Using Your Smartphone While on the Toilet Could Increase Risk of Hemorrhoids
Time for the toilet often looks like the perfect little break of our day to check the news, scrolling social media, reading emails or performing other telephone tasks. But what happens if you extend your bathroom visit longer that necessary has a risk for your health?
A new study by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston found a link between the use of smartphones during toilet visits and the risk of hemorrhoids, a hypothesis that had circulated in the medical field for years but lacked scientific support.
The results, published in Plos aCan help healthcare professionals inform patients of the risk of something as relaxed as checking your phone.
Hemorrhoid risks on the toilet
When the veins inside or outside the rectum swell, it can become uncomfortable or even painful to sit on the toilet. Hemorrhoids are a common condition, affecting people from all walks of life. In fact, more patients are looking for hemorrhoid treatment each year than taking care of irritable colon syndrome (IBS), inflammatory intestine disease (such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis), or colon cancer, increasing around 4 million visits to the doctor per year in the United States in the United States in the United States
The known risk factors of hemorrhoids include a low fiber diet, pregnancy, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. Another behavioral factor is extended sitting on the toilet. “Normal” bathroom visits should not require more than five minutes, and staying longer can increase the pressure on the rectal veins, causing hemorrhoids.
For years, doctors have warned against reading the newspapers on the toilet. These days, much fewer people wear a newspaper in the bathroom, but many reach their phones rather. Despite clear evidence that spending additional time on the toilet increases the risk of hemorrhoid, studies specifically focused on the use of smartphones have been rare.
Learn more: Squatting paper and toilets will not protect you from germs of public toilets
Smartphones users are sitting for too long on the toilet
To fill the lake of knowledge, the research team invited 125 adults to undergo a colonoscopy and answer questions about their lifestyle and their toilet habits. Overall, hemorrhoids were found in 43% of participants.
The survey results revealed that 66% of adults said they used their phone during the toilet. After a statistical analysis, the researchers suggested that smartphones users presented a risk of 46% higher hemorrhoids compared to non-users, even after adjustment for other risk factors.
The time spent on the toilet seems to explain a large part of the difference: more than a third of smartphones users were seated longer than the recommended five minutes. On the other hand, only about 7% of non-telephone users remained beyond this brand.
Leave the smartphone outside the bathroom
Unlike other studies, it has not found a link between stresses when moving the intestines and the risk of hemorrhoid. But on the basis of their results, the researchers recommend limiting the use of the phone in the bathroom, as the hemorrhoid connection was clear.
Although hemorrhoids are common and not always avoidable, bathroom breaks can help reduce your chances. The research team hopes that their work will guide the future recommendations of doctors.
“It is incredibly easy to waste track of time when we scroll through our smartphones – popular applications are entirely designed for this purpose,” said Trisha Pasricha, author of the main study, in a press release. “We always discover the many ways in which smartphones and our modern lifestyle have an impact on our health. It is possible that how and where we use them – as in the bathroom – can have unexpected consequences. ”
This article does not offer medical advice and should be used for information purposes only.
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