According to research, the average individual farts about 12–25 times per day.
Those figures include your most revered religious leaders, favorite celebrities, and – of course – your crush.
And this would make you wonder why something so natural can be so socially forbidden.
Why do people shy away from discussing it in public, despite it being a common phenomenon that cuts across people of all races, tribes, and genders?
However, it is important to note that, for something treated with so much contempt and disdain, farting – or flatus, as it is medically termed – does a lot to help maintain balance in our body system.
holding your farts in for longer periods can cause serious digestive problems as pressure
Read on to know how a simple exercise such as passing out gas from your anus can help keep you healthy, thereby extending your lifespan. But first, we discuss the rationale behind farting.
Why do we fart?
There are various ways whereby gas gets into our gastrointestinal tract. While the bulk of the gas finds their way into the digestive tract when the bacteria in the intestine break down food, mostly carbohydrates, some other times, they escape when air is swallowed from eating, drinking, smoking, or chewing gum.
Apart from these, some health conditions can also cause gas and flatulence, some of which are Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), lactose intolerance, celiac diseases, diarrhea, and gastroparesis.
Underscoring the advantage of farting, Dr. Eamon Quigley, a gastroenterologist with Houston Methodist Gastroenterology Associates, says “If we didn’t pass gas, we’ll explode.”
The body gets rid of gas via two major outlets – the rectum, as fart; or the esophagus as burps.
Benefits of farting
As awkward as it might sound, farting does benefit the body by improving our health, which in turn can help boost one’s chances of living longer.
It eases bloating
Pent-up, unreleased gas after a big meal can cause so much discomfort. That bloated feeling you get in your abdominal part is made up of gas and water that builds up mostly when you don’t give your food time to digest.
In cases like these, trying to hold in your farts can worsen the situation as having more and more gas build up in your bowels would only cause over-bloating, which can also increase your chances of getting a stroke.
In instances like these, a couple of farts can help bring normalcy to your guts and save your life. Let them loose.
Farting aids colon health
Regular farting can help keep your colon healthy, thereby reducing your risk of colon complications in the future.
Some health experts opine that holding your farts in for longer periods can cause serious digestive problems as pressure is being put on the colon.
According to online portal Healthline, experts found out in the 1970s that holding farts in can be associated with diverticulitis – a condition where the pouches that form along the digestive tract are inflamed.
farting can be a telltale sign of diseases, ranging from lactose intolerance to colon cancer
This condition can even get worse and become life-threatening when they get infected. Resisting the urge to hold your farts in could massively reduce your risk of suffering from this and other colon diseases.
Farting can aid early detection of health issues
Detecting diseases early helps to increase one’s chances of survival, which makes paying attention to our bowel and colon health such a big deal.
Strange or extreme smells, excessive gas release, and pain while farting can help tell you that you need to see a doctor.
According to health specialists, farting can be a telltale sign of diseases ranging from something as mild as lactose intolerance to colon cancer.
Faring can signify food allergy
Feeling all bloated after consuming a particular type of food would tell you that your system is either intolerant or allergic to it.
While most people confuse food allergies with intolerance as they both possess overlapping symptoms, there’s a big difference between both.
According to the Canadian Society of Intestinal Research, allergies occur when the body’s immune system reacts to a harmless substance like it would to an intruder.
Here, the substance, which is food, is attacked by the body and the reaction causes irritations and distress to the body.
Food Intolerance, on the other hand, is simply caused by the system’s limited ability or inability to break down certain foods.
Two major types of this are lactose and non-celiac gluten intolerance.
Feeling gassy after eating certain foods can be your cue to cut them out of your diet for the health of your bowel.
Sniff fart, improve your gut health!
Well, you are not high or drunk: you read that right!
The New York Post reports that “Sniffing your partner’s farts could help ward off diseases”.
Okay, the general idea is that hydrogen sulfide – the gas that makes our fart stink – can help cut down the risks of getting a stroke, heart attack, cancer, and even dementia.
Our body creates its hydrogen sulfide as our cells need them to function when we are sick. When this gas is not available, the cells lose their powers to ward off diseases and could even die.
This is why researchers say that sniffing farts could help build immunity and keep diseases at bay.
Conclusion
Everyone wants to live long. However, one of the biggest threats to this is diseases and ill health.
To boost your chances of living longer and enjoying better quality of life, there’s a need to be attentive to your body, as it often signals and communicates to you before a major breakdown.
Sometimes, these signs can be as minor and weird as changes in fart smell or amounts.
There’s also a need to keep things as natural as possible, as messing with nature never ends well.
Eat when you need to eat, drink when you feel thirsty, sleep when your body yearns for it, and, of course, fart loud and long when you need to.
