At a particularly dark time for world affairs, I often find myself compulsively doomscrolling on my phone, sometimes disappearing into the bathroom to do it. It often feels like a brief escape from the kids. But I had no idea that it can cause serious health problems.
Earlier this week, Dr Punam Krishan, the resident doctor on BBC Morning Live, claimed that sitting on the loo and scrolling on your phone has been known to cause haemorrhoids – or worse. It can also give you a weakened pelvic floor, which can trigger bladder issues such as incontinence, or even result in prolapse.
If being exposed to too much bluescreen isn’t giving you sleepless nights, that surely will.
But doomscrolling on the loo is a habit that, according to a YouGov poll, 57 per cent of Britons admit they have – myself included.
It’s so easy for a three-minute trip to the loo to turn into 15 to 20 minutes of scrolling, posting and texting. And it’s the reason I ended up in hospital last week.
I’ve had insomnia, which has weakened my immune system. It turns out that waking at 3am and checking your phone, thinking “Has the US bombed Iran yet...?”, interferes with your sleep patterns, suppressing melatonin production and making it harder to drift off and stay asleep.
A recent study showed how an extra hour of screen time each day was linked to a 33 per cent increase in insomnia risk. And, earlier this month, another study – of teenagers’ habits – revealed that spending more than two hours a day scrolling on phones or tablets doubles the risk of anxiety disorders and increases the chances of depression fourfold.
I hit rock bottom in my bathroom last week. Having lost all sense of time, I eventually realised I’d been scrolling through stories about the Air India crash for 45 minutes, which itself is pretty unhealthy. But “toilet-scrolling”, as it’s known, is a double-whammy health hazard.
The combination of the pressure on your lower quarters from prolonged sitting and the negative impact on mental health of doomscrolling finally took its toll on me: I had to go to hospital.
In hindsight, I had been needing to use the bathroom more frequently, which had meant scrolling even more than usual while locked in there... and eventually I started to feel quite unwell. But I had no idea that, on a Sunday at an urgent walk-in centre, I would be diagnosed with a urinary tract infection.
I was given emergency antibiotics – but it didn’t get any better. When I developed a mild fever and a rash on my leg, I was directed to A&E as there was a chance the infection could be sepsis. When I did the “blanching test”, the rash didn’t fade when pressed with a clear glass.
Typically, before I was called to give a urine sample, do blood tests and have an ultrasound to check my kidneys, I spent my time in the hospital waiting room doomscrolling. I was put on new, mega-strong antibiotics and ordered to rest in bed, which I’m not good at. I was also told that I needed to look at the stress levels in my life and make changes. Doomscrolling on the loo has got to go.
To avoid further bladder issues, I have now weaned myself off toilet-scrolling – a filthy habit that triggers a dopamine release but is just not worth it.
So, goodbye, doomscrolling. Catching up on all the bad news from around the world on your phone is one thing – but doing it on the loo is a recipe for disaster.
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