For World Toilet Day, initiated by the United Nations to create engagement for the global sanitation crisis, we would like to highlight the importance of going to the toilet when need arises, and the importance of accessible public toilets available to all.
The fact is that fear of pooping in public toilets may result in persistent issues with your bowel and could, in the long run, lead to constipation. It is therefore important to listen to your body and go when you feel the urge to do so, especially if you’ve already experienced issues with your bowel.
A recent survey in Sweden focusing on the tabu of talking about and fear of pooping in public toilets, showed that more than half of the respondents admitted to avoiding going to toilet outside their own home. According to the survey, the worst bathrooms were located at:
- Trains and airplanes
- Restaurants and cafés
- Friends’ houses
- Schools or workplaces
As many as one in three women and one in seven men avoided emptying their bowel when at school or at work, and this doesn’t only apply to Sweden. According to a scientific article, 50% of all adolescents and 40% of all adults have a learned behavior to suppress the urge to defecate. Withholding behavior is a common reason for constipation in children1.
Why is it important to go to the toilet?
Stool withholding can result in painful bowel movements, since more water will be absorbed from the retained stool, which becomes harder and may cause pain once you actually go. This may result in a vicious cycle of more withholding behavior, which in turn can result in a large, hard lump of stool stuck in the bowel. This is called fecal impaction. Frequent fecal impactions can cause a megarectum, with symptoms of fecal incontinence overflow, decreased rectal sensation and, in the end, an impaired sensation and urge to defecate. If repeated over a long period of time, suppression of the urge to defecate may eventually lead to conditions such as dyssynergic defecation and slow transit constipation1.
1. Vriesman, M.H., et al., Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol, 2020.
