Of all the crappy ways smartphones have affected our health, this one is a real kick in the pants.
A first-of-its-kind study links excessive scrolling on the phone while sitting on the toilet with hemorrhoids.
(Insert poo emojis.)
But, seriously. Sitting on an open bowl offers no support for the pelvic floor. That puts pressure on veins in the rectum, making them swollen and inflamed.
“The longer you sit on the toilet, the worse it is for you,” said Dr. Trisha Pasricha, director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Institute for Gut-Brain Research Institute in Boston. Pasricha is also an author of the study, which was published Wednesday in PLOS One.
And smartphones are designed to keep people fixated for as long as possible. “They’re completely consuming to us in ways that wasn’t happening to the casual bathroom reader in the 80s,” Pasricha said. “They could much more easily put the newspaper down and get up and leave.”
Pasricha and colleagues surveyed 125 adults just before they were about to have a routine colonoscopy to screen for colorectal cancer.
Eighty-three (66%) of the participants admitted to using their phones in the bathroom — mostly to catch up on news of the day and scroll through social media.
Gastroenterologists performing the colonoscopies looked for evidence of inflamed veins, or hemorrhoids. People who said they took their phone into the bathroom were 46% more likely to have hemorrhoids compared to the others.
The risk remained even when researchers accounted for other factors associated with hemorrhoids, including dietary fiber, exercise and constipation or straining while using the toilet.
Hemorrhoids aren’t necessarily dangerous, but they can be bothersome, itchy and even painful. They also bleed sometimes, understandably causing concern and leading to nearly 4 million doctor’s office and emergency department visits a year.
Over time, “pelvic floor dysfunction can also lead to incontinence, worsen constipation and be associated with rectal pain,” said Dr. Reezwana Chowdhury, an inflammatory bowel disorder specialist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Chowdhury was not involved with the new research.
What’s more, microscopic particles from urine and feces are sent flying through the air when a toilet is flushed. Taking a phone into the bathroom, Chowdhury said, “is kind of gross.”
Younger patients
In the new study, smartphone users in the bathroom tended to be younger, meaning adults in their 40s and 50s, versus people over age 60.
Dr. Robert Cima, a colorectal surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said he’s noticed an uptick in recent years of people coming in with hemorrhoids.
“I am seeing younger, earlier- and middle-aged people having more hemorrhoidal complaints, but I can’t tie it to smartphones,” said Cima, who was not involved with the new study. “Maybe it’s because they’re using smartphones or they have better access to care or they’re not eating appropriately.”
The 5-minute rule
The experts agreed that business on the toilet should take no longer than 5 minutes.
More than 37% of study participants who used a smartphone in the bathroom stayed for longer than that, compared to 7% of people who kept their phones out of the bathroom.
Pasricha and other experts do not advocate for taking a phone into the bathroom. If you absolutely must, set a timer.
“If the magic is not happening within five minutes, it’s not going to happen,” Pasricha said. “Take a breather and try again later.”
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