OK, internet.
You asked, so now we’re answering.
Pooping.
It’s a thing people do all the time – normally somewhere between three times a day and once
every three days.
And you may have heard that you’ve been doing it wrong: you’re supposed to squat,
not sit!
Or so they say.
It’s probably true that squatting can help make bowel movements slightly easier.
But, despite what some people claim, changing your position won’t solve all your digestive
problems.
Humans spent thousands of years squatting to defecate – it’s only in the last few
hundred years that people in Western countries have adopted the raised toilet, and started
sitting instead.
So, this whole poop-position controversy is based on the idea that squatting must arrange
your anatomy in a helpful way, because that’s what our bodies evolved to do.
On its way out of you, solid waste has to pass through your rectum, and then your anal
canal.
There’s a muscle, called the puborectalis muscle, that loops around your digestive tract
between those two sections, and it helps keep poop inside you when you aren’t trying to
eliminate it.
Basically, it makes an angle between your rectum and anal canal, which puts upward pressure
on your rectum and holds everything in.
And when the muscle relaxes, your rectum and anal canal straighten out a bit, which – along
with other muscles that relax and contract – lets stuff … slide out.
It’s probably not surprising that there hasn’t been too much research on the anatomy
involved in pooping.
But a few small studies say that squatting helps align your rectum and anal canal better
than sitting does.
A couple others have shown that when people squat instead of sit, they have to strain
less and the elimination process takes less time.
Again, these studies were small.
One used 28 volunteers, and another used only 6.
So, it’s enough to suggest that there might be something to these ideas, but bigger, more
carefully controlled studies need to be done before this can be considered scientific fact.
But!
– no pun intended – if squatting does make things easier, it’s possible that it
also helps with hemorrhoids.
Hemorrhoids are swollen veins near the anus and rectum, which can be painful and lead
to itching and bleeding.
And they’re often caused by too much straining when you poop.
So if squatting does help with straining, it could make hemorrhoids less likely – but
that’s basically all we know about the potential benefits.
There are companies that sell stools to help you pass your … stool, and they sometimes
make really exaggerated claims – for example, squatting will fix irritable bowel syndrome
or even prevent colorectal cancer.
There’s just no evidence to support those claims.
Gastrointestinal experts seem to agree that if your bowel movements are normal, there’s
no real reason to squat when you go.
There’s probably no harm in it, either, but if you’re happy with the way you’ve
been pooping until now, there’s no need to change up your methods.
But, you know, thanks for asking.
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