The first time I saw and had the opportunity to pee into a squat toilet, I wasn't exactly thrilled by the possiblity of pee splattering on my thighs, and the design of the urinal-like toilet sitting directly on ground offended my western sensibilities. Of course, as I got accustomed to squatting, I started to see the benefits in both my thigh muscles and in the total time it took me to "drop my kids off at the swimming pool" whenever the need arose. Now, researchers are claiming that squatter toilets have health benefits as well.
As this writer so eloquently states:
"Proponents of squatting argue that conventional toilets produce an anorectal angle that's ill-suited for defecation. By squatting, they say, we can achieve 'complete evacuation' of the colon, ridding our bowels of disease-causing toxins."
An Israeli study confirms that defecating while squatting over a toilet takes less time- I would argue that the sheer comfort and luxury of being able to sit on a western style toilet-the throne- is probably the reason that someone using a squatter toilet takes less time. Unless your knees are in incredible shape, it's tough to squat over the toilet for long periods of time.
The same Slate writer didn't have his own squat toilet, so got his courage up and climbed on top of his western-style toilet to see how squatting felt. Thankfully for the intrepid writer, he didn't fall off of the toilet, nor into the toilet, and enjoyed his week-long experiment much more than you might expect. He also experienced the sensation of quicker, faster bowel movements, but again, if he was really perched on top of his toilet seat, he could have just been worried that someone would barge in and witness him in the ridiculous position. (It's one thing to squat outside on the ground or into a toilet designed for squatting, but it's quite another thing entirely to squat on a toilet designed for sitting.)
The great toilet debate may continue for some time. In my opinion, there is no way to fairly signify the the importance of comfort while performing ones daily personal duties- that may just outweight any other benefit of the so-called squatters.
