We all know at least one person who takes an eternity to drop a deuce in the bathroom. In most cases, they’re probably done unloading and just spending time on their phone. Sitting on the toilet for too long may seem harmless, but it could actually cause you to have haemorrhoids.
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How long should you be sitting on the toilet?
There’s a reason why every piece of furniture has a specific function. Your bed should be used just to sleep, or have sex, and similarly, your toilet should be used to only take a leak or a dump. Gregory Thorkelson, a psychiatrist in the department of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh told Men’s Health that 10 to 15 minutes are more than enough to finish your business every day. According to experts, you really should only be going to the bathroom if you have the urge to poop.
If you’ve been going in regardless and spend more than 15 minutes forcing the excrements out of your body, you might actually develop haemorrhoid—which is when the veins around your anus start to swell up, and in some cases there can be pain and even bleeding.
Entertainment in the bathroom
Some people have made the toilet their sacred space to read their newspapers, play a game, or scroll through social media. However, doing this could actually prevent you from pooping.
Why is that? Because the urge to excrete comes in progressive waves called the peristalsis wave. It moves your stool along your bowel and once it hits your rectum, you feel the sudden need to relieve yourself. If you don’t go as soon as that feeling hits, your stool may then go back into your colon and it'll be harder to poop after that.
So, to defecate with more efficiency just wait for the next wave to arrive—it may take a couple of hours but you’ll be in and out of the toilet in no time and you won’t have to push for dear life.
