Does Pooping Get Rid of Alcohol? The Truth You Need to Know

It’s the morning after a long night of drinking. As you groggily stumble to the bathroom, that urgent feeling hits and you know diarrhea is coming. You think maybe this bout of the runs will flush the alcohol out and cure your hangover. If only it were that simple!

We’ve all been there – wondering if pooping can magically rid our bodies of alcohol’s effects. It makes sense in theory. Getting the runs seems like the body’s way of purging toxins, right?

While pooping after drinking may provide some relief, it isn’t directly eliminating alcohol from your system. The effects of alcohol on digestion and bowel movements are a bit more complicated.

In this post, we’ll explore the true relationship between booze and pooping. You’ll learn why you often have urgent, loose stools after a night of drinking and if this actually sobers you up quicker. Let’s dig into the facts on how alcohol changes your poop and if going number two offers any hangover relief. Bottoms up!

How Alcohol Affects Your Poop

Alcohol impacts your gastrointestinal (GI) tract in a few key ways:

• It can cause dehydration, leading to hardened, difficult-to-pass stool. Not fun!
• It irritates the lining of your intestines, causing inflammation and abnormal poops.
• It increases gut motility, meaning food and drink pass through your system more quickly. This can result in loose, urgent stool or diarrhea.
• Chronic heavy drinking can delay gastric emptying, which is when food moves from your stomach to small intestine. This can cause dangerous blockages.
• It provokes inflammation in your gut lining, preventing proper nutrient absorption. This can also cause urgent, explosive diarrhea.

In essence, alcohol messes with the normal functioning of your digestive tract. This leads to changes in bowel habits and stool consistency.

Key Ways Booze Impacts Your Poop

Let’s explore some of the most common effects alcohol has on your poop:

Constipation

Drinking too much can cause dehydration due to the diuretic effect of alcohol. You end up peeing a lot, which depletes fluid in your body.

This lack of fluid also drying out your stool, making it harder to pass. Drink after drink, and you’re looking at an uncomfortable bout of constipation.

Chronic heavy drinking also delays digestion, allowing stool to sit in the intestines longer and lose moisture. Slow motility plus dehydration equals brick-like poop. Ouch!

Diarrhea

On the other end of the poop spectrum, alcohol can also cause urgent, watery diarrhea. This is due to its stimulation effect on the GI tract. It increases motility and secretion in the small and large intestines.

This causes food and fluid to move through the gut more rapidly. The result is loose, unformed stool that can come on suddenly and without warning after a night of drinking.

This effect is even worse if you already have inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis. Booze and bowel inflammation do NOT mix well.

Floaters and Sinkers

You may notice changes in the look of your stool after drinking. Due to alcohol’s ability to irritate the gut lining and impair nutrient absorption, stools can become pale, greasy, and foul-smelling.

They may also alternate between floaters and sinkers. Stools that sink indicate inflammation which prevents proper digestion and absorption of nutrients.

The Dreaded Hangover Poop

We all know the hangover poop – that urgent, explosive stool that hits you like a freight train the morning after drinking. This is often accompanied by horrible intestinal cramping, bloating, nausea, and diarrhea.

This awful poop is caused by the build-up of osmotic pressure in your colon. The pancreas produces excess fluid to help digest alcohol, which builds up and causes watery stool. It’s your body’s way of flushing out the toxic byproducts.

While you may feel some relief after having a substantial post-drink movement, it does not directly eliminate alcohol from your system. More on that next!

How Your Body Processes Alcohol

To understand why pooping doesn’t get rid of alcohol, it helps to know how your body metabolizes it:

• Most alcohol (90-98%) is broken down by enzymes in your liver.
• A small amount is expelled in urine, sweat, or breathed out through the lungs.
• The byproducts of metabolizing alcohol generate free radicals and acetaldehyde, which are toxic.
• Your liver works overtime to filter out contaminants in the blood from alcohol metabolism.

As you can see, most alcohol elimination happens through the liver, not the gut. Pooping is not going to have any meaningful impact on your blood alcohol level.

That said, getting those toxic byproducts out of your intestines can help you feel a bit less crummy after a night of heavy imbibing. But poop itself does not directly remove alcohol from your body.

Tips to Poop After Drinking Alcohol

If you’re feeling stopped up after a weekend of fun, there are a few remedies to get things moving again:

• Rehydrate – Drink plenty of water and electrolyte drinks like Gatorade.
• Eat fiber-rich foods – Try bran cereal, oatmeal, fruits, veggies, and nuts.
• Exercise – Jogging, yoga, and walking can stimulate the bowels.
• Take a fiber supplement – Psyllium husk, methylcellulose, and polycarbophil draw water into the colon to soften stool.
• Try probiotics – These healthy gut bacteria can improve digestive function.
• Use a stool softener – Docusate is a gentle laxative that moistens and softens stool.

Be wary of harsh laxatives and enemas, which can disrupt the normal balance of your digestive system.

When to See a Doctor

While alcohol-related digestive issues are usually short-lived, talk to your doctor if you experience:

• Persistent changes in bowel habits
• Blood in stool
• Unexplained weight loss
• Fever or vomiting
• Severe abdominal pain

These could indicate a more serious health condition, like inflammatory bowel disease or even colon cancer in severe cases. Don’t ignore your symptoms.

The Bottom Line on Booze and Poop

So back to our initial question – does pooping get rid of alcohol? The short answer is no. While alcohol certainly affects bowel movements, pooping itself does not eliminate alcohol or sober you up.

Your liver does the hard work of metabolizing alcohol over time. So even though that post-party poop provides some relief, it won’t instantly reduce your blood alcohol level.

The takeaway is to enjoy adult beverages in moderation. Limit yourself to 1-2 drinks per day, stick to standard serving sizes, drink plenty of water, and avoid drinking on an empty stomach.

And the next time you’re prairie-dogging on the pot after a rager, you’ll know that your poop isn’t flushing out the booze – but it is getting rid of some nasty toxins! Just be sure to replenish with fluids and fiber to get your digestive system back on track.