It is usually soothing to spend long hours sitting on the toilet seat while scrolling through your mobile phone. However, it has been discovered that spending long hours on the toilet seat can cause pile or haemorrhages.
A Nigerian doctor, Olufunmilayo, via his Twitter handle, sensitized his followers on the harm of sitting on toilet seats for too long, especially while pressing the phone.
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He said, “Sitting in the toilet for a long time — anything more than 10 mins — can give you haemorrhoids (pile). This is why many of you have ‘Jedi’.
“NOT because of sugar. NOT because of sweet drinks. You have piles and itchy anus because you turned your toilet to a lounge and a phone booth.
“When you sit long on a toilet seat, straining; this eventually increases pressure in your anus area, which causes the veins there to get engorged. This engorged veins become painful, cause itching anus and sometimes bleed. This is haemorrhoids/piles. This is what you call ‘Jedi’.
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Maria Alexies Samonte, MD; who is affiliated with the Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center and received her medical degree from the University of Santo Tomas with over 20 years of practice, in an article, said, “Spending too much time on the toilet causes pressure on your rectum and anus.”
“Because the seat is cut out, your rectum is lower than the rest of your backside. Gravity takes over, and blood starts to pool and clot in those veins. Add in any straining or pushing, and you may have a recipe for haemorrhoids.
Moreso, Director, Colorectal Cancer Program, Samuel Oschin, and Karen Zaghiyah of the Cedars Sinai Medical Center, LA, in an article published on Healine.com, said, “It’s not the actual act of using a smartphone that is the problem. Rather, sitting on the toilet [whether you are reading or just sitting there] for a prolonged period of time can definitely lead to haemorrhoid problems.”
Piles are swollen veins in the anus and lower rectum, similar to varicose veins. Haemorrhoids can develop inside the rectum (internal haemorrhoids) or under the skin around the anus (external haemorrhoids).
