The asian squat

[DrZoidberg]

I've heard many times that it's great to squat when pooping. That's the sales pitch for squaty potty. It keeps getting repeated all the time.

But is it? If it is good, then asians should have less problems associated with it. Do they? Does anybody know of a study of this type? I didn't find anything.

On a related note, professional athletes tend to die young. Especially marathon runners do not live long lives. It's not at all a healthy lifestyle. Somehow this information gets left out a lot. It's just treated as a given that the more sports the better for our health. But that's not at all true. It's very bad to never do sports. But we don't have to do much physical activity to ace it.

 

[bilby]

Yeah, advertising is a very poor source of information about reality.

And anything taken to extremes is likely to do more harm than good. There are very few "good" or "bad" activities or behaviours. Mostly it's things we don't do enough of, and things we do too much.

The dose makes the poison, and good/bad is almost always a false dichotomy. Which are a dreadful way of trying to understand reality, but an excellent way to sell stuff to dupes.

Cosmetics advertising is a quagmire of pseudoscience and sciency-sounding drivel. But it certainly sells lots of product. And for many people, it's a close to "science" as they ever get.

 

[Jarhyn]

So, the number one scatological tip I have learned across my life has nothing to do with squatting and everything to do with how you breath.

Just poop while inhaling deeply.

It's that simple.

Don't hold your breath, but rather actively inhale with an open mouth while tightening your core lightly.

If it doesn't go on the first inhale, just relax and try again.

I used to have hemorrhoid issues, but not since I learned "pooping on the inhale".

 

[spikepipsqueak]

Both squatting and "pooping on the inhale" are probably to do with extra compression giving your smooth intestinal muscles a little bit of help.

Certainly can't hurt and is better than straining.

There are lots of yoga disciplines that advocate squatting and bending, just as a general thing, to give the liver a gentle massage.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Both squatting and "pooping on the inhale" are probably to do with extra compression giving your smooth intestinal muscles a little bit of help.

Certainly can't hurt and is better than straining.

There are lots of yoga disciplines that advocate squatting and bending, just as a general thing, to give the liver a gentle massage.

I was asking about studies on it. You're just repeating what I said

 

[James Brown]

"Don't strain" was the advice I was given long ago. If you're red-in-the-face straining, then your body isn't ready to move your bowels. Try again later.

Straining is a recipe for hemorrhoids.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I've just reread your post and I didn't repeat anything you said. It may have been what you were thinking, but it's not in your post.

Don't take your snotty mood out on me. I'm not in the mood for it.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

I thought this thread was going to be about the science-based health benefits of a squat variant exercise analogous to the sumo deadlift.

 

[steve_bank]

In days of old
when knights were bold
and toilets were not invented,
they laid their load
along the road
and went on their way contented.

Why do squat toilets still exist?


Today, a majority of public toilets in China — both in the north and in the south — are squat toilets. This is mainly because squatting toilets cost less to build and maintain than seated ones.Jan 16, 2018

Are squat toilets better for you?
Why squatting for toileting function is good for health
Research indicates that people who squat report less straining and take less time to go (Sikirov, 2003). Other studies have shown that adopting a squat position when pooing lowers abdominal pressure, suggesting this position requires less effort for bowel emptying (Tashiro et al, 2020).Jul 15, 2021

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Health promotion and prevention of bowel disorders through toilet designs: A myth or reality? - PubMed

Now, lifestyle diseases are quite common globally. The risk factors of lifestyle diseases such as sedentary habits, lack of physical exercise, and lack of fiber result in the development of noncommunicable diseases. However, when the point of discussion slightly shifted toward toilet habits, it...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Loren Pechtel]

In days of old
when knights were bold
and toilets were not invented,
they laid their load
along the road
and went on their way contented.

Why do squat toilets still exist?


Today, a majority of public toilets in China — both in the north and in the south — are squat toilets. This is mainly because squatting toilets cost less to build and maintain than seated ones.Jan 16, 2018

Are squat toilets better for you?
Why squatting for toileting function is good for health
Research indicates that people who squat report less straining and take less time to go (Sikirov, 2003). Other studies have shown that adopting a squat position when pooing lowers abdominal pressure, suggesting this position requires less effort for bowel emptying (Tashiro et al, 2020).Jul 15, 2021

I will also add that the only contact between the user and a squat toilet is the bottom of their shoes. In conditions of poor cleaning this is superior.

 

[steve_bank]

Toilet seats keep us in touch with our humanity.

In media reporting there is an endless streamof claims based on studies to do one thing or another or not to do one thing or another, or to eat one thing or anoter.

It is the 'wellness industry'.

 

[Tristan Scott]

It is possible to have your seat and your squat if you use a squatty pottyTM.

 

[DrZoidberg]

In days of old
when knights were bold
and toilets were not invented,
they laid their load
along the road
and went on their way contented.

But because the entire army did this, they then all got dysentery and died. Fun fact, since they did not know what caused scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) and night blindness (vitamin A deficiency) and they lived on a diet that was 99% grains, (bread or poridge) they would all have chronic symptoms. More or less. But when a person with scurvy or night blindness also gets dysentery = rapid death.

Why do squat toilets still exist?


Today, a majority of public toilets in China — both in the north and in the south — are squat toilets. This is mainly because squatting toilets cost less to build and maintain than seated ones.Jan 16, 2018

Are squat toilets better for you?
Why squatting for toileting function is good for health
Research indicates that people who squat report less straining and take less time to go (Sikirov, 2003). Other studies have shown that adopting a squat position when pooing lowers abdominal pressure, suggesting this position requires less effort for bowel emptying (Tashiro et al, 2020).Jul 15, 2021

Sure, but do we have no data on that that added abdominal pressure leads to any problem long term?

Here's a specific one. Hemorroids. I'm going to assume the health issue most affected by abdominal pressure.

Here's a study across the world, showing that hemorroid occurances hit 7-14 % across the world. Being in your 40'ies is the biggest factor. Excercising, smoking, drinking or having had a baby are other major factors. Squatting when you poop, doesn't seem to be a factor at all.

https://becarispublishing.com/doi/10.2217/cer-2020-0159#:~:text=The%20prevalence%20of%20hemorrhoidal%20disease%20ranged%20from%206%20to%207,Hungary%20and%2011%25%20in%20Spain.

 

[DrZoidberg]

BTW, you can simmulate a squating toilet on a normal toilet. Just bend forward as far as you can when you sit. Then you magically have a squatting position.

 

[Bronzeage]

Anecdote related to the thread title, but not the thread:
In European military history, it was common for a single soldier to guard a fairly large group of recently captured prisoners by making them all squat. This made it difficult for them to stand up quickly and after about a minute, it would take several minutes of stretching before they could comfortably walk or run. This worked fine until the US Army fought the Philippine Insurrection. A sentry could watch over a couple dozen squatting Philippine prisoners, but if he was distracted for a moment, they could all take off like a flock of pigeons.

 

[steve_bank]

From a bio I read of Gandhi, it was common in his day to crap any place.

Rural IndiAns were dumb as rocks and crapped near water sources. To make a point he would publicly carry poop in his hands to a latrine in a village.

I'd have to look up the mane and date. A Brit in London solved the source of a cholera problem. He simply started putting pins on a map for reported cases. He tracked it down to human waste and drinking water.

The Aztecs had public outhouses along the road and composted for fertilizer.

The ancient Romans had running water in the city and public toilets. Becjes with holes, upon which there were deep thoughts and conversations undoubtedly.

I watched a show last night on a series Lost Worlds. The episode looked at the history of Edinborough and possible inspirations for Stevenson's Jekyll And Hide.

The old city at the time was disgusting as most crowded European cities probably were . People threw human waste and garbage out the window into te streets.

We do not appreciate modern sewers hooked up to all buildings by law.

The Crapper Convienience. Fortunes were made in toilets and urinals.

Who Really Invented The Toilet? Inside The Surprisingly Complicated Answer

While flushing toilets were standardized in the Victorian era, the technology behind them is nearly 500 years old.

allthatsinteresting.com

 

[Bronzeage]

From a bio I read of Gandhi, it was common in his day to crap any place.

Rural IndiAns were dumb as rocks and crapped near water sources. To make a point he would publicly carry poop in his hands to a latrine in a village.

I'd have to look up the mane and date. A Brit in London solved the source of a cholera problem. He simply started putting pins on a map for reported cases. He tracked it down to human waste and drinking water.

The Aztecs had public outhouses along the road and composted for fertilizer.

The ancient Romans had running water in the city and public toilets. Becjes with holes, upon which there were deep thoughts and conversations undoubtedly.

I watched a show last night on a series Lost Worlds. The episode looked at the history of Edinborough and possible inspirations for Stevenson's Jekyll And Hide.

The old city at the time was disgusting as most crowded European cities probably were . People threw human waste and garbage out the window into te streets.

We do not appreciate modern sewers hooked up to all buildings by law.

The Crapper Convienience. Fortunes were made in toilets and urinals.

Who Really Invented The Toilet? Inside The Surprisingly Complicated Answer

While flushing toilets were standardized in the Victorian era, the technology behind them is nearly 500 years old.

allthatsinteresting.com

Plumbing is the foundation of all civilization. Fresh water must be brought in and sewage must be channeled out. Without flowing water, there is a finite number of people who can live on an acre of land, and it's a fairly low number.

As you said, disease will modulate the population.

 

[DrZoidberg]

From a bio I read of Gandhi, it was common in his day to crap any place.

Rural IndiAns were dumb as rocks and crapped near water sources. To make a point he would publicly carry poop in his hands to a latrine in a village.

Gandhi was a middle class lawyer. Not a farmer. What the fuck did he know about rural life?

Urbanites have a bad habit of making fun of rurals. They/we take stuff out of context and are often ignorant about the basic realities of the outdoors. When modernity and science got started fancy scientists would routinely go out to the country with a clever new idea, try it out, and it would almost always turn into a complete disaster. Because, while the rurals might not understand the theory behind a practice, their ancestors had told them that it was really important to keep doing a thing. The scientist then learned why.

An improved farming technique actually turning out to be an improvement is an extreme outlier. Very very rarely did these ever work out in the long run.

A good modern example is environmentalism. Most ideas we try out are dumb, even on paper.

I know that by tradition rural Indians first boiled anything they ate or drank. Which would take care of the problem with poop contamination.

I'd have to look up the mane and date. A Brit in London solved the source of a cholera problem. He simply started putting pins on a map for reported cases. He tracked it down to human waste and drinking water.

Yes, John Snow. But a more important factor to his work is what his opponents were in this debate. The defenders of Miasmatic theory had all the power in the government, as well as in the educational world. The guys supporting the infectious disease theory were actively fought and harrassed. Why is a complicated story. But John Snow's biggest contribution was to put up with the harrassement and stick to his guns. The Miasmatic theory was defended by one of the few conspiracies that didn't turn out to be bullshit.

The story and the debate is bizarre. We've had all the evidence we need proving Germ Theory since Imhotep. The resistance against it has been other stuff than just stupidity.

Miasma theory - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Germ theory of disease - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Diseases and epidemics of the 19th century - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Aztecs had public outhouses along the road and composted for fertilizer.

The ancient Romans had running water in the city and public toilets. Becjes with holes, upon which there were deep thoughts and conversations undoubtedly.

I watched a show last night on a series Lost Worlds. The episode looked at the history of Edinborough and possible inspirations for Stevenson's Jekyll And Hide.

The old city at the time was disgusting as most crowded European cities probably were . People threw human waste and garbage out the window into te streets.

We do not appreciate modern sewers hooked up to all buildings by law.

The Crapper Convienience. Fortunes were made in toilets and urinals.

Who Really Invented The Toilet? Inside The Surprisingly Complicated Answer

While flushing toilets were standardized in the Victorian era, the technology behind them is nearly 500 years old.

allthatsinteresting.com

Yes, the story of plumbing is the story of civilisation. I agree that it's fascinating.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Plumbing is the foundation of all civilization. Fresh water must be brought in and sewage must be channeled out. Without flowing water, there is a finite number of people who can live on an acre of land, and it's a fairly low number.

As you said, disease will modulate the population.

Flowing water is also how trade goods were transported. Without a river, I don't think it's possible to have a Yea Olde Time city. They wouldn't have been able to get food in to feed everyone.

Ancient or medieval cities weren't places you moved to because things were going well for you in life. Anyone with any means did their best to avoid cities. And they received a matching amount of love from their local lord. It wasn't until (the above mentioned John Snow's work) that cities had a sustainable mortality rate. Their existence were completely dependent on peasants continually running away from or being pushed off their ancestral lands, an in desperation migrated to a city. Which is why cities could get almost completely emptied of people following a particularly hard hitting plague.

Another way to put it, ancient and medeival cities acted like sewers for people. It's were the human refuse ended up. Cities being pleasant places to live, and even desireable to live in, is a very new development for humanity.