THE FIRST TIME I laid eyes on a “squatty potty,” I was at my friend K_’s house. I didn’t know what it was. It reminded me of one of those step-stools we kept in the bathroom for our children when they were little, and couldn’t reach the sink or climb up to the toilet. However, this stool was U-shaped and fit snugly around the base of the toilet – the curved part of the U facing toward the porcelain.
Remembering that K_’s kids are in their late twenties, well over six feet tall, and perfectly capable of reaching all bathroom fixtures unassisted, I returned to the kitchen and asked her, “What on earth is that stool for?”
K_, who is in the healthcare field, explained that the natural squat position, produced by placing your feet on the squatty while sitting on the toilet, improves our ability to “eliminate.” Squatting is, of course, how our ancestors dealt with bodily functions for millennia – before the toilet was invented. She said something about it improving our “anorectal angle.”
I’m always game for health improvement, so when I got home I Googled “stools for using on the toilet” and was immediately directed to the Official Site of the Original Squatty Potty. Here I learned about the puborectalis muscle and how squatting unkinks the process down there.
The website is playful and big on kitsch, but it makes its point and offers plastic models for under $30, so I bought one. I didn’t mention this to my family. When it arrived, I installed it in the main bathroom and gleefully waited to see what would happen next.
To my surprise and disappointment, all of the children who were home that summer went in and out of the bathroom without mentioning it. I let this go on for a few days and then demanded to hear their thoughts. Here is what they said:
1st Child – “I was wondering what that thing was.”
2nd Child – “Hmm … makes sense.”
3rd Child – “Don’t ever talk to me about that again!”
My husband’s mother visited and thought it was fantastic. She went right home and bought one for herself. A month or so later, my brother-in-law called me wanting to know what “wacko liberal news site” was spreading propaganda selling “those things?”
For a few years, I gave no consideration to what visitors to the house thought of the contraption. You can’t miss it. Our model is made of white plastic and is sized for taller toilets. Plus, if you pull it out and look at it, there are two outlines of feet on the base, guiding the user to the proper position.
Since owning “Squatty” (pet name), absolutely zero guests (minus my mother-in-law) have inquired into what it is. I can’t decide if they are better informed, less curious, more polite, or greatly confused about why such a thing would be living in our bathroom.
Now, when company is coming over, we try to remember to put it away. I’m not sure why. I guess it’s because the bathroom looks better without a large, white, plastic apparatus in it. I suppose it’s possible people see it as some sort of aging in place device – which is a mildly depressing thought I hadn’t considered until now.
It makes me chuckle and sometimes startle when visitors have left and I come across the squatty hidden from site, forgotten on the stair landing.
It’s similarly funny and surprising (a.k.a. mildly frightening) to try to get my body to assume a correct squat from a standing position (sans Squatty). Of course, we middle-aged and older persons have failing knees and other joints that preclude our success here. Even my kids have a hard time holding a proper deep squat for any length of time while attempting it on the ground.
To do this, you have to bend at the hips, knees, and ankles and position your bottom close to the floor. You have to keep your heels down and balance there, hovering with your weight slightly forward. (Gym squats usually involve movement to the toes.)
There are cultures where this position is naturally assumed for eating, waiting, conversing, reading, etc. and can be held without effort for hours. I’m reminded of trips we have taken to China, parts of Central America, and Mexico where it was common to observe this stance.
In the United States, we prefer to sit in a chair when we have a meal, a conversation, or enjoy entertainment. Now, with Squatty’s assistance, Americans are able to perform the international squat without any effort at all – and achieve a properly-positioned puborectalis muscle in the bargain.