Why do i always feel like pooping after smoking a cigarette?!


Question:

Why do i always feel like pooping after smoking a cigarette?


Answers:

It's to do with the properties of nicotine and the vagus nerve. Since the detailed reason is kind of long and boring, I will give you the abbreviated version.

Nicotine is a stimulant, which means it ramps up your nervous system. That seems counterintuitive since smokers all know that smoking is relaxing, but that's the physiological effect it has.

There is a very large nerve called the vagus nerve, and it controls most of the motor nerves from the area below your neck to midway down your middle, where your transverse colon is. As such, it controls things like heart rate and peristalsis, which is the action your digestive system uses to move food, and later waste, through the system.

So, basically, the nicotine makes the vagus nerve more active. The vagus nerve activates, among other things, the peristalsis which moves things through your digestive tract. If you have any waste low down in your system, one of the effects is that it stimulates you to need to move your bowels.

In plain terms, a smoke stimulates your nerves, including the nerves that have to do with pooping. It makes you need to poop if you are anywhere near ready to go to the bathroom.

I hope that makes sense.

**EDIT**

I know this is too much information, but it happens to me, too. One of our friends has exactly the same thing happen if he drinks a cup of coffee. And I used to work with a girl who did a lot of uppers. We could always tell when she was high because she spent a lot of time in the bathroom. Different stimulants in each case, but exact same physical mechanisms and response.




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