What Causes a Shart?

The term shart is a colloquial reference for a wet fart, or when watery stool accidentally slips out while passing gas. When this happens frequently or chronically (long-term), it's medically known as fecal incontinence or accidental bowel leakage—and it affects roughly 1 in 3 people.

While experiencing a shart every once in a while can be a normal occurrence, a variety of health conditions and circumstances can contribute to this symptom, and some of them may require specific treatment.

What Does a Shart Feel Like?

In general, a shart can feel like passing wet gas. However, this symptom can feel different for each person and may vary slightly depending on the underlying cause.

When you experience a shart, you may notice air escaping through the rectum like a regular fart, though it may come with a bubbling or liquid-like sensation. Sharts are often accompanied by a bit of liquid stool, which feels like the passing of a small amount of loose or watery diarrhea.

Sharts can vary in sensation and intensity. For example, it's possible to feel the urge to pass stool as a fart approaches, but you're not able to reach the bathroom in time. You also might shart without anticipating or realizing it—whether it's due to a lack of nerve sensation or because the shart was unexpected.

Depending on the cause and circumstances, sharts may also present with streaks or stains on your underwear.

Causes of Sharts

Most people have experienced an occasional shart. This is normal, especially as you reach older age or if you're experiencing a bout of diarrhea or constipation.

If you're having sharts on a regular basis, there may be an underlying factor causing the symptom, such as a digestive disorder, medication, or lifestyle habit.

Diarrhea

When your stool is soft, loose, or watery, it's more likely than solid poop to accidentally leak out of the rectum (the lowest part of your large intestine, which stores stool before pushing it forward).

Diarrhea is also often accompanied by symptoms like stomach cramping, bloating, and farting—creating an ideal opportunity for a shart to slip out.

Diarrhea can happen as a result of a range of different triggers, including infections, medication side effects, food intolerance, or digestive disorders.

Aging

Data suggests that sharts may be more common in older adults. Some statistics estimate that fecal incontinence occurs in up to 35% of older adults in nursing homes and up to 25% of older adults who are hospitalized.

This could partly be because the sphincter muscles (which are used in the processes of pooping and peeing) start to weaken with age. Other reasons might include conditions like nerve damage, dementia, or limited physical ability.

When age is the cause behind sharting, the person may also have an inability to control bowel movements or a lack of awareness that they need to have one.

Constipation

Constipation describes an inability to have more than three bowel movements per week. While this may seem counterintuitive to having a shart, experiencing hard stools—such as during constipation—can cause the muscles in your rectum to stretch and weaken.

The weakened muscles may release overflow diarrhea, which occurs when watery stools have built up behind the hard stools—and leak out the next time you fart.

Constipation-related sharting would involve other symptoms like hard, dry stool, difficulty or pain while attempting to have a bowel movement, and a feeling that not all of your stool has passed.

Digestive Disorders

Several different digestive disorders and issues could prompt sharting in some cases.

Some conditions that have been found to contribute to more frequent watery stool and farting include:

• Hemorrhoids: Hemorrhoids (or piles) develop when veins in or around the anus and rectum swell. This can prevent the muscles around your anus from closing completely, allowing small amounts of stool to leak out.
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): This chronic condition causes digestive discomfort and bowel movement changes. Because IBS can trigger both diarrhea and constipation, the possibility of sharting may be especially high.
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): With IBD, chronic inflammation damages the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. It causes scarring and inflammation in the rectum and also comes with diarrhea—which could lead to frequent sharts.
• Rectal prolapse: When your rectum drops down and bulges out of the anus, it's known as rectal prolapse. Similar to hemorrhoids, this condition can keep the muscles around the anus from fully closing, presenting an opportunity for stool to leak.
  
• Lactose intolerance: People with lactose intolerance experience uncomfortable digestive symptoms like diarrhea and gas after consuming dairy products that contain lactose. If both of those symptoms occur together, you might notice lactose-related sharts.
  

Medications

Certain medications might contribute to sharting because they cause diarrhea and gas. This combination could result in frequent sharting.

Some common medications with digestive side effects include:

• Antibiotics
• Antacids
• Chemotherapy drugs
• Diabetes medications like Glucophage (metformin)
• Laxatives
• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

If you think a medication may be behind your sharts, check with a healthcare provider first before stopping any medical treatment.

Other Health Conditions

Other chronic health conditions and neurological disorders that impact the nerves of the anus, rectum, or pelvic floor can make it more likely to experience sharts.

Nerve damage can either cause scarring that affects the rectal muscles and allows for sharts to leak out or make it difficult to feel when a shart is coming.

Some of these conditions include:

• Dementia
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Parkinson’s disease
• Stroke
• Type 2 diabetes
• Urinary incontinence
  
• Brain or spinal cord injury
• Gallbladder removal

Lifestyle

Certain lifestyle factors may also trigger sharting, including:

• Stress: Short- and long-term stress can lead to stomach cramping, interfere with digestion, and trigger constipation or diarrhea.
• Lack of physical activity: Spending more time sitting or lying down prevents stool from moving through the digestive system and can cause diarrhea or constipation.
• Smoking: Smoking can increase the risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and symptoms like diarrhea.
  

Vaginal Childbirth Delivery

For some people, having a vaginal childbirth can prompt fecal incontinence issues—potentially leading to more frequent sharts. During childbirth delivery, there's a risk of injury to the anal sphincter, causing the muscles and tissues of the rectum to be stretched or torn.

This may be more likely to happen in cases where:

• The baby was larger than average
• Forceps or vacuum extraction were used during delivery
• An episiotomy was performed (a surgical cut made in the vaginal area to prevent tearing)

In these cases, the person may experience frequent sharts for a short period after giving birth. Typically, this symptom will improve within days or weeks.

When To See a Healthcare Provider

An occasional shart likely doesn't merit a medical appointment. However, it's a good idea to check with your healthcare provider if you're noticing frequent or more intense sharting—particularly if it's impacting your quality of life or triggering emotional or social distress.

The provider will review your medical history, ask about your symptoms, and perform a physical exam to help potentially diagnose fecal incontinence and its underlying causes.

They may also order one or more of the following tests:

• Blood tests to evaluate any signs of inflammation or infection
• Stool tests to check for the presence of blood or infection
• Urine tests to look for signs of diseases like type 2 diabetes
• Bowel function tests—such as anorectal manometry, defecography, or electromyography—to check how well the muscles and nerves in your anus, pelvic floor, and rectum are performing
• Endoscopy to look inside your anus, rectum, and colon for signs of gastrointestinal (GI) tract issues or inflammation
• Imaging tests to check for any problems in the anus, rectum, or pelvic floor
  

Treatments for Sharts

The goal of treating sharts will focus on managing or minimizing this symptom, and then addressing any underlying health conditions that may be contributing to it.

Research shows several treatment options can improve a majority of fecal incontinence-related symptoms, including:

• Diet changes: Eating enough fiber, staying hydrated, or adjusting the amounts of food you eat per meal can halt sharts by preventing diarrhea and constipation.
• Bowel training: Going to the bathroom at a specific time every day can regulate bowel movement patterns, helping to stop sharts.
• Medications: A healthcare provider may recommend laxatives, stool softeners, or anti-diarrheal medications to resolve sharting.
• Pelvic floor physical therapy: Training the pelvic floor muscles with exercises strengthens them and stops stool leakage or sharting.
  

For certain underlying health conditions, such as IBS, IBD, or nerve damage, a healthcare provider may suggest certain prescription medications or surgical procedures to repair sphincter muscles.

How To Prevent Sharts

Sometimes, sharts can't be prevented. However, there are a few habits you can implement to help reduce the chances of experiencing a one-off shart.

These prevention strategies include:

• Eat smaller, more frequent meals: This allows food to move through your digestive system with ease.
• Exercise regularly: Physical activity encourages regular bowel movements.
• Avoid straining on the toilet: Straining can lead to nerve damage and weaken sphincter muscles.
• Limit spicy foods, processed foods, and artificial sweeteners: These foods can speed up bowel transit time and trigger diarrhea.
• Be mindful about swallowing excess air: Chew food thoroughly and avoid carbonated drinks and gum.

A Quick Review

A shart is a wet fart, or when watery stool comes out while passing gas. Several factors can cause sharts, including digestive disorders, lifestyle habits, medications, and more.

If you're experiencing sharts regularly, see a healthcare provider to get to the root of the issue. Depending on the underlying cause, treatment tactics like medications, diet changes, bowel training, and pelvic floor muscle exercises can help reduce this symptom.