To sit or squat in the toilet?
With modern life comes innovation that our ancestors could not even dream of. We all sometimes dread going up country if you know that you don’t have the modern facilities you enjoy and sometimes take for granted in the city.
Take the example of toilets. We used to squat, then we started to sit, and the latest craze about the modern toilet is the one which cleans you after you’ve done your business. Even the sit cover warms itself for your comfort.
But did you know that we’ve all been using the toilet wrong? If you’re sitting on the toilet reading this, it’s high time you squatted instead.
NO PUSHING, NO WAITING
Here is why. When sitting on the toilet, with knees at a right angle, your puborectalis muscle, the muscle responsible for continence, relaxes only partially.
But in a squatting posture, it releases completely. Basically, we are designed not to leak, so in an upright position, there is a bend in our digestive tracts between the rectum and anus, that stops us from pooping, much like a bend in a garden hose stops the flow of water.
A squat opens the pipes and frees the flow entirely. That’s why folks often need to push when sitting.
But with squatting there is no pushing – no waiting. So why poop through perpendicular plumbing?