{"id":523371,"date":"2026-06-29T00:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T00:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523371\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T00:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T00:38:12","slug":"period-poop-explained-why-your-bowel-habits-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523371\/","title":{"rendered":"Period poop explained: Why your bowel habits change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If your period poop feels different from other times of the month, you\u2019re not imagining it. It\u2019s not uncommon to have loose stools or to visit the toilet more often during those few days.<\/p>\n<p>This is due to hormonal changes in your body. In fact, hormones influence your bowel habits throughout your menstrual cycle.<\/p>\n<p>Assistant Professor Jill Lee, who is both an obstetrician and gynaecologist and urogynaecologist at KK Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Hospital (KKH), explained that hormones like oestrogen and progesterone affect bowel movements.<\/p>\n<p>In the first half of your menstrual cycle, oestrogen levels rise. After ovulation, progesterone rises and both hormones remain elevated before falling if pregnancy does not occur.<\/p>\n<p>The interplay between oestrogen and progesterone across your menstrual cycle can contribute to alternating <a href=\"https:\/\/cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com\/wellness\/constipation-position-foot-stool-squat-sit-toilet-coffee-carbonated-water-393356\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">constipation<\/a> and looser stools, because of the impact they have on the digestive process and your intestines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFollowing ovulation, rising progesterone levels slow down digestion, which can cause constipation,\u201d said Asst Prof Lee, a senior consultant at KKH\u2019s Department of Urogynaecology. \u201cJust before your period, oestrogen and progesterone levels drop sharply and this makes your intestine muscles contract more quickly, causing faster bowel movements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During your period, there is also an increase in hormone-like compounds known as prostaglandins.<\/p>\n<p>Dr June Tan Sheren, consultant family physician at Tucker Medical, said these compounds have many functions in the body, including mediating inflammation, blood flow, pain and uterine contractions during menstruation and labour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElevated prostaglandins during menstruation not only stimulate uterine contractions but also increase gastrointestinal movement, leading to loose and more frequent stooling in many women during their periods,\u201d she told CNA Women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If your period poop feels different from other times of the month, you\u2019re not imagining it. It\u2019s not&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2121,103,61,60,79320,127041],"class_list":["post-523371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-womens-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-menstruation","tag-poop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}