Science & Fun - Jonathan Graehl

Via a popular article quoted by Robin Hanson:

Pooping on a modern sitting toilet is a big part of where hemorrhoids come from, and it can also cause diverticular disease … A 2003 study observed 28 people pooping in three positions: sitting on a high toilet, sitting on a lower one and squatting like they were catchers at a baseball game … Pooping took about a minute less when done squatting and that participants rated the experience as “easier”. In fact, toilets that require you to squat that way have been the standard for most of human history and are still widely used in the non-Western world. …

(or you can just lean forward)

Showering or bathing daily … wreaks havoc on something hilariously called the horny layer. Hot water, soap and abrasive surfaces strip off the horny layer, exposing living cells to the elements. … Damaging this protective layer of skin makes us more susceptible to disease. … Showering doesn’t kill bacteria or other microorganisms, though it does move them around. … For this reason, surgeons in many hospitals are not allowed to shower right before operating. … There are no measurable differences in the number of microorganism colonies a person is host to regardless of how frequently that person showers. … When you shower, use warm or cool water and a mild soap (if at all), and rehydrate the horny layer by rubbing on some moisturizer afterward. …

Right, but people want to feel and smell clean. And cold showers eventually cause weight gain (probably fat) as you adapt. Also, the surgeons claim seems weak. Shower followed by lotion is definitely better than no shower, for surgeons. Also, what’s the increased infection rate given daily hot showers? If it’s small enough, then who cares?

The muscle you’re supposed to use to breathe, your diaphragm, is under your lungs and closer to your belly….

I guess it’s possible to learn to take deeper, slower breaths when sedentary. That might be better (supposedly it decreased blood pressure). When exercising, it should come automatically. It would be good to see more evidence that people ever fail to use their diaphragm, given that breathing is unconscious. It would also be good to see if conscious exaggerated belly movements have a benefit for other reasons that increasing diaphragm-breathing.

Artificial light has pushed our normal bedtime back later and later, and this [natural] segmented sleep has been compressed into a single eight hours. … In a monthlong experiment, healthy subjects were given a long artificial “night” lasting 14 hours. They quickly reverted to the segmented pattern, waking up for an hour or two of “peaceful wakefulness” between two three to five hour stretches. …

Conclusion: don’t worry about it if you wake up and still feel tired. Go back to sleep.

Today, the majority of women in America are still directed to give birth in the “lithotomy” position, an odd pose that consists of lying flat on your back with your feet and legs raised, sometimes in stirrups. … This is pretty much the worst position imaginable to give birth in. … The World Health Organization has called use of the lithotomy position “clearly harmful,” and recommended that it be eliminated. …

Flossing is much more important than brushing. … Brushing twice a day is generally still believed to be the best practice. But you should do it away from mealtimes to give your teeth time to recover from acid wear — ideally, right before you eat or drink anything. … You should use a soft brush and focus on your gums more than your actual teeth. …

Brush before meals if you have acid wear (grooves in enamel), otherwise it’s better to brush after. Without a test for acid wear, I can’t really act with much confidence.

A study used an MRI to measure the spinal disk movement of three groups of people: one sitting, one slouching and one lying back at a 135-degree angle with their feet on the floor. The last group showed the least disk movement. By the way, this reclining position was common during the Roman Empire.

Right. Upright sitting (or slouching) is hard on the spine. Reclining is better. But if you’re using a computer screen, you’ll screw up your neck if you add unsupported reclining without changing your monitors.