The Squatty Potty or Notty?

By Michael Marino

Staff Reporter

In 2011, the Edwards family invented the Squatty Potty toilet stool because they were having colon issues, according to squattypotty.com. Having always been concerned with their health, they wanted to find an inexpensive solution.

As described on their website, The Squatty Potty is designed to get the user into the proper squatting position, thus allowing them to excrete waste more efficiently.

However, is it worth the hype? Some students believe it is beneficial to our health.

“I think it is definitely something helpful,” said freshman Fernando Gonzalez. “Squatting is more efficient than sitting because of the constriction of bowels that occurs while in that position.”

According to the article, “Influence of Body Position on Defecation in Humans,” by MD and PhD Ryuji Sakakibara, “the squatting position allows greater hip flexion to occur which requires less strain on the body when defecating.”

“The Squatty Potty brings us back to our roots. Since the dawn of time, our ancestors have squatted to poop and that is how our anatomy has evolved,” said junior Patrick Mahoney. “If you are sitting on the toilet, your descending colon is not fully straightened, therefore, not everything can get out.”

However, not everyone is quite convinced that the Squatty Potty is actually beneficial. In fact, some think that the product is just absolutely ridiculous.

“Out of all the inventions in the world that can improve quality of life, someone focused on defecation,” said sophomore Henley Solomon.

Even with the medical studies that have been conducted, some of which can be seen on the Squatty Potty website, students are still not convinced that it will work.

“I would need to see evidence of someone dying from poor posture in order to agree that this is something that needs to be focused on,” said Solomon.

Others believe that the stool could potentially help.

“If people buy it and feel like it’s helping them, then I’m all for that,” said sophomore Sean Boyle. “Initially, I thought that this product was very strange, and I would never buy an ‘As Seen on TV’ product.

The Squatty Potty appeared on the television show, “Shark Tank” on Nov. 2, 2014. Lori Greiner invested in the company and helped turn it into a multi-million-dollar industry.

“I think that it’s kind of weird, but if it’s beneficial to people then I’m okay with it,” said sophomore Kyle Caufield.

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