Scrolling through TikTok on the toilet could be more than a guilty habit. It may be putting your backside at risk.
A new study suggests smartphones are keeping people on the porcelain throne longer, raising the likelihood of hemorrhoids, especially among younger adults.
Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.
Point phone camera here
What the study found
The study, published Wednesday by PLOS One, reported that people who took their phones into the bathroom were more likely to have hemorrhoids because of the extra time spent sitting. Of the study’s participants, 66% reported regular smartphone use in the bathroom.
Adults in their 40s and 50s reported more smartphone use in the bathroom than people older than 60.
But Dr. Satish Rao, the J. Harold Harrison Distinguished University Chair in Gastroenterology at the Medical College of Georgia, said the study needs more context.
“We sit for hours,” Rao said. “Sitting here and sitting on the toilet is no different. So I think the missing point is where they’re sitting and straining on the toilet.”
Straining, not sitting, is the culprit
Hemorrhoids are vascular cushions near the anal opening. Straining over time can snap the elastic fibers that support them, leaving the vessels swollen and less able to relieve pressure.
Unbiased. Straight Facts.TM
Approximately 50–60% of people have issues with hemorrhoids at some point in their lives.
So the big takeaway is simple: don’t strain. The urge to push hard can come from being in a hurry or even from anxiety.
Rao shared an example.
“When this lady was a little girl, she would like to sit and play on the toilet, but then her parents told her, ‘Don’t sit for a long time. If you sit for a long time, a snake will come and bite you,.’” he said. “So when that kind of an idea was implanted into a little girl, she would push and strain excessively.”
That young woman ended up prolapsing her entire rectum.
Symptoms and misconceptions
Hemorrhoids are not necessarily dangerous, just uncomfortable. Rao said the most common symptom of internal hemorrhoids is easy to recognize.
“The most common cause of rectal bleeding is not colon cancer,” he said. “It is either hemorrhoid bleeding or a fissure or a tear in the opening.”
External hemorrhoids are different. They are often acute, painful and may require surgery.
An author of the PLOS One study, Trisha Pasricha, told NBC News people should implement a five-minute rule on the toilet.
A common condition with many triggers
Harvard Health estimates that by age 50, about half the population has experienced one or more hemorrhoid symptoms.
Other contributors include pregnancy because of pelvic pressure from the baby, straining from heavy lifting and chronic liver disease.
So while scrolling on your phone in the bathroom could lead to straining or added pressure on the veins in your rectal area, experts say it’s more than just sitting for long periods of time.
