Regina G. Barber

Are you regular?

That's a question that I remember hearing from older movies or sitcoms when I was a kid, and it took me a while to understand what it meant.

That it was a delicate question to ask if your bathroom schedule was regular or disrupting your life.

Wow.

That's gastroenterologist and medical journalist Dr. Trisha Paswicha, who's taken it upon herself to help this 40% of people who need help.

Trisha's latest push to solve this problem is a new book called You've Been Pooping All Wrong.

And she's never been shy when it comes to talking about, well, poop.

I was the same.

Growing up in my family, we talked about going number two all the time.

But for a lot of people, the education we get when it comes to going to the bathroom, it stops once we're out of our potty training phase, around two and a half or three years old.

It's a huge issue.

Today on the show, for your health and happiness, let's make pooping less taboo.

A medical doctor shares what every person should know about going number two.

I'm Regina Barber, and you're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.

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Okay, back to the show.

Okay, so, Dr. Trisha, can I call you that?