Dear Bodyworks and Quirk,
My husband spends a lot of time on the toilet. I do not understand! Why can’t he come and go like me? He’s not the only guy I know who seems to take forever to poop. So what does that give?
— Always waiting for the toilet
There are plenty of sitcom jokes about men staying in the bathroom too long, but it’s more than just a superstition. Men actually seem to spend more time on the toilet than womenAccording to a survey of UK bathroom retailers. Yes, some of that time may be spent defecating, but The average bowel movement takes just 12 seconds And the experts say: Five minutes It should be the maximum, and most people only poop once or twice a day. — It is clear that men are not just I’m finishing my errands in the bathroom. what happened? Here’s what you need to know:
Are men more prone to constipation than women?
This is a simple explanation, but experts say no. “Anyone who knows men will tell you that while it’s true that men spend more time in and out of the bathroom than women, they’re actually more likely than women to have intestinal problems and chronic constipation. It’s much lower.” Dr. Kyle Starrer“It’s a gastroenterologist and director of the gastrointestinal motility laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital,” he told Yahoo Life.
Women have trouble defecating Due to hormonal fluctuations, you are more prone to constipation during pregnancy, before your period, and after menopause. Still, they don’t have a reputation for sitting on the toilet for hours.
What biological reasons are involved here?
If the average man doesn’t have a hard time going to the bathroom, why do they spend so much time there? This may be explained biologically, but madison simmonsA gastrointestinal psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic told Yahoo Life of the fact that men are more likely to relax when they’re on the toilet than women.
First, you need to know about the body’s sympathetic nervous system, which controls the fight-or-flight response, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which counteracts it and induces relaxation. To digest food, your body needs to be in a parasympathetic state. Men can more easily switch between sympathetic and parasympathetic states, but women don’t have that “binary switch” and stay in a sympathetically excited state for long periods of time until they feel fatigued.
What does this have to do with poop? Well, Simons says that in men, the parasympathetic relax switch may be activated by the body weaning itself away from sympathetic stimulation and “encouraging rest and digestion.” Basically, men may be spending more time on the toilet because they’re simply relaxing while digesting food, and they “want more time in a relaxed state before going back to life again.” You may be spending a lot of time.
Other explanations for why men sit on the toilet for so long
Although no formal research studies have been conducted on this, research may provide clues as to what men actually do in the bathroom. Because it’s definitely not one long bowel movement session. For example, Men are more likely to read books in the bathroom, according to a German study by the Consumer Research Association. They also More likely to scroll on your phoneAccording to a 2017 study from the University of Oxford and the University of Canberra.
Then the woman much more likely Stahler points out that men experience less of the social stigma of being second place around others, and it’s generally more acceptable for men to acknowledge the fact that they have bowel movements. Women may want to go in and out of the bathroom, but men don’t necessarily mind lingering in the bathroom.
“I hear this every day from female patients who may be embarrassed to talk about their bowel movements or even admit that they have bowel movements,” Stahler says. “Going to the bathroom is sometimes a secret affair and something that shouldn’t be acknowledged. Men tend to be a little more accepting and aware that the bathroom is time for themselves. There’s I think there is also a social element.”
Then there’s the final angle. This may be both frustrating and relatable in equal measure. Men may view the bathroom as a true escape, a place free of responsibilities and expectations. “If you’re sitting on the toilet, you’re not going to be asked to cook a meal for the kids or solve a problem at work,” Simmons says. “There’s a sense of security that comes with that. He’s fully aware that he’s only getting one job done at this moment.”