Stop stepping on the toilet seat! Your toilet seat may be dirtier than the public toilet!

Dirty and unhygienic...this is what many people think of public toilets. In order to avoid direct contact with the toilet seat in the public toilet, many people choose the very difficult method of "stepping on the toilet" when going to the toilet.

For example, a Mr. Song from Hefei, Anhui, recently moved into a shared house. In order to keep things clean, he kept squatting to use the toilet. As a result, the toilet broke as soon as he stepped on it. Fortunately, he was fine.

Image source: Weibo screenshot

There are many news reports about people getting injured because of "stepping on the toilet seat". So, is it really easy to get infectious diseases when using the toilet outside?

Today, let’s talk about toilets…

01

Will you get infected with infectious diseases by using the toilet outside?

First of all, the question that everyone is most concerned about is whether they will be infected with infectious diseases or even sexually transmitted diseases. The answer is:

wrong.

To spread STDs through toilets, at least two conditions must be met:

The previous person who used the toilet had a sexually transmitted disease and left a large amount of fresh body fluids, and the next person who uses it has a wound or genitals that directly contacts the pathogen, but the probability of this happening is almost zero.

Bacteria and viruses need certain conditions to survive. Studies have shown that the smooth surface of toilet seats is not suitable for the growth of germs. HPV, genital warts, syphilis, HIV and other viruses cannot survive for a long time after leaving the human body, so they are generally not transmitted when using the toilet .

The bacteria released during defecation are mainly intestinal bacteria. The main mode of transmission is "fecal-oral" transmission, and skin contact is generally not contagious.

Therefore, you can use clean public toilets with confidence. There is no need to practice horse stance or stand on the toilet to challenge difficult movements, which can easily lead to falls or injuries.

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Many public restrooms now provide disposable toilet paper, which makes the toileting process more reassuring.

02

The toilet seat at home may be dirtier than the public toilet!

Some media have tested the bacteria in public toilets, home toilets, squat toilets, sitting toilets and other different situations. The results show that if the public toilets are disinfected regularly every day, the colonies are significantly less than those in home toilets .

Image source: Weibo @四川观察

This is mainly because people rarely use disinfectant to clean and disinfect the toilet at home every day. Most of them just flush it with water, which has limited effect in removing bacteria.

03

Do you need to close the lid when flushing the toilet?

want!

Rather than touching the toilet seat, what you need to pay more attention to when using the toilet is the flushing process, because flushing will splash fecal particles and bacteria, especially when using a squat toilet.

Squat toilets use direct flushing, and the height of the cyclone they produce can even reach a person's height. The water droplets splash over a wider range, and the number of bacteria is much higher than that of toilets. Toilets generally use siphon flushing, and the splashing situation is much better. However, cyclones are also generated when they are siphoned into the sewer, and there may still be some bacteria.

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04

Is squat toilet more scientific than toilet?

We just mentioned squat toilets and toilets, so a new question arises -

There is a saying circulating on the Internet: "Squatting toilets are more scientific than toilets and are more conducive to defecation?" Is this statement correct?

The answer is: Correct .

Because defecation is actually the process of using intra-abdominal pressure and intestinal peristalsis to expel feces from the body. When you defecate while squatting, the abdominal pressure is greater, which can reduce your own effort, and subjectively feel that defecation is easier. When you defecate while sitting, the abdominal pressure is less, so defecation feels more strenuous.

Healthy adults can choose squatting to force themselves to "get things done quickly". Pregnant women, the elderly, patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and people with insufficient muscle strength and joint injuries are advised to choose sitting toilets .

Because when using squatting, the knee joint bears weight for a long time, which can induce or aggravate knee joint injuries. At the same time, when standing up after squatting for a long time, it is easy to have postural hypotension and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular accidents.

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But one thing is worth noting: sitting on the toilet for too long does increase the incidence of hemorrhoids .

Since the defecation experience of sitting on the toilet is more comfortable, people will naturally prolong their defecation time. Long-term defecation can easily induce diseases such as hemorrhoids and rectal mucosal prolapse.

However, this does not mean that using a toilet will cause hemorrhoids.

As long as you control your bowel movement time, the occurrence of hemorrhoids has no direct relationship with whether you sit or squat on the toilet.

05

How to defecate scientifically and healthily?

The first thing I want to say is, don’t play with your phone when going to the toilet.

Healthy bowel habits should be that no matter you squat or sit, you should finish within 5-10 minutes each time. Do not bring books, newspapers or mobile phones into the bathroom. It is also okay to sit on the sofa and play with your phone after using the toilet as soon as possible.

Furthermore, when sitting on the toilet, you can step on a small stool to help with defecation .

This can simulate the posture of squatting and effectively solve the problem of low abdominal pressure when sitting on the toilet. At this time, the rectal anorectal angle is more conducive to the discharge of stool and speeds up defecation.

When using the toilet outside, compared with standing on the toilet seat, using toilet paper in front of the toilet, wiping the toilet seat with disinfectant, wearing a mask when using the toilet, and covering the lid when flushing the toilet are all safer options.

Expert in this article: Lin Guole, chief physician, professor and doctoral supervisor of basic surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital

This article is compiled from Science Popularization China and Sichuan Observation

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