Doctors Warn Against Scrolling On TikTok While On The Shitter To Avoid Haemorrhoids
Doctors have warned against excessive scrolling on TikTok while on the toilet, after a study found those who use their phone on the loo are more likely to have haemorrhoids.
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The study was led by US gastroenterologist Dr Trisha Pasricha, who examined 125 people with haemorrhoids and asked them questions about their toilet-going habits, including how long they spent on the loo, whether they brought their phones, and what apps they used while on sitting upon the porcelain throne.
After a bit of quick toilet math, Pasricha and her colleagues found that those who bring their phones are more likely to enjoy (or endure) longer stints on the toilet, and are therefore 46 per cent more likely to have haemorrhoids than those who have phoneless number twos.
Of the two-thirds of respondents who admitted to scrolling on the shitter, 37 per cent were found to spend more than five minutes getting their business done — and it’s these lengthy poos that make them more susceptible to piles.
That’s because — and excuse me if you’re eating — prolonged (not prolapsed) stints on the toilet lead to increased pressure on anal tissue, in turn exposing yourself to haemorrhoids.
For Pasricha, it’s social media specifically that raises alarm, since the apps are purpose-built for doom scrolling, compared to the toilet-side newspapers or books of the past.
“The whole business model of these apps is to make you lose track of time,” Pasricha told The Guardian.
“Our pre-TikTok ancestors were just reading a newspaper or whatever they could find. It wasn’t distracting to the same level,” she added.
To minimise the risk, Pasricha suggested either going without our phones entirely to “focus on the job” at hand (i.e, ridding yourself of that burrito from lunch), or limiting ourselves to just two TikToks per shit.
“What you shouldn’t be doing is getting so trapped in this cycle of scrolling and watching TikTok that you lose track of why you came here in the first place,” she said.
Better yet, whip out a copy of The New Yorker and become so bored that you forget how to shit in the first place. Or, share a TikTok video of yourself on the loo to give a whole new meaning to the term ‘shitposting’.
But whatever you do, just make sure it’s brief. And wash your hands!
Lead images: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images and YouTube
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