The One Common Public Bathroom Habit to Consider Breaking ASAP

Sometimes, using a public restroom isn’t ideal, but if you have to go, you have to go. In an effort to avoid actually touching the toilet seat, a lot of women opt to hover above it instead. (And you thought squats at the gym were hard!)

While you may be saving your tush from coming into contact with toilet seat germs, you probably haven’t considered how peeing this way is affecting your pelvic floor. Urogynecologists have some pointed thoughts on this that they want every woman to know. Keep reading to get the facts.

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What Urogynecologists Think of Hovering Above the Toilet Seat to Pee

Dr. Samantha Pulliam, MD, URPS, a urogynecologist and Chief Medical Officer of Axena Health, points out something anyone who has ever hovered above the toilet seat to pee already knows: It’s harder to pee this way than it is actually sitting on the seat. “Hovering over the toilet can make it harder to urinate because you can’t completely relax all the muscles of your pelvic floor in this position,” she says.

Maybe you never really thought about the muscles involved in helping you pee, but you are putting them to work every time you go. “The pelvic floor is made up of several muscles that provide a ‘basket’ of support for the pelvic organs. They contract and relax to facilitate the passage of urine or stool and support a host of other bodily functions from breathing to sex to posture. When hovering prevents some of these muscles from relaxing, they could prevent you from emptying your bladder completely,” Dr. Pulliam says.

Dr. Pulliam explains that when you are hovering above the toilet, the pelvic floor muscles are needed to help the body maintain this position. This is done by squeezing them, but urinating requires relaxing them. That’s why it’s harder to pee when you’re hovering above the toilet.

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Dr. Kathleen Kobashi, MD, MBA, FACS, a urogynecologist at Houston Methodist, says that it’s possible hovering over the toilet could cause more tension in the pelvic floor. Like Dr. Pulliam, she says this could make urinating more difficult. However, she says this needs to be studied further to actually prove it to be true.

Dr. Kobashi says that if hovering does make it difficult to empty the bladder, then it could contribute to contracting urinary tract infections (UTIs) because not being able to fully empty the bladder is a risk factor for developing a UTI. (But she emphasizes that the jury is still out on if hovering over the toilet actually causes this.) Dr. Pulliam agrees, saying, “It’s not that hovering causes UTI, but hovering over the toilet engages some of your pelvic floor muscles, which might lead to a UTI because your bladder may not empty completely.”

Dr. Pulliam explains that when urine is left behind, it can be a breeding ground for the bacteria that can lead to a UTI. “If you hovered in the airport bathroom a few hours ago, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean you’re definitely going to have a UTI tomorrow, just that your risk is increased. Frequent hovering can lead to increased risk,” she says.

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What To Do Instead of Hovering Over the Toilet

If all of this is making you put an end to your hovering-over-the-toilet habit, you’re probably wondering what the most hygienic way to pee in a public restroom is.

Should you really just plop right down on the seat? “We’ve all been there. Sometimes, the environment demands hovering!” Dr. Pulliam says. If you do hover over the toilet seat, she says to use your quad muscles instead of your buttocks. This will avoid confusing the pelvic floor muscles because using your quad muscles requires them to help maintain the hover position while urinating requires them to relax.

“Another option is to use toilet seat covers. They’re increasingly available or you can carry your own. You can also carry disinfectant wipes so that you can wipe down the seat before using it,” Dr. Pulliam says.

While hovering over the toilet to pee every once in a while isn’t that big of a deal, if it’s something you do regularly and you find that it’s preventing you from emptying your bladder completely, it’s worth it to consider using toilet seat covers to disinfectant wipes to avoid germs instead. That way, it’s easier to go and you can empty your bladder completely. Take it from urogynecologists!

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Sources

• Dr. Samantha J. Pulliam, MD, URPS, Assistant Professor, Tufts Medical School, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Chief Medical Officer, Axena Health, Inc.

• Dr. Kathleen Kobashi, MD, MBA, FACS, urogynecologist at Houston Methodist