Earlier, when newspapers were in trend, people took them into the toilet to read the latest information in peace, when magazines took their place, and now, as smartphones rule the world, they have replaced magazines.
Everyone today knows the impact of smartphones on today’s generation. We all need to have it with us all the time. But the impact it has on our body is rarely known.
Whenever we discuss about the harmful effects of smartphones, we usually talk about their effects on our mind, our eyes or our attention span. But little do we talk about its effect on gastrointestinal disease – haemorrhoids, which is 3rd most common outpatient gastrointestinal diagnosis with nearly 4 million office and emergency department visits annually and over $800 million annually in healthcare expenditure.
Even though its patient ratio is higher than other gastrointestinal diseases like colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, diverticular disease or inflammatory bowel disease, there are very few identifiable risk factors for its development.
What is a haemorrhoid?
Haemorrhoids, famously known as piles, are the swollen veins in the anus area and lower rectum. They can be internal haemorrhoids – developed inside the rectum, or external haemorrhoids– developed under the skin around the anus. Thrombosed haemorrhoids– caused when an external haemorrhoid forms a clot after a blood pool in it.
Common symptoms can be pain, itching and rectal bleeding.
The relation between using a smartphone in the toilet and haemorrhoids:
After a study was conducted about the correlation of using smartphones in the toilet and haemorrhoids, where a total of 125 adult participants completed a survey regarding their smartphone habits while using the toilet, the presence of haemorrhoids was seen in 43% of the participants when visualised on colonscopy.
Most of the participants who used smartphones were younger than non-smartphone users, and their MET (metabolic equivalent time) was significantly less than that of non-users.
Among smartphone users on the toilet, the majority (55.4%) used it most of the time, around 40% used it 1-2 times per week, and very few used it 1-2 times per month.
Among those who used it most of the time, approximately 37.3% used it for more than 5 minutes per visit to the toilet.
Among users, the most common reasons for using smartphones were reading ‘news’ (54.3%), then ‘social media’ (44.4%).
While it is a general saying that one should minimise toilet sitting, this study suggests that using a smartphone might add to the sitting time of people in the toilet, which can be one of the contributing factors to haemorrhoids.
Dr. Sudhir Kumar, MD, DM, explains this research in his YouTube channel and asks his subscribers to minimise toilet sitting to prevent haemorrhoids
How does prolonged sitting cause haemorrhoids?
As we are sitting on the toilet for a long time, the blood circulation in the rectal vein is increased, which over time causes extra pressure and eventually increases the risk of swollen and painful haemorrhoids. As shown by the above study, we saw that using smartphones in the toilet can prolong toilet use, hence it might cause haemorrhoids.
Some healthy tips to avoid haemorrhoids
- Consume more fibre, vegetables, fruits and whole grains so the stools are soft and will help reduce straining.
- Stay hydrated.
- Maintain an active lifestyle.
- Avoid taking your phone to the toilet.
- Try to minimise toilet sitting under 5 min.
Our day-to-day small habits sometimes can affect us in a severe way. A few extra minutes in the toilet scrolling socials or reading news seems nothing, but these extra minutes can add up to cause something severe. We must always check on our daily mundane activities and try to protect our health.
