> CNN: He Tracked Every Fart, Sneeze and Bathroom Trip for 50 Years. Scientists Say His Bizarre Final Gift Could Be Priceless

He Tracked Every Fart, Sneeze and Bathroom Trip for 50 Years. Scientists Say His Bizarre Final Gift Could Be Priceless

By Elena Marwick, Science Correspondent

When retired municipal accountant Harold P. Wexler died last November at age 82, his family expected to find the usual remnants of a long and orderly life: tax returns, utility bills, old photographs and perhaps a few forgotten savings bonds.

Instead, they found 147 yellow legal pads stacked inside labeled plastic bins in his basement.

Together, the pads contained what researchers now believe may be the most detailed personal record of human bodily functions ever assembled.

For more than half a century, Wexler documented nearly every trip to the bathroom, every sneeze, belch, bruise, pimple, illness, sexual encounter and episode of flatulence he experienced. His notes began on January 1, 1971, when he was 30 years old, and continued until October 12, 2021, when worsening arthritis apparently made writing difficult.

The final entry, written in shaky blue ink, reads simply:

“Urination, 9:14 p.m. Moderate volume. Pale yellow. No urgency.”

“It is difficult to overstate how unusual this is,” said Dr. Miriam Lau, an epidemiologist at the Midwestern Institute for Longitudinal Health, which received the collection after Wexler’s daughter donated it. “People sometimes keep symptom diaries for weeks or months. Occasionally, they keep them for several years. Nobody keeps a detailed diary of practically every bodily event for 50 years.”

Wexler did.

And he did not merely count things.

He recorded time, duration, estimated quantity, color, consistency, intensity, location, suspected cause and, in some cases, what he called the event’s “satisfaction level.”

## A half-century of human output

According to a preliminary analysis of the notebooks, Wexler recorded:

- 96,702 urinations
- 19,284 bowel movements
- 52,317 episodes of flatulence
- 34,661 belches
- 28,904 sneezes
- 11,337 coughs he considered “significant”
- 4,129 headaches
- 3,866 pimples or blackheads popped
- 2,184 cuts, scrapes, bruises or other minor injuries
- 1,942 nosebleeds or traces of nasal blood
- 1,673 episodes of vomiting, diarrhea, fever or other acute illness symptoms
- 1,291 recorded sexual encounters
- 3,508 episodes of masturbation
- 4,644 ejaculations from all recorded causes
- 83 suspected food-poisoning events
- 14 kidney stones
- 9 incidents involving foreign objects lodged temporarily in the skin
- 3 occasions on which he believed he had sneezed while asleep

The figures remain provisional because some notebooks contain arithmetic errors, duplicate entries and amendments written years later in the margins.

Still, researchers say the collection is astonishingly consistent.

Wexler developed abbreviations for recurring bodily events. “U” meant urination. “BM” meant bowel movement. “F” meant flatulence. “B” meant belching. “EJ” meant ejaculation. “SX” referred to partnered sexual activity, while “MS” denoted masturbation.

The letters were often followed by numerical ratings.

A bowel movement might be recorded as:

“BM 7:42 a.m. Type 4. Medium-large. Easy passage. Satisfaction 8/10. Corn visible.”

A belch could receive its own sensory description:

“B 1:18 p.m. Strong. Chili character. Unexpected second wave.”

Wexler also separated ordinary farts from what he termed “complex flatulence events,” including gas released during coughing, bending, lifting, urination or defecation.

“He was basically doing citizen science,” Lau said. “Extremely strange citizen science, but citizen science nonetheless.”

## The record days

Wexler summarized each year on handwritten index sheets, allowing researchers to identify personal records and unusual clusters.

His highest number of urinations in a single day was **12**, recorded on **February 17, 2004**. Notes indicate that he drank several cups of coffee while waiting for a furnace technician and later consumed what he described as “an inadvisable quantity of iced tea.”

His fewest urinations in a full recorded day was **two**, on **August 9, 1988**, during a fishing trip in extreme heat. Wexler underlined the entry twice and added, “Probably dehydrated. Urine dark. Poor planning.”

His lifetime record for bowel movements in one day was **nine**, on **June 6, 1978**, following what he believed was spoiled egg salad.

The corresponding entry spans nearly three pages.

The first movement was described as “ordinary but suspicious.” By the fourth, Wexler had changed the classification to “urgent.” The eighth was labeled “largely theoretical.”

His most prolific day of flatulence occurred on **November 23, 1996**, when he documented **43 farts** between 6:31 a.m. and 11:08 p.m.

The suspected cause was a combination of lentil soup, Brussels sprouts and two bottles of dark beer.

Wexler divided the events into:

- 19 silent
- 17 audible
- 5 “questionably audible”
- 2 described as “structurally impressive”

He also noted that three were “misleading,” meaning he initially feared they might involve stool.

None did.

His longest recorded sneezing fit occurred on **April 14, 1982**, when he sneezed **31 times in 11 minutes** while cleaning a dusty ceiling fan.

His loudest sneeze, according to a subjective 10-point scale, occurred in 2007 and received a rating of 9.5.

“Startled cat in adjacent room,” Wexler wrote.

The cat, named Duffy, appears frequently in the records as an involuntary observer.

## Sex, masturbation and a surprisingly formal scoring system

Wexler applied the same detached style to sexual activity that he used for digestion and respiratory symptoms.

Researchers say the sexual records are among the most complete portions of the archive, although access is currently restricted while the institute develops privacy rules concerning Wexler’s late wife and other identifiable individuals.

The entries typically include date, time, duration, sexual activity, orgasm, ejaculation, erection quality and a brief assessment.

One entry from 1976 reads:

“SX. 10:06–10:24 p.m. Mutual enthusiasm. EJ at 10:22. Good. Slight right calf cramp.”

Another, from 1999, states:

“MS. 3:41 p.m. Interrupted by UPS delivery. Resumed 4:03. Outcome satisfactory but momentum lost.”

Wexler’s highest recorded number of ejaculations in one day was **five**, on **July 3, 1974**. He provided no explanation beyond the phrase “holiday weekend.”

His longest documented period without ejaculation was **117 days**, following abdominal surgery in 2011.

His records suggest that partnered sexual activity peaked in his 30s and declined gradually, while masturbation remained comparatively stable until his late 60s.

“That kind of within-person behavioral data across decades is virtually nonexistent,” said Dr. Samuel Ortega, a researcher who studies aging and sexual health. “Most studies ask people to remember what they did last month or last year. Memory is notoriously unreliable, especially for sensitive or embarrassing behaviors.”

Wexler, by contrast, often wrote entries within minutes.

In several instances, he noted that he had temporarily delayed washing his hands to complete the record.

Scientists do not recommend that practice.

## Pimples, cuts and the “Great Back Cyst”

Wexler’s skin records are equally extensive.

He documented **3,866 pimple-popping events**, classifying the contents as clear fluid, blood, pus, sebum or “mixed material.”

He tracked location, apparent size and whether the pimple produced what he called a “clean release.”

The largest skin event in the archive occurred on **September 8, 1985**, when Wexler’s wife drained a cyst from his upper back.

The episode occupies six pages and includes a hand-drawn diagram.

Wexler estimated the discharge at “between one and two teaspoons,” though researchers caution that the figure was not measured.

He titled the entry “THE GREAT BACK CYST” in block letters.

It received a satisfaction score of 10 out of 10.

“Harold was clearly fascinated by bodily processes that most people would prefer not to discuss,” said Lau. “But his observations are often careful and surprisingly nonjudgmental.”

Over 50 years, Wexler recorded **847 paper cuts**, **311 stubbed toes**, **184 shaving cuts**, **76 burns**, **29 splinters requiring tweezers** and **four incidents in which he stepped on a nail or tack**.

He also tracked bruises by color progression, noting the number of days each took to fade from purple to greenish-yellow.

His longest-lasting bruise remained visible for **39 days** after he fell against a bathtub in 1993.

His most painful minor injury, rated 9.2 out of 10, was a severe toe-stubbing incident involving a steel bed frame.

The entry includes several obscenities, which researchers say is unusual for the otherwise restrained notebooks.

## A digestive history written in ink

The bowel records may prove particularly useful.

Wexler began documenting stool consistency before the widely used Bristol Stool Form Scale was published in the 1990s. His early categories included “firm,” “ordinary,” “soft,” “loose,” “watery,” “pellets” and “urgent slurry.”

After learning about the Bristol scale in a newspaper article, he retroactively converted several years of entries.

He recorded stool color, visible food particles, straining, discomfort, urgency and what he believed was the time elapsed since the relevant meal.

Across the full collection, his most common bowel movement occurred between **7 and 9 a.m.**

His average frequency was approximately **1.05 bowel movements per day**, though the rate declined with age.

Researchers have already identified apparent changes associated with antibiotics, vacations, bereavement, retirement and dietary shifts.

After Wexler’s wife died in 2014, his bowel movement frequency fell by about 18% for several months, while reports of constipation and abdominal discomfort increased.

“That may reflect changes in diet, stress, physical activity, medication or all of those things,” said Dr. Nadia Kim, a gastroenterologist advising the research team. “The value of the record is not that it gives us an immediate answer. The value is that it lets us ask questions that are almost impossible to study prospectively over half a century.”

Wexler also recorded **1,126 instances of visible corn**, **403 appearances of tomato skin**, **117 cases of undigested leafy vegetables** and **eight occasions when he was unable to identify what he was looking at.**

One such entry reads:

“Possible mushroom. Have not eaten mushrooms.”

## Farts as medical data

Flatulence may be the archive’s most attention-grabbing category, but scientists say it could also be medically informative.

Wexler recorded an average of roughly **2.9 farting episodes per day**, far below estimates typically found in laboratory studies.

Researchers believe the discrepancy likely reflects undercounting, particularly during sleep, social situations or periods when Wexler was distracted.

Wexler himself acknowledged the problem.

In 1981, he wrote:

“Impossible to know how many pass unnoticed. Data should be regarded as minimum.”

He classified farts by sound, smell, duration and “pressure.”

His odor scale ranged from zero, meaning undetectable, to five, which he defined as “room evacuation advisable.”

Only 26 events received a five.

The worst occurred on **March 2, 1991**, after Wexler ate a large serving of liver and onions followed by deviled eggs.

He wrote that his wife opened a window despite freezing temperatures.

Wexler’s longest continuous fart was estimated at **11.4 seconds**, though the timing method is unclear.

His loudest was described as “sharp, resonant, probably amplified by wooden chair.”

His most embarrassing occurred during a moment of silence at a funeral in 1986.

“No plausible denial,” he wrote.

## Can scientists trust the numbers?

Researchers emphasize that the records have major limitations.

The data came from one man. The measurements were mostly subjective. Wexler could not record events he failed to notice, forgot about or chose to omit.

Some of his methods were unconventional.

For several years, he estimated urine volume by counting seconds of flow and multiplying by a personal “stream coefficient.” Scientists have not yet determined how he calculated that coefficient.

He occasionally weighed himself before and after bowel movements to estimate stool mass. His largest reported bowel movement weighed **2.1 pounds**, though researchers suspect the figure may include measurement error, clothing differences or both.

And although the notebooks are candid, no diary can prove complete honesty.

“The fact that he wrote something down does not automatically make it accurate,” Kim said. “But the consistency, the repeated measurements and the sheer duration make the archive scientifically interesting even with those limitations.”

Researchers plan to compare Wexler’s notes with pharmacy receipts, medical records, weather data and food diaries that were stored alongside the legal pads.

The archive includes grocery lists dating back to 1973, medication logs, weight records, sleep notes and nearly four decades of daily meal descriptions.

That could allow scientists to examine relationships between diet, medication, aging, illness and bodily functions at a level of detail rarely available.

## Why nobody has studied this before

Modern health research increasingly relies on wearable devices, phone apps and electronic medical records. But those technologies typically capture only a narrow slice of a person’s life and have existed for a relatively short time.

Long-term studies often depend on annual questionnaires, periodic medical exams or participants’ memories.

Nobody is routinely asked to document every burp, sneeze, orgasm, bowel movement and pimple for 50 years.

“There are good reasons for that,” Ortega said. “Most people would refuse.”

Even when researchers collect intimate data, participants tend to drop out, forget entries or alter their behavior because they know they are being observed.

Wexler apparently regarded observation as a personal mission.

A note found inside the first legal pad explains his motivation:

“The body performs thousands of small acts that are forgotten immediately. A life is partly made of these acts. I intend to keep an account.”

His daughter, Susan Wexler-Bennett, said the family knew her father kept records but had no idea how extensive they were.

“He always carried a little notepad,” she said. “We assumed he was tracking expenses.”

Sometimes he was.

Other times, he was documenting gas.

## An unlikely scientific legacy

The institute plans to digitize the notebooks, remove identifying information and make portions of the database available to qualified researchers.

Possible areas of study include gastrointestinal aging, urinary frequency, sexual behavior, seasonal illness, injury recovery, medication side effects and the relationship between emotional stress and physical symptoms.

Scientists are particularly interested in changes that occurred gradually and may not have been apparent to Wexler himself.

Preliminary analysis suggests his nighttime urination began increasing almost eight years before he was diagnosed with an enlarged prostate.

His records also show a steady rise in constipation after he began taking a particular blood pressure medication and a sharp decline in sneezing after he stopped working in an office with wall-to-wall carpeting.

None of those findings proves cause and effect. But researchers say they demonstrate the archive’s potential.

Wexler did not leave behind a major fortune, a celebrated work of art or a groundbreaking invention.

He left scientists 50 years of pee, poop, sneezes, sex, sores, bruises, belches and farts—meticulously dated, frequently rated and preserved in blue, black and occasionally red ink.

It is an unconventional legacy.

It may also be an important one.

“In science, valuable data can come from unexpected places,” Lau said. “In this case, it came from a basement full of legal pads written by a man who apparently never encountered a bodily function he considered too insignificant to document.”

Near the end of the final notebook, Wexler totaled several lifetime categories in pencil.

Beside the figure for flatulence, he added a short note:

“Actual number certainly higher.”

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/31/health/man-tracked-bodily-functions-50-years-science-wellness/index.html