Using your phone on the toilet is the most harmful bathroom habit for digestive health, according to Yaroslav Kolosovsky, a surgeon and coloproctologist at SM-Clinic in St. Petersburg.
Kolosovsky told Lenta.ru that diarrhea, constipation, and hemorrhoids are often caused not by hidden illness but by everyday habits. He said a normal bowel movement takes around three minutes and functions on its own.
When attention shifts to a screen, the body’s signals fade into the background. The natural urge becomes dulled, forcing a person to strain, which sharply raises internal pressure and sends blood rushing to the pelvic region. Over time, Kolosovsky said, this leads to conditions such as hemorrhoids.
He added that prolonged sitting also stretches the internal ligaments, causing muscles to lose tone. The body can develop a dependency on the phone to trigger the process at all, which may result in chronic constipation.
