Is urinating while sitting better for men? – kudupinter World News Network

A man sits on the toilet of a portable toilet in the desert. The door is open and he looks at his cell phone

This is the question driving the debate about how men should urinate when they go to the bathroom.

Although there is no conclusive medical evidence that urinating while sitting has the greatest health benefits, there seems to be a consensus that it is the cleanest way to urinate.

“There is no right or wrong way to urinate, it depends on the individual,” says Mary Garthwaite, chair of Urology UK.

“But urinating while sitting is healthier, as long as the bathrooms are clean.”

Garthwaite adds that it may also be the safest way to urinate for people with balance and mobility difficulties, or for those times when we wake up in the middle of the night and need to use the bathroom quickly.

A toothbrush over the tablet and a computer over the toilet with the lid closed — Image caption, A 2013 study revealed that a toothbrush does not need to be close to the toilet to be exposed to microscopic amounts of urine when a man urinates standing up.

Stains

One widely cited piece of research is a 2014 study from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

A group of doctors investigated how body position affects, among other things, the rate of urine flow and the time of urination – the speed at which the bladder is emptied.

The researchers concluded that urinating while sitting allowed the bladder to empty more quickly and completely in men with an enlarged prostate, but they found “no difference” in healthy men.

In fact, urinating standing up is quite practical for most men – just look at how quickly the lines move for men and women in public restrooms.

But urinating standing up also increases the chance of splashing, which can be annoying to others.

And we’re not just talking about a nasty target hitting the toilet seat or the floor.

In 2013, a team of American mechanical engineers discovered that microscopic droplets “scattered at very large angles and distances,” meaning that objects that were nearby — including a toothbrush — were exposed to urine.

The Mannequin Pis statue in Brussels shows a boy urinating standing up — Image caption, In many countries, men prefer to urinate standing up

It is true that some cultures encourage men to sit down to urinate. In Islam, for example, this is recommended as part of the Sunnah, a body of practices and traditions dating back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad.

But for most men, old habits are difficult to break, and standing up is still the first way to urinate.

In 2013, YouGov conducted a study in 13 countries on men’s urination preferences.

The results showed that there was a split even within continents: while 40% of Germans declared that they always sit to urinate, and only 10% urinate, in the UK the figures were 9% and 33% respectively.

Interestingly, the practice of urinating while sitting seems to be more widespread in Germany, a country where calling someone an “A” is common. Sitzpinkler (The man sits to urinate) indicates unmanly behavior.

In Brazil, there is a saying that urinating while sitting is a “women’s and frogs’ thing.”

Do men need to fight some evolutionary trait to change the way they urinate?

No, according to one of the greatest authorities on evolutionary psychology, Professor Robert Dunbar, of the University of Oxford.

“There is no (evolutionary) evidence to explain why men urinate standing up,” he says.

There’s a possible excuse for men who don’t like the idea of sitting.

“The truth is that some men will feel more comfortable urinating standing up and others sitting down,” Garthwaite adds.

Without a definitive medical recommendation, the method of urination will remain a choice for men around the world, unless they are encouraged to sit down to urinate due to factors such as pressure from women or marks on bathroom walls (another German characteristic).

But if you’re going to urinate standing up, at least try to aim carefully.