Tuesday, July 28, 2015

HEALTH SPECIAL...................... A squatter's rights

A squatter's rights


Toilet postures across time and culture have hidden health implications. Is it better to perch comfortably on the Western throne, or is it time to go back to the good old squatting?

Much of our age-related back problems can be blamed on the fact that man was meant to be on all fours. You can look at it as the price we pay for being bipedal or standing up.
Women give birth lying down, but this posture, too, has been questioned. In fact, history suggests that in the era Before Christ, women gave birth standing, sitting, or kneeling. A famous drawing from Egypt depicts Cleopatra kneeling to give birth. The birthing chair dates back to 2000 BC and a 1961 survey tell us that giving while birth lying down was the norm only in 18 per cent of cultures. Labouring upright has been quoted to have various advantages ­ efficient contractions, shorter labour, less maternal pain and less application of forceps. It is also claimed that the baby has better oxygenation because the great veins and aorta are not compressed by the uterus in the standing position.Not a great degree of medical literature exist on the issues, and the national institute for health care excellence in the UK recommends that women should be discouraged from lying down in the second stage of labour, instead adopting any other position they find comfortable. It is the obstetricians who find the lying-down posture most suitable, as it is easier to inspect and monitor the delivery.
As human beings evolved, the species made choices that suited its purpose and comfort, not necessarily the best choice. The same applies to the evolution of toilet postures over the ages. The '60s fad of Western commode-style toilets arrived to stay; now you can see such toilets in the houses of most Western-educated people. Such a style does provide a great deal of comfort, perhaps even too much of it. Naturally, questions have been raised time and again about whether this is the ideal position to defecate.
I have lived with a great number of roommates and thankfully, all had excellent sanitary habits. Some spent their time reading, some doo dled on their phones, some brooded over generous cups of coffee. One roommate, however, preferred to spend his time studying ­ in the toilet. I often joked that he should carry a commode to the examination hall for better performance.
It is known that the Swiss are often unimpressed with the toilet habits of Southeast Asians and those from the Middle East. It upsets them that people would chose to squat on toilet seats and dispose toilet papers in places other than the toilet bowl. I am always a little amused by pictorial signs warning ­ “No squatting on toilet seats.“
The Indian style toilet is prevalent not only in Asia, Africa and the Middle East but also in South America. I recall a Hinglish movie: a Western executive arrives in Delhi; on the way to his hotel the taxi driver suggests a different hotel, and offers him a road-side sherbet; with his bowels acting up, the poor chap has to run to the hotel toilet, where he stares at the curious hole in the ground with understandable bewilderment.
It also amazes me how the average Indian manages to squat for long hours, waiting for nature's call. Many villagers are actually happier to squat than sit on a chair. Truth is, the squatting position helps one do their business without wasting much time. It is often said that sitting is an unnatural position to pass stool. This may be correct in the sense that animals defecate easily while squatting as it provides a natural passage to bowel contents devoid of any major kinks.
An April 1979 issue of the Israel Journal of Medical Science claims that the prevalence of bowel disease such a haemorrhoids, appendicitis, polyps and diverticulitis and ulcerative colitis are commonest with those using western toilets, as compared to those who squat. It seems ironic, in that light, that certain Eastern countries like Thailand should replace their original toilet habits with the ubiquitous Western thrones. In Japan though, you not only have a sit-down toilet, but also a massager and the automatic bidet, a fancy clean-up gadget.
It is true that the squatting method provides better passageway for easy defecation. A host of bowel ailments including piles and constipation could be linked to the habit of using sit-down toilets. In her best-seller Charming Bowels, German microbiologist Giulia Enders has praised the squatting position for defecation. The addition of a small stool is now being suggested to convert the western style toilet to a squatting-position one. Ah well, there you go, we have always been slaves to comfort, above anything else.
Although a lack of concrete medical literature on the subject leaves us free to use logic in choosing our preferred toilet method, it certainly looks like it is time to go back to some old school squatting.
ALTAF PATEL

MM14JUL15

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