{"id":522,"date":"2023-12-23T14:38:38","date_gmt":"2023-12-23T14:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.claritywellbeing.co.uk\/?p=522"},"modified":"2023-12-24T14:14:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-24T14:14:15","slug":"journey-through-the-gi-tract-final-part-rectum-anus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.claritywellbeing.co.uk\/journey-through-the-gi-tract-final-part-rectum-anus\/","title":{"rendered":"Journey Through The GI Tract FINAL PART: Rectum &#038; Anus"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"x_x_elementToProof\">In this final lesson of \u2018My GI Tract\u2019 series, you will\u00a0learn how the rectum and anus work together to break down the foods that we consume.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Here\u2019s a quick recap. The digestive process begins in the mouth. It\u00a0receives the food and breaks it up into small, easy-to-swallow pieces.\u00a0Enzymes from the saliva break down any starch and the food passes\u00a0into a\u00a0long tube called the oesophagus.\u00a0It carries the food bolus along its length, and\u00a0contracts (peristalsis) to move food down towards the stomach. The enzymes and acids in the stomach continue the process of breaking down food, before they are released into the small intestine.\u00a0The small intestine receives food from the stomach and continues to break down the food while absorbing the majority of its nutrients.\u00a0In the upper section of your small intestine (duodenum), digestion continues as chyme from the stomach mixes with a variety of digestive juices from your pancreas, liver and gallbladder.\u00a0At end of the journey through the small intestine, most nutrients from digested food have been absorbed. In the large intestine, undigested material, excess fluids, and mucus all combine to form\u00a0stool. At the lower end of your large intestine, is the rectum, which temporarily stores stool we are ready to expel the stool through the Anus.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>Rectum\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>The rectum has a slight S-shape, with two bends in it. It is roughly an 8-inch chamber that connects the colon to the anus.\u00a0It receives stool from the colon, sends signals to the brain if there is stool to be released, and\u00a0stores it until it passes out of the body through the anus. Your rectum is made up of layers of muscles and tissues, with glands on the inside that secret and absorb.\u00a0When its muscles activate to move waste through, it can contract and shorten, and stretch to accommodate more waste.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The primary function of the rectum is to collect and hold stool until it\u2019s time to release it.\u00a0Your rectum relaxes and stretches to accommodate the waste as it gradually comes in from your colon. While holding it, your rectum absorbs the remaining water and electrolytes and further solidifies the waste. It secretes mucus to help it pass through smoothly. When it\u2019s full, nerves that detect stretch in the rectal wall (stretch receptors) communicate to your central nervous system that it\u2019s time to release. Increasing pressure will make it increasingly hard to hold it in and trigger the urge to release.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>Anus\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>The last part of the digestive tract, the anus,\u00a0is the opening at the far end of the digestive tract through which stool leaves the body.\u00a0It consists of pelvic floor muscles and two anal sphincters (internal and external) that control your\u00a0bowel movements.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong><em>Did you know?\u00a0Your food&#8217;s long journey, typically lasting between 30 and 40 hours!\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this final lesson of \u2018My GI Tract\u2019 series, you will\u00a0learn how the rectum and anus work together to break down the foods that we consume. Here\u2019s a quick recap. The digestive process begins in the mouth. It\u00a0receives the food and breaks it up into small, easy-to-swallow pieces.\u00a0Enzymes from the saliva break down any starch [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Journey Through The GI Tract FINAL PART: Rectum &amp; Anus - claritywellbeing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.claritywellbeing.co.uk\/journey-through-the-gi-tract-final-part-rectum-anus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Journey Through The GI Tract FINAL PART: Rectum &amp; Anus - claritywellbeing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this final lesson of \u2018My GI Tract\u2019 series, you will\u00a0learn how the rectum and anus work together to break down the foods that we consume. 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