Pooping is good for the brain, the study demonstrates the link between the intestine and the mind

Defecating before a race can lead to better sports performance. And not for a physical response, but a mental one: pooping, in fact, “frees” the mind enough to allow it to make quicker and more effective decisions. This is demonstrated by a study, albeit small, led by the University of Taipei (Taiwan)

Defecating is really good for our brain: Pooping before a race can actually lead to significantly better, faster and smarter decisions, resulting in superior sporting performance. This is demonstrated by a study, albeit small, led byTaipei University (Taiwan).

The work was conducted with the involvement of 13 athletes triathlonwho underwent a psychological evaluation of cognitive function and executive control known as Stroop testwhich can also indicate the onset of cognitive decline.

The study

In particular, athletes were asked to present themselves for three sessions: in the first, participants took the test without defecating first; in the second, under the same strictly controlled nutritional and environmental circumstances, the test was administered one hour after defecation without the aid of a magnesium oxide laxative; finally, in the third, the test was administered one hour after defecation and 13 hours after ingestion of a magnesium oxide laxative. Every test was separated by a week to give participants time to return to their baseline.

The results showed that the majority of athletes (69%) achieved better results in the Stroop test after defecation and 100% of them saw improvements after magnesium-induced defecation. The authors therefore argue that the study suggests a Unexplored causal link between rectal status and cognitive performancealthough, to be honest, it is not the first work that indicates a strong link between the intestine and the brain.

A little-explored (but important!) area of ​​the brain

The same Chia-Hua Kuoco-author of the research, says that the results are actually not surprising and also confirms them a previous one which indicated an improvement in cycling performance and blood distribution in the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain where decisions are made) after defecation.

However, even if Chinese medicine had given some indications, in reality in “traditional” Western medicine, this particular area of ​​the brain had not been studied significantly, and there is very little scientific documentation in this regard, while it is known how, in the context of endurance sports, this region may shed light on how the body conserves and uses energy when under stress.

The consequences on sports performance

When you do long-distance exercises, your brain will send large amounts of commands to the muscles – explains Kuo – Whether or not you can sustain the muscle contraction does not really depend on whether the muscle has squeezed out energy, but on whether ability of the brain to challenge the muscle

In the conventional view of the brain, its domain begins and ends in the skull and is completely contained in the head. However, the study also effectively confirmed the high concentration of nerves in the lower intestine and rectum (already suspected for some time). In a figure published in the study, in fact, the lower digestive tract lights up even more than the heart or the brain, which means that the nervous system resides a lot there too.

Pooping is good for your brainpooping is good for the brain

Therefore, the urgent need to defecate if you are stressed is not just a psychosomatic effect: there is really a direct connection between the butt and the brain.

Of course, you may feel tired after eating a large meal, as the brain will divert blood and oxygen to the digestive organs, “diverting” resources from other muscles. When we exercise, therefore, our mind must understand how to provide adequate resources to both the working muscles and the digestive system to function effectively. And this becomes more difficult in intense training. So sometimes when we are giving our all in a sporting competition, we might evacuate involuntarily.

The work was published on Sports Medicine and Health Science.

Sources: EurekAlert / Sports Medicine and Health Science