#45 - Defacation

I would love to see your face when you find out that we are going to talk about pooping. Don't be deceived, as the majority of people in the western world, don't really know the proper posture for doing their 'private' business.

Defecation. This is the natural process of living organisms in order to discharge waste from the body. When people do their business in the toilet while sitting, they often are not aware of the amount of load they put on their colon and rectal muscles.

Even though it seems so simple, short, and painless business, the reality is more complicated than that. Pooping is a very essential function of the body - to get rid of biological waste products.

Normally you sit on the toilet seat with your feet on the floor, knees at the level of your hips depending on the height of your toilet. But not everyone does that, although it's weird to say, the modern style of living is far from the way how our bodies are designed.

Colon blockage isn't just uncomfortable - it can cause health problems.

Where proper position may prevent:

• constipation,

• bloating,

• haemorrhoids.

Funny enough it will also decrease time spent, eliminate strain and increase emptiness.

This week we will facilitate a posture that is conducive for healthy bowel movement.

The most natural position is when you squat down to defecate, meaning that your knees bent and heels almost touching buttocks. Maybe you’ll be surprised, but there are toilets which look like a hole on the floor with ceramic bowls and space for legs.

This is one of the differences between Western and Eastern cultures, whereas westerners usually sit on the toilet (where the person’s knees and hips are aligned forming a 90-degree angle), and Easterns squat on floor-bowl like toilets (where the person’s knees are above their hips, forming an almost 45-degree angle with the knees).

Everybody poops, but not many people know how to properly do it for their own good and health. Although there are no million ways of defecating, there are definitely poses to do it correctly. By correctly I mean without clotting intestines or excessively straining. One can do it either by sitting or squatting. We’ll look closely at the benefits of squatting pose, since there is not much to teach about sitting pose while doing your purifying business on the toilet.

Sitting

The “sitting defecation posture” is a 90-degree angle sitting. The problem with the sitting pose is that it causes a curve or sharp twist of your intestines in your lower bowel. That forces you to work harder to push out the poop that’s why you strain.

Colon is equipped with an inlet valve (the ileocecal valve) and an outlet valve (the puborectalis muscle). Sitting position puts pressure on the puborectalis muscle causing incontinence and defeats the purpose of valves, making elimination difficult and incomplete, and increasing the risk of waste backing up into the small intestine which is bad.

However, you can still be sitting and easing the process in the “Thinker” position with the upper body bent forward and elbows on knees. It is a good position for defecating if you want to improve your intestinal condition. It is also for constipated patients to finally have a successful bowel movement.

Squatting moves your colon into the ideal position to go without straining. Many believe the correct position to poop is squatting because the flexion within our hips allows our recto-anal canal to straighten.

Squatting makes pooping easier and faster:

Squatting lifts the sigmoid colon to unlock the “kink” at the entrance to the rectum. This kink also helps prevent incontinence, by taking some of the pressure off the puborectalis muscle allowing the anorectal angle to straighten, and the bowel to empty completely. This position relaxes your puborectalis muscle and straightens out the colon. Simultaneously closing the inlet valve to keep waste from pushing back up into the small intestine, and opens the outlet valve giving the excrements a straight route out. As a result, you can go more easily with less straining. When in the squatting position, gravity does the most of the work. The weight of the torso presses against the thighs and naturally compresses the colon. Gentle pressure from the diaphragm supplements the force of gravity that’s why it’s called the natural way in some cultures when compared to sitting.

The very simple way to go for the best pooping position without demolishing your golden throne - to put a small stool under your feet. You really don't have to go straight shopping for a new pooping accessory, simple water bucket will do the work.

This is actually an interesting bit of history. As you all know, America was founded by Europeans who traveled across the sea in search of a “New World”. The country adopted many customs from the British, including the use of tissue paper.

In old Britain, the people often associated bidets with brothels, where they were mostly used, and thus, considered bidets to be “dirty”.

Realising the drawbacks of tissue paper and overall environmental awareness of people that has risen since the last decade, more and more individuals are now being encouraged to use bided seats, attachments, or sprayers to reduce toilet paper use.

Using only tissue can lead to injuries: the skin on the anus is quite thin and delicate. Moreover, dry toilet paper can be abrasive depending on which brands you use. This is why wiping too many times, or any harsh action could lead to painful tears and bleeding.

Using only toilet paper to clean yourself also means using a lot of toilet paper. Did you know that just one roll is made by using about 140 litres, making tissue also involves the pulping of millions of trees, and using tonnes of chlorine? On top of that, think about the amount of electricity that goes into all that processing, as well as the amounts of energy and materials used in packaging and transporting the rolls of paper to retail outlets. There is so much paper being used weekly, billions and trillions that could be potentially spared if we think globally. Besides that obvious environmental impact, tissue paper is also known to clog plumbing and force the city’s sewer systems and water treatment making plants work much harder.

Some assume that using only tissue to wipe basically means you’re just smearing that faecal matter around without actually cleaning the area.

On top of it, connect perfumes, chlorine, and other god knows what substances which get in very close connection with gentle part of your body.

Washing it with water and soap thoroughly cleans the area of any trace of faeces, then you’ll be finishing that off with a wipe or tissue paper to dry, leaving the backsides to feel cleaner and fresher after every poop.

They say the best is to use a combination of water to wash and tissue to dry, then, of course, wash your hands with soap in the sink.

Washing with water is actually the ideal way to clean yourself after using the bathroom for a number of reasons:

• Using a bidet to wash your nether region can be more comfortable than toilet paper, especially for people who just had surgery, given birth, or experience irritable bowel syndrome.

• Many hemorrhoidectomy patients claim that using a water spray was significantly more convenient and satisfying.

• Water pressure from bidets (if you have access to one) helps reduce the pain from increased pressure at the anus due to anorectal diseases, and thus, also aids the process of pooping.

Those who wash or use the bidet are much less likely to have issues with rashes, discomfort and irritation. Washing is when you’ll be using about 500ml of water from the bidet after pooping instead of wiping.

For the vaginal area, washing is also gentler than wiping with dry toilet paper. As for women who are concerned about disrupting the bacterial balance in the vagina from using the spray from a bidet, this is unlikely to happen. Although, Japanese women shared that frequent use of bidets could interrupt the normal bacterial flora in the vagina and lead to infection.

Nowadays many have been happily cleaning their bums with water, while others only realising the benefits of washing with water.

Squatting is a better pose to defecate since there is not much pressure in the belly and is also lower in this position, which could be a sign you're not straining as much.

People strain less and empty their bowels more completely than when they sit on the toilet. By making it easier to poop, squatting might ease constipation and prevent hemorrhoids, which are often a result of straining. Statistics show that there are lower rates of these conditions in Asian and African countries.

That could have something to do with their diet or with squatting. X-rays taken during studies show that the rectum does straighten out more when you squat. If you want to squat, you don't have to buy a stool.

Just bend your knees and hips deeply. But a stool can make it easier to get into position. When people use posture-changing devices to squat, studies show, they go more quickly. You can use domestic tools to make it easier for you, and remember to take the correct position when going to the toilet. Children’s stool 20 - 30cm height, a medium-size bucket, or small feet stand could do the job.

For people who are often constipated, a squatting device could replace laxatives and other medicines.

There don't seem to be any risks to using these foot-stools. You could have a medical condition that a squat alone won't fix. Also, foot-stools may be especially helpful for older adults with joint issues and help you to go easier.

It seems like a strange topic to discuss, but it is as important as doing your assessment for your job. So go ahead and try that if you can access utilities described above, like washing your anus after number 2 and squatting while you poop.

Or, who knows, maybe you invent a new and healthier way?