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This bathroom item helps you poop better, study says
The conclusions of a study show that squatting is the ideal position for pooping, as it straightens out the digestive tract.
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A basic bathroom stool could help people naturally relieve their bowels and improve the quality of their stool by helping put their bodies in the most natural position: squatting. (Shutterstock/File)
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basic bathroom stool could help people naturally relieve their bowels and improve the quality of their stool by helping put their bodies in the most natural position: squatting.
Simply placing both feet on a stool while using the toilet can mimic a squat, raising a person’s knees above their hips. Products like the Squatty Potty, scientifically known as defecation postural modification devices (DMPD), have gained popular attention for helping people relieve their bowels without the need for any laxatives or herbal medicines.
Pink Squatty Potty. Call your mom. All your dreams have been realized. #squattypotty https://t.co/DYGhXAc7DG pic.twitter.com/WmUGWtqHlM
— Squatty Potty® (@squattypotty) January 9, 2019
As reported by TIME, curious scientists set out to see how much a DPMD really made a person’s poop better.
“As a gastroenterologist, when you’re at a party or you’re with your family, people bring this up,” said study co-author Dr Peter Stanich, assistant professor of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at the Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine.
To conclude with a satisfying answer, he and his colleagues decided to conduct the first study on the benefits of Squatty Potties.
Read also: Squat thrust: Japan on Olympic drive to get rid of 'squat' toilets
The report published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology had 52 medical residents at Ohio State and their partners, whose average ages were 29, take an initial survey about their bowel movements and bathroom habits and provide a detailed log of every bowel movement they had for two weeks.
The results showed them to be fairly healthy. However, there were many who had issues including straining, blood in their stool and "incomplete emptying" -- the feeling that often goes along with constipation.
After two weeks, each person was equipped with their own Squatty Potty. People tracked their poop experiences for another two weeks and answered a survey about their time on the toilet.
The researchers sorted through descriptions of more than 1,000 bowel movements, finding that 90 percent of people who used a Squatty Potty strained less and 71 percent had faster bowel movements. Fewer users also reported feeling like they still had to go after using the bathroom.
Men’s bowel movements showed a particular improvement with the Squatty Potty, along with others who had claimed toilet-related issues in the study’s outset. Two thirds of the group were satisfied with the device and planned to continue use.
The conclusions of the study show that squatting is the ideal position for pooping, as it straightens out the digestive tract.
“From the rectum into the anus, there’s kind of a bend, and squatting helps to straighten it out – unlike Western toilets, which position the body at a 90-degree angle.
“The Squatty Potty gets us closer to how we’re supposed to have bowel movements,” Stanich said.
Devices like the Squatty Potty, or just a simple bathroom stool, have proved to be worthwhile for healthy people, as well as those with persistent issues like chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome. The risk of straining related problems like haemorrhoids is also reduced when the body is in a natural squatting position.
However, those with chronic conditions and gastrointestinal issues should not hesitate to consult a doctor to rule out serious medical problems. (geo/kes)
