Stool in seven categories
The Bristol Stool Scale is a chart that categorizes stools based on consistency. Healthy stools should be a continuous sausage, not poopy or a series of loose sausages. By visualizing the stool, it is easier to determine what is causing any stool problems.
The Bristol Stool Scale or Bristol Stool Map is designed to divide the shape of human stool into seven categories. This is often used in combination with a stool diary to map bowel problems.
Also known as the ‘Meyers Scale’ in the UK, the scale was developed by Heaton at the University of Bristol, hence the name. The shape of the stool depends on the time it has been in the intestines. It is therefore a medical device that shows the status of the bowel movement.
The seven types of stool are:
| 1. | Several small hard droppings are difficult to excrete. The stool has spent quite some time in the gut and has dried out. |  |
| 2. | The stool is in the form of a single droppings, but hard, lumpy and lumpy. |
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| 3. | The stool is in the form of a sausage-like droppings, with cracks on the surface. |  |
| 4. | The stool is in the form of a smooth snake-like droppings. This is normal stool. This will be expelled with little pressure. |
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| 5. | Soft stools in several smaller soft droppings, which are also easily excreted. |  |
| 6. | Pulpy, soft stools with some harder bits in them. |  |
| 7. | Watery, completely liquid stools. |  |
Types 1 and 2 indicate constipation (blockage). Types 3 and 4 are the “ideal excretion types” – especially the latter – because they are the easiest to excrete. Types 5 to 7 tend towards diarrhea.
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