Four reasons you should never scroll your phone on the loo… and they’re all bad news for your bum
DO you enjoy having a scroll through your phone while you are sitting on the loo? You may wish to think twice.
According to medical experts, there are at least four reasons why this is a bad idea for your butt.
As reported by LiveStrong, Gastroenterologist and neurogastroenterologist Kyle Staller, MD, who is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School said: “Unlike sitting in a chair, which gives you support, your bottom hangs down into the middle of the toilet.
“This allows the rectal tissue to relax and fall.”
Despite the risks, electronics resale site BankMyCell found 96 percent of Gen Zers and 90 percent of millennials won’t go to the bathroom without taking their phone with them.
Here’s what can happen to your butt if you linger too long….
1. You could get haemorrhoids
If you sit too long on the loo, you could be at risk of getting protrusions called haemorrhoids, which can be painful, itchy and leak blood.
“When you are seated on the toilet, you are exposing your rectal area to focused, direct pressure, especially if you are straining to have a bowel movement,” explained Ugo Iroku, MD, gastroenterologist with New York Gastroenterology Associates.
“This pressure closes off your hemorrhoidal veins so the blood pools in them and causes them to bulge up, similar to the way the blood vessels in your arm bulge when a blood pressure cuff tightens around your bicep.”
If this wasn’t bad enough, as you get older, tissues cushioning the veins may weaken.
Dr Staller said they can then become floppy, and are more likely to protrude.
2. You may get blocked up
While you may think that sitting on the loo only helps to unblock yourself, the opposite could happen and you could experience constipation.
Scrolling on your phone or reading a book sends your body mixed signals, said the experts.
Dr. Iroku said: “You are training your body that sitting on the toilet no longer signifies that it’s time to move your bowels.
“Instead, you’re forming an association between toilet use and your phone — it’s similar to how habitually watching TV in bed can make it harder to sleep.”
If you don’t poop automatically when you sit down, it could be harder and more painful when you get round to it.
Dr. Iroku said delaying a bowel movement can lead to you straining to get it out later, and this can cause haemorrhoids to flare up in a vicious circle.
3. You could tear your butt
This sounds dramatic, but fissures – or cuts – can occur in the anal canal if your stool is harder from being inside for a prolonged time.
Dr Staller said: “If you are passing a hard stool, it can tear the lining of the anal canal. This cut is called a fissure.”
When this happens, constipation and haemorrhoids can get worse.
4. Your rectum could fall out
In some cases, people who sit too long on the toilet can even experience a prolapse, when the rectum falls out of the anus.
Dr Staller explained: “Sometimes it comes out when you’re straining and then goes back in on its own, sometimes you can manually push it back in and sometimes it comes out and stays out
It sounds pretty horrific, but for some people, dawdling on the pot can cause rectal prolapse.”
They advised that the condition is most often seen in older women who have had a number of vaginal deliveries and are experiencing bowel issues, like constipation or diarrhoea.
So how long is too long to sit on the toilet?
Dr Iroku advised that the process shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.
Meanwhile, Dr Staller backed this up saying you should handle your business in an “efficient manner” and then get off.
So there we have it, maybe save Netflix for the sofa rather than for watching on the loo.