It turns out that you've been pooing the wrong way your whole life.

It’s something you probably do every day, even twice a day (or more). And science is here to tell you, you’re doing it WRONG.

Pooing. 

Some people find it hilarious, others, entirely distasteful. For most of us, it’s just not really something we think or talk about all that often, we just, (perhaps with a little help from our old mate Metamucil) do it.

If you’ve been lucky enough to travel to Japan, Sri Lanka, Egypt or Greece you have probably been over come with worry (and a lack of faith in your quad muscles) at the thought of a squat toilet. But apparently we are the odd ones out, with over 2/3 of the global population squatting on the daily, and according to German scientists, it is the best way to ‘go’. Literally.

Apparently, when we sit on a toilet we put a kink in the hose, so to speak. In her book Charming Bowels, Giulia Enders, a microbiologist whose speciality is all things faecal, explains that by sitting and not squatting, we fail to “open the hatch completely,” thereby making everything a lot more difficult to push out.

According to Enders, “1.2 billion people around the world who squat have almost no incidence of diverticulosis and fewer problems with piles. We in the west, on the other hand, squeeze our gut tissue until it comes out of our bottoms.” An appealing thought, apologies if you are reading this before tucking into your porridge.

If you have just completed that rather expensive bathroom reno, or you know, don’t want to install a squat toilet, there is a simple solution. The Guardian reports, just put a stool (pun 100% intended) at the base of your toilet to prop up your feet, and lean forward. It’ll be easy as 1, 2… well, yeah number 2 really.

How would you feel about squatting? Willing to give it a shot?

For more, ahem, Number 2 News, check these out:

Plane forced to land because of a very smelly poo. Yes, really.

Brace yourself: Everything you knew about the Poo Emoji is a lie.

Pinchapoo wants you to steal hotel toiletries. For a good cause, obviously.

This *sshole owl shitting all over his friend is just a metaphor for life, really.