reach the goal is a more comfortable approach.
Soluble fiber (found in oats, beans, apples, and flaxseed) absorbs water and forms a gel that softens stool. Insoluble fiber (found in whole wheat, vegetables, and nuts) adds bulk and speeds transit. You need both. Whole foods are generally better tolerated than fiber supplements, but supplements can fill the gap when diet alone falls short.
What Hydration Can and Can’t Do
Drinking enough water matters, but “drink more water” is often overstated as a constipation fix. A study that had healthy volunteers increase their fluid intake by one and then two extra liters per day found no significant change in stool output. If you’re already reasonably hydrated, piling on extra glasses of water won’t soften your stool much further. However, if you’re genuinely dehydrated, your colon will absorb more water from waste, leaving it hard and dry. The goal is adequate hydration, not excessive hydration. For most adults, that means roughly 6 to 8 cups of fluid per day from all sources, adjusted for climate and activity level. Pairing adequate fluids with sufficient fiber is what makes the real difference, since fiber can only absorb water and bulk up stool if there’s enough water available.
Movement Helps Move Things Along
Regular physical activity speeds up the time it takes waste to travel through your colon. A three-week aerobic running program significantly decreased colon transit time in previously sedentary people, and a separate study found that small bowel transit was faster during a week of aerobic training compared to a rest week. Even moderate activity like brisk walking counts. The effect seems most reliable with consistent aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, cycling) rather than brief or infrequent sessions. One study found that four weeks of exercise didn’t improve symptoms in people with severe chronic constipation, so movement works best as a preventive habit rather than an acute fix.
Core strengthening exercises may also play a role. A 12-week core program showed decreases in left-sided colon transit time and total transit time within the exercise group, though the improvement wasn’t statistically significant compared to the control group. Still, stronger abdominal muscles support the gentle pushing technique described earlier.
When Laxatives Make Sense
If positioning, timing, fiber, and movement aren’t enough, over-the-counter laxatives can help. They fall into two main categories. Osmotic laxatives (like polyethylene glycol, sold as MiraLAX) draw water into the colon to soften stool. They tend to work within one to three days and have a mild side effect profile, mostly limited to some gas, loose stools, or nausea. Stimulant laxatives (like bisacodyl or senna) directly trigger muscle contractions in the colon wall. They work faster, often within 6 to 12 hours, but come with more side effects: diarrhea occurred in over 50% of bisacodyl users in one clinical trial, and abdominal pain is more common. A pediatric study comparing an osmotic laxative to senna found significantly fewer side effects with the osmotic option (one adverse event versus 30).
Magnesium citrate is another option that works osmotically. It’s available as a liquid and is often used for more thorough bowel emptying. Osmotic laxatives are generally the better starting point for occasional constipation because they’re gentler. Stimulant laxatives are best reserved for short-term use when quicker relief is needed.
Signs Something Else Is Going On
Occasional constipation is extremely common and usually responds to the strategies above. But certain symptoms suggest something beyond a routine backup. Blood in your stool accompanied by fever, unexplained weight loss over weeks or months, persistent changes in stool caliber (consistently thin, ribbon-like stools), or new constipation that doesn’t respond to any of the above measures all warrant investigation. Progressive weakness, numbness, or changes in bladder function alongside constipation can point to a neurological cause. These situations need professional evaluation rather than more fiber and footstools.