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How bathroom posture affects your health.

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Re: How bathroom posture affects your health.

#81

Post by eru »

cmurphycode wrote: post #41
edanm wrote: post #19

I was told once that in China, people squat a lot more than in the West. Both for toilet use, but also just for "sitting down" somewhere. Example: I was told that upon seeing a bench, whereas westerners would normally sit on it, a Chinese person will squat on it. This supposedly also makes their legs much stronger. Can anyone confirm this?

This is the stereotypical Asian squat. Interestingly, young children do it by default. I think we lose flexibility as we age. I can't squat back on my heels without straining my shin muscles to keep from falling backwards, but the more I do it, the easier it becomes. It is certainly a lot healthier for your knees than squatting on the balls of your feet, if only because your knees stay roughly on the same vertical as…

Yes. But the loss of flexibility does not come automatically with age. If you keep moving, you will keep your flexibility. And you can get it back with practice.

Re: How bathroom posture affects your health.

#82

Post by rue »

khafra wrote: post #78
rue wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't imagine squating in a normal sit toilet, that's just dangerous. Only if you have trouble supporting your bulk, be it due to obesity or lack of muscle conditioning. Or balance issues, obviously.

Are you imaginining standing on the seat, standing on the rim, or standing on the ground in a martial arts horse stance? Because I can see significant possible problems with all of these. (technically, problems with the last would be due to "lack of muscle conditioning," but not many people are conditioned well enough to stay in a horse stance for long).

The rim. The seat, provided it is solidly built and attached. Anecdotally I feel quite stable either way.

Edit: the trick to perching on various narrow surfaces, for me, is to have the heel on one side an the ball of the foot on the other. "Gripping" as it were.

Re: How bathroom posture affects your health.

#83

Post by eru »

munchhausen wrote: post #73
gojomo wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The public squat toilets I've seen have been more of a mess than public sit toilets, and the standing area can be as bad as the porcelain rim of a sit toilet -- a place I would not choose to step. So while more sanitary under ideal proper use, in public places they appear to me less sanitary, at least in their effect on all floors nearby. I wonder if this contributes to the higher rates of hepatitis and related illne…

> I wonder if this contributes to the higher rates of hepatitis and related illnesses in Asia -- and that in turn to the custom of removing shoes before entering households. Removing shoes before entering households is standard practice in quite a few (most?) European countries as well, so I imagine it is not related to higher rates of hepatitis and subsequent fear of infection. (Frankly, from a subjective viewpoint,…

It's customary to remove your shoes in at least Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. British people are strange. They keep their shoes on.

Re: How bathroom posture affects your health.

#84

Post by k3dz »

sliverstorm wrote: post #55
hugh3 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it sounds like this guy has some kind of specific problem, which maybe squatting can relieve. I looked him up, assuming he might be an old guy, but he appears to be early-to-mid 20s, meaning that spending ten minutes just to take a crap on a regular basis is not normal.

What if he has a good book on hand? I've been known to spend hours in there due to good books. It gets very uncomfortable, but you just can't put the book down!

>>I've been known to spend hours in there due to good books.

http://sheddingbikes.com/posts/1281257293.html

Re: How bathroom posture affects your health.

#85

Post by pbhjpbhj »

eru wrote: post #72
bombs wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ruins of Leptis Magna, Roman ruins dating from 1100 BCE–650 CE, features sit-down toilets. http://www.flickr.com/photos/libyan_soup/650693182/

I have heard people argue, that the Roman toilets were for squatting on top.

Like wikipedia.

>the Roman toilets were probably elevated to raise them above open sewers, rather than for sitting.

However in the image http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ostia-Toilets.JPG accompanying one can see that this would mean that the Romans were wasting a lot of well prepared stone building the toilets twice as high as needed (note the extra stone below the opening).

One thought was that this could be an economy of parts, the "seat" and front pieces appear same-dimensioned - but then I noticed that the bottom part has a corner that the top part didn't and so in this instance that theory appears unsound.

Given the Romans amazing engineering prowess I can't see them wasting materials like this in order to make the toilets harder to use.

http://books.google.com/books?id=RIRlPwAACAAJ&printsec=f... appears to be the major ref on Wikipedia and is widely cited in scientific papers but unfortunately I can't find a place to read it online (and don't have a copy!).

Edit: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0715638505?ie=UTF8&tag=... "Latrinae Et Foricae: Toilets in the Roman World" clearly, to me, shows a Roman toilet as a seat on the front (my posterior would fit but my feet wouldn't fit either side of the hole to squat). Review - http://bloggingpompeii.blogspot.com/2009/12/latrinae-et-fori...

Re: How bathroom posture affects your health.

#86

Post by RossM »

frossie wrote: post #57
kingkawn wrote: post #54

My grandfather, a physicist, had many odd friends. One of them was a Brit who in the 1950's invented a toilet that permitted squatting. He said of the work, "I believe the savages had it right all along." The toilet was never produced.

One of them was a Brit who in the 1950's invented a toilet that permitted squatting I do believe I have seen somewhere a flyer by the British National Health Service advocating putting one's feet on a (step)stool in order to achieve a more optimal position when using a traditional toilet. So perhaps his legacy lives on. (I am too scared to try and google for proof).

> advocating putting one's feet on a (step)stool in order to achieve a more optimal position when using a traditional toilet

I haven't seen the NHS flyer but I have seen a photo of a sign from Japan indicating that this is a good idea (also that you should rest your elbows on your knees and bulge your stomach out). I think it certainly helps things (this has got to be the oddest thread I've seen on HN in a while).

Re: How bathroom posture affects your health.

#87

Post by oihuyjfrgtdfghj »

eru wrote: post #83
munchhausen wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder if this contributes to the higher rates of hepatitis and related illnesses in Asia -- and that in turn to the custom of removing shoes before entering households. Removing shoes before entering households is standard practice in quite a few (most?) European countries as well, so I imagine it is not related to higher rates of hepatitis and subsequent fear of infection. (Frankly, from a subjective viewpoint,…

It's customary to remove your shoes in at least Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. British people are strange. They keep their shoes on.

Until they move to Canada - then they remove them again. I always got looks for removing my shoes at work, it's much more comfortable to wear socks.

Re: How bathroom posture affects your health.

#88

Post by eru »

oihuyjfrgtdfghj wrote: post #87
eru wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's customary to remove your shoes in at least Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. British people are strange. They keep their shoes on.

Until they move to Canada - then they remove them again. I always got looks for removing my shoes at work, it's much more comfortable to wear socks.

I often remove the socks, too. Depends on the temperature.

Re: How bathroom posture affects your health.

#89

Post by eru »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #85
eru wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have heard people argue, that the Roman toilets were for squatting on top.

Like wikipedia. > the Roman toilets were probably elevated to raise them above open sewers, rather than for sitting. However in the image http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ostia-Toilets.JPG accompanying one can see that this would mean that the Romans were wasting a lot of well prepared stone building the toilets twice as high as needed (note the extra stone below the opening). One thought was that this could be an e…

Thanks for the investigation.

Perhaps the Romans started out squatting, and later changed to sitting. I predict this is the point in time when the rise of the Romans stopped and their fall began. (Tongue-in-cheek.)

Re: How bathroom posture affects your health.

#90

Post by hellweaver666 »

eru wrote: post #83
munchhausen wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder if this contributes to the higher rates of hepatitis and related illnesses in Asia -- and that in turn to the custom of removing shoes before entering households. Removing shoes before entering households is standard practice in quite a few (most?) European countries as well, so I imagine it is not related to higher rates of hepatitis and subsequent fear of infection. (Frankly, from a subjective viewpoint,…

It's customary to remove your shoes in at least Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. British people are strange. They keep their shoes on.

It's not a national custom, but a lot of people do take off their shoes when entering a house. It's the first thing I do when I get home - even more so if it's been raining because we have cream coloured carpets throughout the house and my wife would rip my balls off if I was to walk mud through the house ;)

That said, I quite often take my shoes off at work as well.

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