Squat, Don’t Sit

“Squat, don’t sit” should be the rallying cry for all those wanting better health.

We’ve been pooping wrong all along. As it turns outs, sitting while doing the deed is the sneaky culprit in many digestive and colorectal ailments such as hemorrhoids, constipation, colitis and colon cancer. If you don’t suffer from any of these problems, you’re not yet in the clear; gastrointestinal complications are a quickly-rising health risk for people across the globe. Colorectal cancer, for example, now appears among the top five deadliest cancers for all ethnic groups.

A major contributing factor to this epidemic is rapid acculturation, marked by high-fat diets and the increased use of the Western-style toilet. Dietary failure, especially the lack of fiber, was once thought to be the most significant cause of nearly all digestive and colorectal problems, but a new theory, supported and promoted by Stanford’s gastrointestinal and colorectal cancer departments, posits that toilets and toilet posture are the real problem.

In an effort to determine the number one way to go number two, researchers recorded how long and how much effort it took people to do their business. Volunteers used the loo in three alternate positions: sitting on a standard toilet, sitting on a low toilet, and squatting. Squatting took the least time and effort.

The result came as no surprise to some, such as gastroenterologist and co-author of What’s Your Poo Telling You? and What’s My Pee Telling Me? Dr. Sheth Anish.

“There is definitely physiologic sense to squatting,” Shethm states. “Simply put, it straightens out the colon.”

Standing pushes the colon against the puborectalis muscle, the sling-like bundle of fibers that control the anal sphincter and passage of waste. Sitting only partially relaxes the muscle. Squatting fully relaxes the muscle, making for a quick and easy evacuation of the bowels.

Sheth is not the only proponent of squatting; many experts argue that most gastrointestinal complications stem from the sitting and straining people do on the toilet. For this reason the squatting method is also recommended for pregnant women, children and people with Crohn’s disease. Studies have linked the amount of time spent of the toilet to the amount of bowel problems people have.

However, this beckons the question of which came first: the chicken or the egg? Either way, leave the newspaper at the kitchen counter and focus all that brain power you’d otherwise be using to solve the back page crossword puzzle on proper toilet posture. It will do you a lot more good in the long run.