Squat or sit, which way do you choose when going to the toilet? | Science Spy

At the beginning of today, Fat Ke would like to ask everyone to do a calculation problem:

Suppose you go to the toilet 8 times a day, and each time takes an average of 5 minutes. When you are 80 years old, how many days do you spend in the toilet?

8X5X365÷60X80÷24≈810 (days)

In fact, the World Toilet Organization (WTO) has calculated that people spend about 3 years of their lives in the toilet. This is really a surprise! You don’t know until you calculate it. In a few decades of life, nearly 3 years of our lives are spent in a toilet of just a few square meters! This is really a "surprise"!

Since we have to spend so much time on going to the toilet, it is necessary to discuss how to "go to the toilet in a scientific posture"! Should we choose to squat or sit? Let's read on.

From a physiological point of view, squatting when going to the toilet will be smoother. This is because when a person squats, the pressure on the abdomen is greater than when sitting, so the stomach does not need to exert so much force when defecating. In addition, there is a muscle called the puborectalis muscle in the rectum, which grows down from the pubic bone and hooks our rectum backwards, making the rectum turn a corner. This bend is called the anorectal angle. The larger the angle, the straighter the rectum and the smoother the defecation.

Scholars in Japan once conducted an experiment: they asked the subjects to swallow a developing substance and then took X-rays. They found that when defecating in a squatting position, the angle of the rectum was 26° larger than when sitting. So, squatting is more refreshing than sitting, and I’m not kidding!

In addition, when people squat, their legs will be separated, and the anus will naturally separate, and the anal sphincter will be stretched, which will naturally make it more suitable for feces to pass through.

So what are the disadvantages of sitting to poop? Compared with squatting, the abdominal pressure will be reduced when sitting. If you want to squeeze out the feces, you have to use more strength, which will take longer and more time. At the same time, sitting for a long time will affect the blood return around the anus. In the long run, the risk of hemorrhoids will be greater.

In addition, many people now like to put a stool under their feet when sitting on the toilet. In fact, there is no need to do this, because the height of the stool is used to restore the angle of the squat toilet. The difference between the two is still very large, the anorectal angle does not change much, and the abdominal pressure does not increase much. At most, it has a psychological effect.

Of course, not everyone is suitable for squatting to defecate. For children, pregnant women, and the elderly with insufficient muscle strength and stiff joints, sitting on the toilet is relatively safer and can effectively avoid accidents such as falls and inability to stand.

Therefore, you can choose the appropriate method according to your actual situation. The most important thing is that the defecation time should not be too long.

This article comes from: China Digital Science and Technology Museum