Potty Talk

Even though my children are long past potty training, one question has always pestered me regarding their hygiene: should they sit or squat when using a public toilet?

I’ve admitted I’m a misophobe, so it should come as no surprise to loyal readers that I find sitting my bottom down on a public toilet about as appealing as licking the floor of one. I used to think the germs would jump up and infect me, so I hovered until I was done and cleaned up any mess. (Ladies who do not clean up after yourselves should read this post.)

Then I had kids. Not just kids, but girls. Girls who were too small to hover. Who had no concept of just how nasty a public bathroom could be. Who drove me absolutely mad when they touched anything and everything in the stall, and allowed their princess panties to linger on the filthy floor below them as they finished their business. I used to cringe when I had to place them on the seat. I’d lay down as many pieces of toilet paper as possible to “protect” their tiny tushies, but those pieces often fell by the wayside and there sat my babies, flesh to porcelain.

I want to hurl just thinking about it.

So today I decided to find out just how bad it is to actually sit down on a public toilet seat. And guess what? My fears were completely unfounded.

“Even if you sit on a toilet seat right after someone with a sexually transmitted disease has, it’s practically impossible to get infected, says Phillip Tierno, Ph.D., author of The Secret Life of Germs. Urine itself is sterile, so you're just as safe drying a wet seat with tissue as you are sitting on a paper liner. (Click here to read more on this subject.)

But the seat has to be the dirtiest place in the bathroom, right?

Wrong.

“Usually, actually the floor is the dirtiest,” according to Dr. Charles Gerba, co-author of author of The Germ Freak's Guide to Outwitting Colds and Flu. (Click here to read more on his findings.)

Apparently, there are germs all over the stall, especially on the sanitary napkin disposal, the handles and the sink area. But according to most experts, washing your hands well with soap and water is enough to combat those germs.

And guess what? All those years of squatting may have actually hurt me rather than protect me. “Problem is since the position isn't really relaxing, your bladder may not empty completely. The residual urine can breed bacteria, leading to a urinary-tract infection. The habit can also cause incontinence later in life.”

Oops.

So, ladies out there who are germ freaks just like I am, sit down and relax. Just make sure to wash your hands well afterward.

(For yet another article on the "eww" factor of public toilet seats, click here.)

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng