Other symptoms of constipation include feeling bloated, uncomfortable, and sluggish. Many false beliefs exist concerning proper bowel habits. One of these is that a bowel movement every day is necessary . Another common fallacy is that wastes stored in the body are absorbed and are dangerous to health or shorten the life span. These misconceptions have led to a marked overuse and abuse of laxatives.
Many people think they are constipated when, in fact, their bowel movements are regular .
For example, some people believe they are constipated, or irregular, if they do not have a bowel movement every day. However, there is no right number of daily or weekly bowel movements. Normal may be three times a day or three times a week depending on the person. In addition, some people naturally have firmer stools than others. At one time or another almost everyone gets constipated.