A British company has patented a new toilet design with a sloped seat. Spend too long on it and you'll get leg cramps.
People are spending too much time in the bathroom at work — and it's bad for their health and productivity. At least that's what a British company claims.
The StandardToilet is similar to most toilets, with a key difference: the toilet's seat and bowl are slanted 11-13 degrees, so that after about five minutes of sitting it causes a strain in the legs.
StandardToilet
Mahabir Gill, the founder of StandardToilet told Wired that the leg pain is not great enough to cause health problems but "you'd soon want to get off the seat quite quickly."
What's the rush?
According to Wired and other published reports, inspiration for the toilet came from Gill's personal annoyance at finding employees asleep on the toilet or growing lines for public toilets and he found that extended bathroom time costs employers money.
According to their website — which has has been taken down — the StandardToilet can increase employee efficiency by reducing the use of social media and reduces lines for bathrooms at shopping malls, public transport, restaurants and sports events.
The company also claims that the slanted design helps with bowel movements by improving posture and reduces the use of pelvic muscles.
Since surfacing on social media, the StandardToilet has received a lot of backlash.
When reached for comment, a StandardToilet spokesperson defended the design.
"Obviously spending less time on the WC is advantageous to the employer, but .. really this (is) the byproduct, with primary health advantages," the spokesperson wrote to TODAY via email. "Once the dust settles and everyone starts thinking rationally, it will become clear that spending too long on the toilet is not healthy."
Dr. Anish Sheth, a gastroenterologist from Princeton, New Jersey, and co-author of "What Your Poo is Telling You", is skeptical of the design and only sees one potential health benefit from the StandardToilet — reducing hemorrhoids.
"There are studies, at least one, that show that people that read on the toilet have bigger problems with hemorrhoids," Sheth told TODAY. "In that study they basically did a base line and told people to stop reading on the toilet and they found that the hemorrhoid problem got better.
The StandardToilet is doing exactly the opposite of the squatty potty which makes your knees more elevated, the optimum angle for going to the bathroom, Sheth points out. Having your knees at a declined slant could make it harder to go, worsen hemorrhoids and make it more difficult for people to leave faster.
Sheth understands the concept, but told TODAY it doesn't seem the right way to go about accomplishing it.
"Why not have a toilet seat that vibrates forcefully every five minutes or something?," he asked. "There would be easier ways to work with existing toilets to achieve the same effect without having to redesign the seat and put strain on legs.
What do you do when nature calls and you're climbing Everest? Digging a hole in the snow is out of the question, although this does happen at some of the camps, explains former climber and engineer, Garry Porter.
How many of us have our best ideas on the toilet?
No really, it can happen. Take Zuraina Zaharin from Malaysia. She's built a business off the back of a loo break. Not just any loo break, of course. This one was near Everest in the early 2000s when she was climbing in the region -- and it was pretty bleak.
"I was facing this problem: the toilet," she explains. "It's easy for men to do their business; they can just do it anywhere. But not for the ladies. We have to wait until we find some nice spot. Even then, I can't do it. I just have to find the toilet."
Things didn't improve upon discovering the facilities, however. "The last toilet at Everest base camp is a pit latrine," Zaharin continues. "The smell, God knows... it's so stinky."
There are many things you should try to avoid doing at a dinner party or when visiting someone’s home. They range in severity from slightly awkward faux pas to full-blown mortifying incidents that leave you wishing with every ounce of your fiber that a giant hole would open and swallow you.
One occurrence that would likely fall into the latter category is to excuse yourself to your host’s powder room only to find that the water in the commode refuses to go down the drain.
Hopefully, this waking nightmare never happens to you. However, the harsh reality is that it could. Just to be on the safe side, it’s wise to have a plan in your back pocket should you ever be faced with a toilet bowl horrifyingly filled with two-ply that just won’t flush.
To ensure the best possible outcome from such an unpleasant situation, we asked experts in the field of etiquette. Their professional advice could help you save face in this worst-case scenario:
“The best way to handle any situation like this is to be completely honest,” Graber recommends. “If the toilet is clogged after you have used it, you need to let your host or hostess know as soon as possible. A plumber may need to be called. Any polite and understanding host or hostess will let you off the hook.”
Does this sound difficult? If so, you can alleviate the embarrassment by offering some help.
“If you think it is an easy fix, act like a responsible adult and offer to clear the clog if you know how,” Graber says. “It’s entirely possible that this is a recurring issue for the host or hostess. They may be much more understanding than you think.”
Graber also offers guidance on actions to avoid.
“To save oneself from feeling embarrassed and not say anything to someone, only to let the next person who needs to use the facilities find it and deal with it, is to exhibit the height of immaturity,” Graber warns. “If you do pretend to know nothing, what with other guests or the ubiquitous security cameras seemingly everywhere nowadays, most likely you will be found out.”
Deborah Thomas-Nininger, the founder of DTN Productions International, stresses that being considerate of others should guide your actions when dealing with problems such as this one.
“Guest etiquette is as much about kindness and thoughtfulness as it is about good manners,” says Thomas-Nininger. “When any type of accident occurs in the home of your host, I recommend owning it immediately. A heartfelt apology followed by a ‘What can I do?’ goes a long way in rectifying the situation.”
She adds, “In the case of a plumbing disaster such as a clogged toilet, the sooner it is dealt with, the better. Can you imagine the line forming to use the powder room and it is out of commission?”
That doesn’t mean you need to make a formal announcement for all guests to hear.
“Pull your host aside and inquire if there is a plunger handy as you explain that ‘Oops!’ a toilet clog has happened, and you wish to handle it,” advises Thomas-Nininger. “To simply tell your host about the clog will not suffice … at least offer to be the one who rolls up their sleeves and fixes the issue.”
She also believes that a little discretion goes a long way.
“And might I also recommend, the less said about it around the dinner table would be wise,” Thomas-Nininger says. “Perhaps your host is well aware of their problematic plumbing, so no need to make jokes about it.”
If the mishap was due to negligence (either by you or by someone for whom you are responsible), be ready to open your wallet.
“If the said clog has been caused by your toddler or your child dropping a toy in or using too much toilet tissue and it’s not an easy fix, you’ll need to prepare yourself for a plumbing bill,” Graber says. “Either way, offer to pay for it if a plumber is called.”
The bottom line? Honesty really is the best policy.
“Taking responsibility for one’s actions is part of being an adult,” says Graber. “It’s also part of being a good friend. Keep that in mind when you’re out at holiday parties this season.”
If you are still feeling sheepish after the blunder, take steps to show your regrets.
“As a final gesture, send a note, a card (maybe even a gift) after the event to express your apologies again, especially if it was your fault,” Thomas-Nininger suggests. “Kindness makes a BIG difference!”
Regular readers will know that I am a bit obsessed with toilets, from my $1200 toilet seat to my in-wall Geberit tank to my history of the bathroom. My exasperated wife says fine, if you want the fancy toilet then you can clean it, so I am well aware of the problems of cleaning under the rim of a Toto or other conventional toilets.
That's why I was actually quite excited to see this new rimless toilet from Gerebit at the Passivhaus Portugal conference. Technical representative Jọo Sim̵es explained that the water shoots out from the back and goes right round the top of the toilet, cleaning the whole thing. You can watch it in the video. According to their website, "The flow of water is controlled just before it reaches the ceramic pan. A so-called flush guide sends the water stream along both sides to the exact area where it is needed for a clean and thorough flush Рand only there."
I asked João if this needed a special high-pressure tank, and João said it would work with a standard Geberit tank, which is surprising, as they are small and very water-efficient. Anyone who has used a brush or toxic chemicals to clean under the rim of a conventional toilet.
What if your toilet could feel more like a comfortable chair? Well, now it can, according to Dennis and Mary Lou Green of Dennis Green Design Group, inventors of the Throne Daddy; a marshmallow-soft lumbar support that easily attaches to the toilet seat lid.
"I have a herniated disk in my lower back and always wished I could find a lumbar support for the toilet," says Dennis. "Then, one day it hit me, 'We're inventors, why shouldn't we invent a solution?'" Mary Lou added, "First, we asked friends how they sit on the toilet. That prompted nervous laughs and loads of toilet humor."
Next, they posted questions on Quora and their Throne Daddy Facebook page and discovered that men mostly sit forward on the toilet with elbows on knees to read. They don't lean back because the toilet seat lid is too far back and too hard, plus many lids have a rim around the edge that cuts into their backs. Throne Daddy solves those problems. Women, on the other hand, are more likely to perch on the seat. They get in and get out, spending less time reading on the toilet. See more here.
Medical research shows sitting forward on the toilet causes legs to go to sleep. Throne Daddy puts the body in the proper ergonomic position to ease that problem.
The Greens read complaints about their idea on their Facebook page from women who felt their husbands already spent too much time in the bathroom and didn't need something to make their hideout more comfortable. "Next he'll want a beer tap in there." Other women argued if they could make their partner more comfortable, they were all for it, "Better they hide out an extra ten minutes in the bathroom than five hours on the golf course."
“So we got very interested in the toilet,” Josh Coon, a Biomolecular Chemistry Professor, said.
“Some people think we’re crazy but I think we’re on to something,” Ian Miller, a Staff Scientist, said.
In most workplaces, “toilet talk” is frowned upon.
“Now we need to put that technology in the toilet and we need to make it broadly available,” Coon said.
For researchers at UW Madison, flushing is the future.
“Our toilet, our smart toilet will have a collection container in the front and then we can have pipes coming out the bottom which will pump the urine away for analysis in our mass spectrometers,” Ben Anderson, a UW Madison Student said.
Doctors say urine samples are non-invasive and can tell a lot about a person’s overall health. By collecting and processing this data, they’re calling a toilet revolution.
“The opportunity to revolutionize toilets once again by allowing it to not just dispose of waste but to give you access to your health information,” Anderson said.
Data from the toilet can show caffeine or alcohol intake or how your body metabolizes certain medicines.
“But this way you could monitor that throughout the course of your life daily and we think that could really change healthcare and preventative medicine,” Coon said.
Scientists are programming the potty to compile the information as a smartwatch would.
“I think the reason the watch is so powerful is because you don’t have to do anything different, people wore watches before but all of the sudden we have access to this data,” Miller said.
Modernizing even the most private of places.
By being able to look at an actual bodily fluid with this sort of resolution, we can get a peek inside the body,” Anderson said.
The team says they’re about three months from a working prototype.
They’re planning another study over the next year analyzing how the technology functions.
© Geberit
