While normal bathroom habits can be different from person to person, there is a hard rule about how long to spend on the toilet — and when you should give up.

A healthy bowel movement should only take a few minutes, experts say. And if it's regularly taking you longer than that to do your business, that's worth addressing.

Expert Tip of the Day: Don't Spend Too Long Trying to Poop

A healthy bowel movement should happen relatively quickly — within five minutes, experts agree.

“If the magic is not happening within five minutes, it’s not going to happen,” Dr. Trisha Pasricha, director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Institute for Gut-Brain Research, told NBC News .

“Take a breather and try again later,” Pasricha added.

Why It Matters

It shouldn’t take more than five m

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