Hemorrhoids are due, among other things, to increased pressure on the blood vessels in and around the rectum and one reason for the pressure increase is that you sit for a long time. Now, researchers have investigated whether mobile phone use during toilet visits can contribute to more problems.
”It's incredibly easy to lose track of time when we scroll on our smartphones – popular apps are designed entirely for that purpose. But it's possible that it can increase the risk of hemorrhoids to constantly sit longer on the toilet than you thought”, says the study's lead author Trisha Pasricha at Harvard Medical School, in a press release.
After being able to rule out other possible causes of hemorrhoids – such as little physical activity, high age and low fiber intake – the researchers saw that those who brought their mobile phone to the toilet had a 46 percent higher risk of hemorrhoids than those who did not do so. The time mobile users spent on the toilet was significantly higher than among non-users. Of them, 37 percent sat for more than 5 minutes at a time, compared to only 7.1 percent of non-users.
The study included 125 people who were asked to answer questions about their mobile and toilet habits and they also underwent a bowel examination.
The study is published in Plos One.
