Defecation in the context of Muscle

Feces (also faeces or fæces) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relatively small amount of metabolic waste products such as bacterially-altered bilirubin and dead epithelial cells from the lining of the gut.

Feces are discharged through the anus or cloaca during defecation.

Hand washing (or handwashing), also called hand hygiene, is the process of cleaning the hands with soap or handwash and water to eliminate bacteria, viruses, dirt, microorganisms, and other potentially harmful substances. Drying of the washed hands is part of the process as wet and moist hands are more easily recontaminated. If soap and water are unavailable, hand sanitizer that is at least 60% (v/v) alcohol in water can be used as long as hands are not visibly excessively dirty or greasy. Hand hygiene is central to preventing the spread of infectious diseases in home and everyday life settings. Meta-analyses have shown that regular hand washing in community settings can significantly reduce respiratory and gastrointestinal infection

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends washing hands for at least 20 seconds before and after certain activities. These include the five critical times during the day where washing hands with soap is important to reduce fecal-oral transmission of disease: after using the toilet (for urination, defecation, menstrual hygiene), after cleaning a child's bottom (changing diapers), before feeding a child, before eating and before/after preparing food or handling raw meat, fish, or poultry.

Diarrhea (American English), also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa (British English), is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements in a day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin with loss of the normal stretchiness of the skin and irritable behaviour. This can progress to decreased urination, loss of skin color, a fast heart rate, and a decrease in responsiveness as it becomes more severe. Loose but non-watery stools in babies who are exclusively breastfed, however, are normal.

The most common cause is an infection of the intestines due to a virus, bacterium, or parasite—a condition also known as gastroenteritis. These infections are often acquired from food or water that has been contaminated by feces, or directly from another person who is infected. The three types of diarrhea are: short duration watery diarrhea, short duration bloody diarrhea, and persistent diarrhea (lasting more than two weeks, which can be either watery or bloody). The short duration watery diarrhea may be due to cholera, although this is rare in the developed world. If blood is present, it is also known as dysentery. A number of non-infectious causes can result in diarrhea. These include lactose intolerance, irritable bowel syndrome, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease such as ulcerative colitis, hyperthyroidism, bile acid diarrhea, and a number of medications. In most cases, stool cultures to confirm the exact cause are not required.

A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popular in Europe and North America with a toilet seat, with additional considerations for those with disabilities, or for a squatting posture more popular in Asia, known as a squat toilet. In urban areas, flush toilets are usually connected to a sewer system; in isolated areas, to a septic tank. The waste is known as blackwater and the combined effluent, including other sources, is sewage. Dry toilets are connected to a pit, removable container, composting chamber, or other storage and treatment device, including urine diversion with a urine-diverting toilet. "Toilet" or "toilets" is also widely used for rooms containing only one or more toilets and hand-basins. Lavatory is an older word for toilet.

The technology used for modern toilets varies. Toilets are commonly made of ceramic (porcelain), concrete, plastic, or wood. Newer toilet technologies include dual flushing, low flushing, toilet seat warming, self-cleaning, female urinals and waterless urinals. Japan is known for its toilet technology. Airplane toilets are specially designed to operate in the air. The need to maintain anal hygiene post-defecation is universally recognized and toilet paper (often held by a toilet roll holder), which may also be used to wipe the vulva after urination, is widely used (as well as bidets).

Fluid balance is an aspect of the homeostasis of organisms in which the amount of water in the organism needs to be controlled, via osmoregulation and behavior, such that the concentrations of electrolytes (salts in solution) in the various body fluids are kept within healthy ranges. The core principle of fluid balance is that the amount of water lost from the body must equal the amount of water taken in; for example, in humans, the output (via respiration, perspiration, urination, defecation, and expectoration) must equal the input (via eating and drinking, or by parenteral intake). Euvolemia is the state of normal body fluid volume, including blood volume, interstitial fluid volume, and intracellular fluid volume; hypovolemia and hypervolemia are imbalances. Water is necessary for all life on Earth. Humans can survive for 4 to 6 weeks without food but only for a few days without water.

Profuse sweating can increase the need for electrolyte replacement. Water-electrolyte imbalance produces headache and fatigue if mild; illness if moderate, and sometimes even death if severe. For example, water intoxication (which results in hyponatremia), the process of consuming too much water too quickly, can be fatal. Deficits to body water result in volume contraction and dehydration. Diarrhea is a threat to both body water volume and electrolyte levels, which is why diseases that cause diarrhea are great threats to fluid balance.

Human feces (American English) or faeces (British English), commonly and in medical literature more often called stool, are the solid or semisolid remains of food that could not be digested or absorbed in the small intestine of humans, but has been further broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. It also contains bacteria and a relatively small amount of metabolic waste products such as bacterially altered bilirubin, and the dead epithelial cells from the lining of the gut. It is discharged through the anus during a process called defecation.

Human feces has similarities to the feces of other animals and varies significantly in appearance (i.e. size, color, texture), according to the state of the diet, digestive system, and general health. Normally, human feces are semisolid, with a mucus coating. Small pieces of harder, less moist feces can sometimes be seen impacted in the distal (final or lower) end. This is a normal occurrence when a prior bowel movement is incomplete, and feces are returned from the rectum to the large intestine, where water is further absorbed.

Toilet paper, (also referred to as toilet/bath/bathroom tissue or toilet roll) is a tissue paper product primarily used to clean the anus and surrounding region of feces (after defecation), and to clean the external genitalia and perineal area of urine (after urination).

It is commonly supplied as a long strip of perforated paper wrapped around a cylindrical paperboard core, for storage in a dispenser within arm's reach of a toilet. The bundle, or roll of toilet paper, is specifically known as a toilet roll, loo roll, or bog roll (in Britain).

A bidet (UK: /ˈbiːdeɪ/, US: /bɪˈdeɪ/ ) is a bowl or receptacle designed to be sat upon in order to wash a person's genitalia, perineum, inner buttocks, and anus. The modern variety has a plumbed-in water supply and a drainage opening, and is thus a plumbing fixture subject to local hygiene regulations. The bidet is designed to promote personal hygiene and is used after defecation, and before and after sexual intercourse. It can also be used to wash feet, with or without filling it up with water. Some people even use bidets to bathe babies or pets. In several European countries, a bidet is now required by law to be present in every bathroom containing a toilet bowl. It was originally located in the bedroom, near the chamber-pot and the marital bed, but in modern times is located near the toilet bowl in the bathroom. Fixtures that combine a toilet seat with a washing facility include the electronic bidet.

Opinions as to the necessity of the bidet vary widely over different nationalities and cultures. In cultures that use it habitually, such as parts of Western, Central and Southeastern Europe (especially Italy, Portugal, Spain, France and Turkey), Eastern Asia and some Latin American countries such as Argentina, Uruguay or Paraguay, it is considered an indispensable tool in maintaining good personal hygiene. It is commonly used in North African countries, such as Egypt. It is rarely used in sub-Saharan Africa, Northwestern Europe, Australia, and North America.

The large intestine, also known as the large bowel, is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract and of the digestive system in tetrapods. Water is absorbed here and the remaining waste material is stored in the rectum as feces before being removed by defecation. The colon (progressing from the ascending colon to the transverse, the descending and finally the sigmoid colon) is the longest portion of the large intestine, and the terms "large intestine" and "colon" are often used interchangeably, but most sources define the large intestine as the combination of the cecum, colon, rectum, and anal canal. Some other sources exclude the anal canal.

In humans, the large intestine begins in the right iliac region of the pelvis, just at or below the waist, where it is joined to the end of the small intestine at the cecum, via the ileocecal valve. It then continues as the colon ascending the abdomen, across the width of the abdominal cavity as the transverse colon, and then descending to the rectum and its endpoint at the anal canal. Overall, in humans, the large intestine is about 1.5 metres (5 ft) long, which is about one-fifth of the whole length of the human gastrointestinal tract.

In mammals, invertebrates and most fish, the anus (pl.: anuses or ani; from Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is the external body orifice at the exit end of the digestive tract (bowel), i.e. the opposite end from the mouth. Its function is to facilitate the expulsion of waste that remains after digestion.

Bowel contents that pass through the anus include the gaseous flatus and the semi-solid feces, which (depending on the type of animal) include: indigestible matter such as bones, hair pellets, endozoochorous seeds and digestive rocks; residual food material after the digestible nutrients have been extracted, for example cellulose or lignin; ingested matter which would be toxic if it remained in the digestive tract; excreted metabolites like bilirubin-containing bile; and dead mucosal epithelia or excess gut bacteria and other endosymbionts. Passage of feces through the anus is typically controlled by muscular sphincters, and failure to stop unwanted passages results in fecal incontinence.

A toilet is a small room used for privately accessing the sanitation fixture (toilet) for urination and defecation. Toilet rooms often include a sink (basin) with soap/handwash for handwashing, as this is important for personal hygiene. These rooms are typically referred to in North America as half-bathrooms (half-baths; half of a whole or full-bathroom) in a private residence.

This room is commonly known as a "bathroom" in American English, a "toilet", "WC", "lavatory", "loo" or “bathroom” in the United Kingdom and Ireland, a "washroom" in Canadian English, and by many other names across the English-speaking world.

Anal hygiene refers to practices (anal cleansing) that are performed on the anus to maintain personal hygiene, usually immediately or shortly after defecation. Anal cleansing may also occur while showering or bathing. Post-defecation cleansing is rarely discussed academically, partly due to the social taboo surrounding it. The scientific objective of post-defecation cleansing is to prevent exposure to pathogens.

The process of post-defecation cleansing often involves washing the anus and inner part of the buttocks with water. Water-based cleansing typically involves either the use of running water from a handheld vessel and a hand for washing or the use of pressurized water through a jet device, such as a bidet. In either method, subsequent hand sanitization is essential to achieve the ultimate objectives of post-defecation cleansing. However, many people throughout history have instead wiped or scrubbed the area, most commonly in modern history with toilet paper.

Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms of cancer include a lump, abnormal bleeding, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss, and a change in bowel movements. While these symptoms may indicate cancer, they can also have other causes. Over 100 types of cancers affect humans.

About 33% of deaths from cancer are caused by tobacco and alcohol consumption, obesity, lack of fruit and vegetables in diet and lack of exercise. Other factors include certain infections, exposure to ionizing radiation, and environmental pollutants. Infection with specific viruses, bacteria, and parasites causes approximately 16–18% of cancers worldwide. These infectious agents include Helicobacter pylori, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HPV, Epstein–Barr virus, Human T-lymphotropic virus 1, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and Merkel cell polyomavirus. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not directly cause cancer, but it causes immune deficiency that can increase the risk of cancer from other infections, sometimes up to several thousandfold (in the case of Kaposi's sarcoma). Importantly, vaccination against the hepatitis B virus and the human papillomavirus have been shown to nearly eliminate the risk of cancers caused by these viruses in persons successfully vaccinated prior to infection.

In humans, the anus (pl.: anuses or ani; from Latin ānus, "ring", "circle") is the external opening of the rectum located inside the intergluteal cleft. Two sphincters control the exit of feces from the body during an act of defecation, which is the primary function of the anus. These are the internal anal sphincter and the external anal sphincter, which are circular muscles that normally maintain constriction of the orifice and which relax as required by normal physiological functioning. The inner sphincter is involuntary and the outer is voluntary. Above the anus is the perineum, which is also located beneath the vulva or scrotum.

In part owing to its exposure to feces, a number of medical conditions may affect the anus, such as hemorrhoids. The anus is the site of potential infections and other conditions, including cancer (see anal cancer).

The parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) is one of the three divisions of the autonomic nervous system, the others being the sympathetic nervous system and the enteric nervous system.

The autonomic nervous system is responsible for regulating the body's unconscious actions. The parasympathetic system is responsible for stimulation of "rest-and-digest" or "feed-and-breed" activities that occur when the body is at rest, especially after eating, including sexual arousal, salivation, lacrimation (tears), urination, digestion, and defecation. Its action is described as being complementary to that of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for stimulating activities associated with the fight-or-flight response.