If you like to bring your phone to the bathroom, you might be more likely to develop hemorrhoids. That’s according to a new study published in PLoS One, which found that people who used their phones on the toilet were 46% more likely to have this gastrointestinal condition based on colonoscopy results.
Spending extra time sitting can restrict blood flow and compress the veins, increasing the risk of hemorrhoids.
“The study is very timely, as cell phone use appears to be ubiquitous,” said Brian C. Jacobson, MD, MPH, a gastroenterologist with Massachusetts General Hospital and a spokesperson for the American Gastroenterological Association who wasn’t involved in the research. “It should be noted, reading any material on the toilet was also highly associated with hemorrhoids, so the issue is not smartphones per se, but spending additional time on the toilet,” he told Health.
While you might think of hemorrhoids as something people develop, hemorrhoidal tissue is actually something everyone has. Made up of blood vessels, this tissue lines the anus and helps you sense pressure from gas or a bowel movement.
Hemorrhoids only become problematic when they swell, which can cause pain and bleeding. While some are external, occurring outside the anus, most are internal. Overall, hemorrhoids are common, with about 75% of Americans experiencing them at some point in their lives.
Constipation was once thought to be the main culprit behind hemorrhoid disease, said Trisha Pasricha, MD, MPH, the new study’s senior author and a gastroenterologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Now, researchers believe the condition is more linked to straining and changes in pressure that affect hemorrhoid veins.“Over the last several years, our thinking about hemorrhoids has really evolved,” she told Health.
While previous studies have examined how activities such as reading a newspaper on the toilet might affect hemorrhoid risk, the impact of cellphone use had remained an open question.
To explore this, researchers analyzed the cellphone habits of patients visiting the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for a colonoscopy. They surveyed 125 people, each at least 45 years old, about how often they used their phones while on the toilet, and then compared this to their colonoscopy results.
The survey showed that 83 participants, or 66%, reported using smartphones on the toilet. This group was nearly seven years younger, on average, than those who didn’t use their phones, and they were less physically active overall. During colonoscopy, 43% of all participants had a visible hemorrhoid.
After analyzing the data, researchers found that smartphone users and non-users had the “same levels of constipation, straining, and other factors, [but] the amount of time they’re spending [on the toilet] is very different,” Pasricha explained.
While only 7.1% of participants who didn’t use smartphones spent over five minutes on the toilet, that was true for 37.3% of smartphone users.
After accounting for risk factors like sex, constipation, straining, and BMI, the researchers concluded that smartphone users had a 46% higher chance of having hemorrhoids compared to non-users.
“The findings obviously have nothing to do with using cell phones—more to do with sitting on the toilet for long periods of time,” Waqar Qureshi, MD, a gastroenterologist and professor at Baylor College of Medicine, told Health.
But because the study wasn’t a carefully controlled clinical trial, it can’t determine whether this behavior—or something specific about cellphone use—actually causes hemorrhoids.
The researchers say their findings should be validated in larger studies including people of different ages, especially since younger people appear to use cellphones the most. “We’re also planning a clinical trial where we’re trying to see how smartphone use actually impacts your physiology” and affects bowel movements, said Pasricha.
Whether you’ve made a habit of scrolling while on the toilet, it’s important to pay attention if you notice blood in your stool or while wiping. It could be a sign of internal hemorrhoids—and it’s a reason to get checked out by a doctor.
“Blood in the stool is something we never ignore in medicine, and so we want to make sure it’s not something else,” said Pasricha, such as more serious conditions like anal fissures or colorectal cancer.
Doctors use an endoscope to examine the inside of the anus and confirm whether someone has hemorrhoids. Internal ones can often be treated easily at the doctor’s office, while external ones may require surgery.
To help prevent hemorrhoids, experts recommend:
- Drinking lots of water
- Getting enough fiber in your diet
- Limiting straining on the toilet
They also suggest trying to cut back on toilet time, period. “Leave the phone, and books and magazines, outside the bathroom,” Jacobson said. “Get back to them when you’re done.”
