Maybe We’re Doing It All Wrong

It's a good idea to constantly ask if the things we do are done in the right way, and if they need to be done at all.

Several years ago, I was watching TV when a commercial for the Squatty Potty came on. The Squatty Potty is a stool that puts the pooper into a squatting position over the toilet bowl rather than a seated position. The commercial convincingly explained that sitting restricts intestinal fecal flow, whereas squatting tilts the pelvis to an optimal evacuatory position. As someone who relishes a good dump, the commercial was a revelation. I’d been pooping the wrong way for decades. My mind —and bowels —were blown.        

Via Squatty Potty

According to the NIH, there were 153,000 colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnoses in 2023, with over a third of those proving fatal. CRC is caused by many factors including diet, activity level, and genetics, but there’s indication that constipation also plays a factor. One study found that “patients with a diagnosis of constipation had elevated risks of colorectal and other GI cancers during the first year of follow-up, especially colon and pancreas cancers.” Assuming the Squatty Potty thesis is correct, then putting people in the proper pooping position could reduce constipation and possibly incidences of CRC.  

It’s worth noting that most of the world squats to poop, though seated toilets are more common in ‘developed’ countries. Though correlation doesn't equal causation, one study found “countries with higher health expenditures and higher gross domestic products [DF: and that likely shit while seated] experienced higher rates of CRC mortality.”

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I had a dream when I was four or five years old in which I forgot how to walk. Though I’d been walking for years, I couldn’t remember what to do with my body.  How do I keep balance? Do I move my arms or cinch them to my torso? How long should my strides be? I couldn’t remember. When I woke up, I realized I still knew how to walk, but my dream made me wonder if the way I was doing it was the best way?   

There are thousands of small and large things humans do —walking, breathing, shitting, eating, communicating, working, showing affection, etc .—in a wrong or suboptimal way. We do them this way generally because we’re imitating our family, communities, or society at large. But everyone doing things a certain way does not mean that way is optimal or even necessary. A lot of stuff people do, like spending countless hours a day looking at a screen, binge drinking, etc., lack optimal ways because they’re harmful and unnecessary. It’s a good idea to keep assessing if the things we do have good reasons behind them, assessing if they’re being done in an optimal way, and assessing if they need to be done at all—even when, or perhaps especially when everyone is doing them.