上公厕选择半蹲而非坐下实际不利于女性健康,为什么?
When it comes to public toilets, there's a broad spectrum. Which is why, as women, many of us prefer to hover delicately over the toilet seat (if, indeed, there even is one) rather than make contact.
公共厕所这一话题涉及范围很广。所以，作为女性，很多人都宁愿半蹲在马桶垫（如果有的话）上方，而不愿与其直接接触。But it turns out squatting could be doing us more harm than sitting down, and may in fact INCREASE our chances of catching a nasty infection.
但事实证明，半蹲给人体带来的危害要高于坐下，事实上，可能会增加我们严重感染的风险。So why is squatting so harmful?
为何半蹲的危害如此之大？
"The problem with 'hovering' over the toilet when urinating is that the muscles of your pelvic floor and pelvic girdle - your hip rotators, glutes, back and abs - are extremely tense," women's health therapist, Brianne Grogan told The Conversation.
"小便时悬于马桶上方会使人体骨盆底和骨盆带的肌肉、臀部旋转肌肉、臀部肌肉、背部和腹部肌肉处于极为紧绷的状态，"女性健康治疗师Brianne Grogan对The Conversation说道。"This pelvic girdle tension makes it difficult for urine to flow easily, often requiring you to push or 'bear down' slightly to make the urine come out quickly. Frequent pushing or bearing down to urinate can contribute to pelvic organ prolapse."
"盆骨带紧张会使尿液不易流出，通常需要你使劲或稍微下压才能尿出来。经常性的用使劲或下压的方式排尿会导致盆腔器官脱垂。"
By hovering, we may also not be emptying our bladder properly which in turn could lead to cystitis. What is it we should be doing instead then? Apparently, it's perfectly safe to sit down, as there's very little risk of getting an infection by doing so.
悬于厕所上方时，我们可能无法将尿液全部排出，这反过来会导致膀胱炎。那我们应该怎么做呢？显然，坐在马桶上是很安全的，因为坐下来感染的风险很小。"Most intestinal diseases involve hand-to-mouth transfer of bacteria as a result of faecal contamination of hands, food and surfaces," clinical mircobiologist at the University of Leicester, Dr Freestone, adds.
"大多数肠道疾病都是由于手、食物和表面的排泄物污染造成细菌的手-口相传所致，"莱斯特大学的临床微生物学家弗里斯通博士补充道。We also have two handy forms of protection against infection.
我们的身体本身就能预防感染，以两种简单的方式。Firstly, our bodies comes with a layer of good bacteria and yeast that "functions as a highly effective protective shield".
首先，我们的身体自带一层有益细菌和酵母，它们"起到高效防护的作用"。Then secondly there's the immune system, which Dr Freestone describes as being "ferociously good" at protecting against nasty bugs. So next time you find yourself in a public toilet, plonk yourself down on the seat. And maybe take anti-bacterial wipes too, just in case.
其次，我们的身体有免疫系统，弗里斯通博士将其描述为在预防细菌方面"特别猛"。所以再去公共厕所时，坐到坐便器上吧。为以防万一，如厕结束后最好用抗菌纸擦拭。
