On Thailandblog there has been a discussion about the squat toilet. In Thailand you see them disappearing more and more and European toilet bowls are being replaced. That is a pity, because if you compare a squat toilet with a sitting toilet, the squat toilet turns out to be 'healthier' than the sitting toilet.
An Iranian radiologist published a comparative study in April 2002. Thirty test subjects had to defecate while sitting or squatting. Conclusion: sitting produces more tension and the bowel movement feels more 'incomplete'. Using a squat toilet is a more comfortable and efficient method of emptying the bowels.
A 1987 study published in the Israel Journal of Medical Science also suggests that squatting prevents the development of hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids can arise from constant annoyance and injury resulting from excessive exertion in the sitting position.
Other studies point out that the squat position improves the position of the pelvis so that it can relax and the position also eases pressure so that emptying progresses.
Source: Bangkok Post
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Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and music.
Enough hobbies, but unfortunately little time: writing for Thailandblog, fitness, health and nutrition, shooting sports, chatting with friends and some other oddities.
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A squat toilet might be more comfortable (probably not, as the Thai are also switching to western toilets) for people who have their feet flat on the floor when they squat, but definitely not for a farang like me, who is wobbling on his front feet and desperately trying to balance.
Often seen everywhere in Thailand by means of a sticker that it is forbidden to squat with your feet on the toilet seat!
Solution for the Victorian (Western) toilet, put a front (piece) in front of the toilet to put your feet on, so that you can still get into the better and less stressful squatting position for your end.
Particularly in the elderly (at a later age) sometimes dramatic complaints arise during bowel movements.
Prevention is better than cure.
That's right, P. de Bruin
Don't need it yourself, but for those who find it difficult to get loose, small mobile platform under your feet for the regular toilet and ready.
Once a year I use preventive Benda 500 pill [1] and you can leave your magnifying glass in the cupboard regarding Maarten Vasbinder's advice.
Often seen everywhere in Thailand by means of a sticker that it is forbidden to squat with your feet on the toilet seat!
Solution for the Victorian (Western) toilet, put a front (piece) in front of the toilet to put your feet on, so that you can still get into the better and less stressful squatting position for your end.
Particularly in the elderly (at a later age) sometimes dramatic complaints arise during bowel movements.
Prevention is better than cure.
Now I regularly visit care centers in the Netherlands for the elderly, and I think 90% to 100% of these elderly will never be able to get up again if they have to go to a squat toilet and think that there will be more dramatic complaints. That is why raised toilet bowls are placed in healthcare institutions, so the opposite. These raised toilets are also located in sheltered housing and others where the elderly live. Now it strikes me that you regularly see the elderly in Thailand sitting on their haunches, which you will not see in the Netherlands.
Just looked for the why and then you read ankles and calf muscles, but I think mainly what you are used to from an early age. I think Maarten Vasbinder can best explain why. Here a link:
https://www.npo3.nl/brandpuntplus/aziaten-hurken
And the combination with the toilet shower instead of "laying bricks" with a piece of paper!
The old-fashioned toilet with a platform on which you could see your faeces was the healthiest, because weird-looking poop immediately caught the eye (not literally). Worms and other bugs could be seen, as well as mucus and blood, often a warning sign of intestinal disease.
A perfect and simple form of prevention, which unfortunately is hardly used anymore.
The advantages of a squat toilet can therefore be placed in the “bullshit” category.
And I would like to add that for a beautiful stool, the diet is very important. Whose diet consists of three-quarters of meat and related animal products, defecate more difficult than people who mainly eat grain, vegetables and fruit.
Use a small stool to raise my legs on a European toilet. Works great.
Look at a dog or cat when they have to poop, they also squat, so it's not that crazy.
Have you ever seen a horse, cow, or goat crouch while defecating?
@ Patrick - I find it strange that you compare people with dogs and cats (*_*) but good if you look at the Thai (but also in many Asian countries) you see that they can squat for a long time and can do that for a long time to persevere. we are never used to that and sit with our butt either on the floor or on a chair. Incidentally, I have no problem with the big message in everyday life - just drink coffee early in the morning on an empty stomach and it will fly away (was also the case during my visit to Thailand)
The “Western toilet in Thailand does have a small drawback – It is not made for toilet paper (with normal use) because then it gets clogged because that happened to me a few times in the hotel (*_*) 55555
This reminds me of a Hans Teeuwen rhyme; "pine nut, pine nut lying down you can shit but it's better if you sit".
There is no Thai toilet: one is Arabic, the other Western. That makes one think: how did they do it in the past? I remember descriptions of bangkok from old french texts: bangkok's horrible shit smell. And if the French think so .. I remember the descriptions from the Thai book “three reigns”: hundreds all shit in a row (like the Romans). At least there is progress in that area. Now learn what hygiene is
In the past, and I'm talking about more than a hundred years ago, people in Bangkok just pooped and pissed in one of the many canals. I once saw a mural from that era that shows a defecating man on a bridge as a boat with jeering passengers passes underneath. People also washed themselves in those canals and then had to push the turds aside first. There was a lot of cholera, even in the royal palaces.
In the villages people went into the forest, or the rice fields.
In the villages people went into the forest, or the rice fields.
Can't we put this sentence in the present tense?
The workers on the land still do.
I still remember the local bus at nong khai, which stopped at the request of passengers who had to take a shit along the road.
I also remember a large petrochemical project in Rayong where the workers simply sat on a vacant lot.
they had made a large undipoe pit there.
Our project leader didn't realize it.
Unsuspectingly, he jumped into this shallow pit.
His exclamation : shit , couldn't be phrased better.
I think squat toilet is terrible. And not for people with stiff knees.
Sitting on a Western toilet, bent slightly forward, arms resting on the thighs gives me optimal relaxation. I press very lightly, just put in the toilet shower, everything comes out with minimal pressing, with a rinse also the last leftovers. Everything optimally clean.
So: combination of Western toilet with Eastern toilet shower is ideal!
It will be on me. Surely I have been to Thai districts over time with Thai girlfriend after her home place. And in itself I have no problem with it. Back to basic or no modern facilities as usual. Showering with a scoop from what looks like a concrete bathtub. You would almost think it's nice to sit in here.
After the first shower together it was already clear to me that this was not the case. The first time was really a new experience. And I did not miss the modern facilities like at home at all. Only thing it was cold when you throw that water over yourself.
The toilet, on the other hand, was a kind of obstacle. How Thais do this with a big message without keeping your pants or underpants clean is a mystery to me. It may well be better. But i'm pulling from the waist down.all out lol..thereby i can't.stay squatting. Whether you tilt.forward or backward..that thai can sit on shelves like this for hours or cook in a squatting position.is already clever.
The toilets in hotels are like Western ones, but with toilet shower or hose with flushing head. This saves toilet paper. Is probably also the purpose of this for some hotels. but also as a toilet shower You already have a toilet where something like this is optionally incorporated..
But coming back to the squat toilet is no problem for the small message, it just goes standing up. so the big one is. I. am not going to express in details how exactly lol. But then you might as well do it in your underpants.
There will probably be people who laugh at this now, isn't it? whether people have also experienced something similar or not. Or have to experience their first squat toilet.. Suc6
The last part of the intestine, rectum, lies in a kind of supine S to give the sphincter a push in the back that closes the shit hole. If you squat, you stretch the s as it were and you hardly have a kink. That makes pooping easier. Hence the squatting or a toilet stool (which I have been using for a while). To sit? Then sit with your butt all the way on the toilet seat, back straight and then the lower back a bit back - that's fine too.
I am severely disabled and if I have to squat I can't get up. Nice intentions of the Thai, do it on your haunches,
It may be healthier, but practically impossible to do. Certainly not with a knee that bends no more than 90 degrees. More concerned with balance than pooping. The first time at home in the village after a few days back to Bangkok. The second time had a western toilet installed. Wasn't that common back then. In our own house, of course, a western toilet and hot shower. Today, most take a western toilet. Even when people get older (60+), squatting decreases and people are happy to be able to sit comfortably.
The diseases of affluence are also increasing in TH and people are no longer as agile as 30 years ago
I don't find the squat toilets particularly easy to use. May they be better for the bowel movement, my bowel movement also works fine on a western toilet. I'm glad there's a butt syringe.
Recently I read a comment from a guest on Agoda or bookings.com that in a certain hotel there was no butt syringe in the bathroom. He complained about that. But then he hadn't really tried the toilet. They had toilets with a nozzle that could clean your behind with various types of jets and hot and cold water. Women could then sail the piece a little further to clean their private parts.
I was pleasantly surprised.
I can still remember that I used to have toilets like that in Japan, but then I was still used to paper and thought those toilets were weird. Now I know how to appreciate them.
And as rightly pointed out, the squat toilet is not something typically Thai. Even in France they used to have them. And now also in most Asian countries.
We live in France and there are still squat toilets there but not much anymore. The biggest problem will be the knees. I don't like it either, but my wife likes it.
A bigger problem is toilet paper because it clogs the sewers and the Thai have found a best solution for this, water with or without a syringe. We have learned from it and do use toilet paper and no longer flush it away, but simply throw it in a plastic bag in a simple container with a lid. The Thai think that messing with paper is dirty and maybe they are right, but it is not easy to 'work' without paper because that is not how we were brought up.
That with the sitting toilet with a flat 'floor' is correct because it does give you an important insight into your bowel function, which is usually the first thing that goes wrong with a person (according to my wife who says that as a nurse)!
By the way, toilets were already used by the Romans, remember, and they sat next to each other chatting nicely!. Is that perhaps a new trend/market, sitting duo? Perhaps it improves the ambiance!