As many people know, screen time can happen in the unlikeliest of places — including the bathroom. But a new study suggests there's more risk involved in scrolling there than just a filthier phone.
The research, published Wednesday in PLOS One, found an association between smartphone use on the toilet and a higher risk of hemorrhoids. (If you're currently reading this while relieving yourself, we won't be offended if you set your device aside until you're done.)
Prior to conducting the study, the researchers had anecdotal observations that toilet scrolling might contribute to hemorrhoids but no evidence linking the two.
To address the question, the researchers designed a cross-sectional survey of 125 adult colonoscopy patients ages 45 and older. More than 40 percent of those patients had hemorrhoids, according to imaging reviewed as part of their colonoscopy results. Among all the respondents, more than two-thirds used a smartphone while on the toilet.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the people who scrolled in the bathroom reported spending significantly more time there than those who didn't — more than five minutes per visit.
When the researchers controlled for different factors that could affect the development of hemorrhoids, like age, sex, exercise, fiber intake, and straining, they found that smartphone use on the toilet was associated with a 46 percent increased risk of experiencing the painful condition.
While the study didn't establish a direct cause and effect between toilet scrolling and hemorrhoids, co-author Dr. Trisha Pasricha told Mashable that it should draw more attention to an understudied possibility. According to Pasricha, who is a physician and director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Institute for Gut-Brain Research, this study is the first to examine the question.
Pasricha noted that just as experts increasingly tell people not to bring their smartphone to their bedside when they're trying to sleep because it can interfere with their well-being, the same could be done for toilet scrolling.
"I think we should start pushing more strongly to say, 'Leave your smartphone outside the bathroom.'"
Why people scroll on the toilet — and how to stop
More than half of study participants said their most common scrolling activity was reading the news. Forty-four percent said they were viewing social media.
Pasricha, who treats patients with hemorrhoids, said she understands why people pick up their phones on the toilet. The habit can relax some individuals, which helps them have a bowel movement.
Reading analog texts like newspapers and books has long been a bathroom pastime, for example. But Pasricha said smartphones facilitate endless scrolling, which can lead to trouble.
"The smartphone is not the answer, because that's kind of designed to make you lose all track of time and lose focus," Pasricha said.
She added that when the body's pelvic floor is sitting over a bowl, without support for an extended period of time, it could potentially accelerate weakening of the connective tissue around the veins in the rectum. When those veins bulge, they can subsequently become hemorrhoids.
If reading in the bathroom relaxes you enough to have a bowel movement, Pasricha recommends going "old school" with paper-based reading materials, like a newspaper, magazine, or comic book.
She also urges people who think they have hemorrhoids to see a medical professional sooner than later. The condition needs to be evaluated by a physician to ensure that it's indeed a hemorrhoid, and not a skin tag or cancerous growth.
"People do suffer in silence, because it's embarrassing, there's some stigma to it," Pasricha said. "I think it's often a big shame when it's something we can treat so easily."
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