Scrolling on phone on the toilet increases risk of haemorrhoids by 46%

It’s a habit many are guilty of.

But scrolling on your phone while sitting on the loo can drastically increase your risk of haemorrhoids, experts have warned.

A new study has found smartphone users tend to sit down on the toilet for longer than those without devices.

And this can increase your risk of the condition – also known as piles – which involves painful, swollen veins in the anal or rectal area.

‘Using a smartphone while on the toilet was linked to a 46 per cent increased chance of having haemorrhoids,’ senior author Trisha Pasricha, from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in the US, said.

‘We’re still uncovering the many ways smartphones and our modern way of life impact our health.

‘It’s possible that how and where we use them – such as while in the bathroom – can have unintended consequences.’

For their study, the team recruited 125 adults who were already undergoing bowel cancer screening.

The participants answered online survey questions about their lifestyle and toilet habits, and doctors evaluated them for haemorrhoids.

Across the whole group, two–thirds reported using smartphones on the toilet, and they tended to be younger than non–users.

Time spent on the toilet was significantly higher for smartphone users, with 37 per cent spending more than five minutes at a time on the loo compared to to 7.1 per cent of those who didn’t take their devices to the bathroom.

Reading the news and scrolling through social media were the most commonly reported smartphone activities on the toilet.

Reading emails, texting, playing games and watching videos were also recorded.

Interestingly, straining while going to the loo was not linked to increased haemorrhoid risk – in contrast to some previous studies.

‘This study bolsters advice to people in general to leave the smartphones outside the bathroom and to try to spend no more than a few minutes to have a bowel movement,’ Dr Pasricha said.

‘If it’s taking longer, ask yourself why. Was it because having a bowel movement was really so difficult, or was it because my focus was elsewhere?

‘It’s incredibly easy to lose track of time when we’re scrolling on our smartphones – popular apps are designed entirely for that purpose.’

According to the NHS, about half of the UK population develop one or more haemorrhoids at some stage of their life.

Certain situations linked to an increased risk include constipation, pregnancy and ageing.

Eating plenty of fibre and drinking lots of water can help prevent the condition.

The findings were published in the journal Plos One.