After a long day at the mall or a night or day out with friends and nature calls, a public bathroom is usually your only option. To avoid being in contact with the toilet seat, especially not knowing the hygiene condition of the toilet or how the person before you used the toilet, contributes to some individuals choosing to squat over the toilet seat rather than sit. But is it better to squat or can it be bad for you?
Some people believe that squatting over the toilet seat is a more hygienic option because it minimises direct contact with the toilet surfaces.
Experts have, however, warned that squatting rather than sitting on the toilet seat can cause more harm than good to your health.
Felicia Mathe from Durban prefers the widely preferred method of squatting over the toilet seat. She believes that sitting makes one easily affected by the bacteria and germs around the toilet.
“Public toilets are usually dirty and have uncomfortably poor hygiene. Because of that, I prefer squatting because I believe it’s safer, and the toilet paper they provide is also not always the best, so it’s safer to carry your own.
“I’ve experienced infections because of the tissues in public toilets, which are usually also unclean,“ she says.
A matter of hygiene
After her mother’s friend passed away from having an infection after sitting on a public toilet seat, Janneys Phahlamohlaka from Pretoria says the incident traumatised her enough to suggest squatting all the time when using public toilets and sometimes even her own.
“Ever since what happened to my mother’s friend, even in my own space, sometimes I use my toilet squatting because I’ve become used to it.
“I personally don’t think public toilets are hygienic, and regardless of some being cleaned, I don’t think the cleaners wipe the seats right after someone uses them. When nature calls, you just have to go, so when that happens to me, I roll toilet paper and place it on the toilet seat. I never just sit on the bare seat, but I’m still never comfortable with it,” she explains.
For Lusanda Zungu from Durban, acquiring a urinary tract infection (UTI) while squatting over an unsanitary public toilet made her realise that sitting actually decreases the chances of being infected.
“I’ve had a UTI after squatting and learned that when you urinate while squatting, you are more at risk of infection because you urinate directly on the water inside, and your urine jumps and splatters your under area. Since most public toilets are less likely to function properly, and other people’s urine you are trying to avoid ends up splashing you.
“Public toilets are unsanitary, and I would not advise anyone to use them, but when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go. Sitting is, for me, a much better option because you can better position yourself so you can avoid splashing yourself,” she says.
Have a seat
Squatting over a public toilet seat increases the chance of missing the target, splashing on the seat, and ups the chances of the next person getting an infection from your bathroom encounter, says Durban-based gynaecologist Dr Sibu Lubelwana.
“It is not advisable to squat instead of sitting on a toilet seat. While we all avoid using public toilets for fear of getting an infection, the reduction in risk because of squatting is only a theoretical one; in reality, it may increase.
“Firstly, you do not empty your bladder completely; the distance and position of squatting increase the force of the urine landing in water, increasing your chances of getting an infection from the public toilet or from within the toilet seat itself. The abnormal position may also increase the strain put on the pelvic floor muscles, which increases the risk of pelvic floor weakness,” she explains.
Lubelwana further states that while the risk of getting a bacterial or viral infection from a toilet is there, it is also very minimal. There are not really any health benefits to squatting over a public toilet seat instead of sitting on it, except that it makes one feel psychologically secure.
She gives a few precautions that can be taken when using public toilets to avoid gynaecological problems:
- Use an antibacterial wipe to clean the seat before sitting down. As people, we are different and squirm about different things. This may not be a big deal to some, but to others, it may be a great source of stress.
- Putting paper around the toilet seat before you sit so you’re not directly in the seat (especially if you didn’t find it in a clean, dry condition)
- Using sanitiser and tissue to clean.
Despite the option a person may prefer, it is important to practice good hygiene such as washing your hands thoroughly after using a public toilet.
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