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Comment by tartoran | Hacker News Reader

That is a real phenomena for a chunk of the population but I'm trying to understand what it is. Is it ADHD?

It might also have to do with how long someone tends to take. I tend to have a pretty slow metabolism and only need to defecate a couple times a week (to preempt any armchair diagnoses from people who think this is weirdly infrequent, every doctor I've had has always said this isn't a huge deal), so when I do, it tends to be in larger amounts. I've also found that it's better for me to take it slow and not strain as much, so sometimes I end up being on the toilet for more than just a couple minutes, which means that having something to do is nice.

That said, I do also have ADHD, so maybe people who are "longer and slower" toiler-sitters like me without ADHD might be fine without a distraction.

The healthy range of frequency is roughly 3/day-0.3/day.

And depending on the person it can also change depending on diet and mixing microbiomes. Back when I lived with roommates my frequency changed based on who I lived with to some extent, matching closer to their frequency without changing diet (since I was weight training my diet was controlled and I didn’t eat their food).

Now living permanently with a spouse it has settled on a higher frequency than I remember before moving out on my own. Weird stuff.

That's wild, my frequency has remained pretty consistent through my life, although I did have a couple years where somehow one of the days each week I'd do it would always be Monday, and I never had any explanation for why that was the case.

Not really a constipation but if out of nowhere I notice what I didn't #2 in a while what means I have a quite severe cold incoming - but yet without symptoms.

> one of the days each week I'd do it would always be Monday, and I never had any explanation for why that was the case.

Social functions, a specific food or beverages (Friday drinking night? Not to the Monday though...) on some days, travel for some.

I don't drink at all, and I honestly don't go out very much ever (including back them, probably very much related to the not drinking thing), so I wasn't consistently having the same thing to eat over the weekend. Interestingly, this did coincide with the period where I was going out to a specific event every Monday night, which is the only reason I remembered; I would be thrilled when it managed to come about during the workday rather than in the evening when I was out.

Sounds like I'm still in the range then! Interesting that it varies so much. I've heard some people say (or I guess imply) that they do it daily, and it's so different from my experience that I've always wondered which way is more "normal". I guess both are!

you are full of shit /s

We all are, some of us just cycle it out more often

That agrees with what my doctor said too. They also said that it's not the frequency that's concerning, but changes in frequency, especially if the frequency change cannot be explained by a radical change in diet.

For whatever reason, I was fully expecting people to chime in telling me that this was less frequent than normal, since I've always had the perception that I'm an outlier on the end. Maybe the fact that this doesn't get discussed often made me assume too much about how much variance there is!

I think it's just "I don't want to just sit there." I don't have ADHD, but I do want to read more or less incessantly. Why should potty time be any different?

Not everything is ADHD.

But there are huge correlations between having ADHD and your poop/gut habits. ADHD people tend to have more anxiety, and some people get anxious and have to shit. The more anxious I get, the more frequently I have to poop. For example, I always have to shit 10 times before a job interview. No matter how much I poop that day, I'll still have the urge and then sit down and nothing comes out.

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