What started off as a hellish contraption made from wood in Medieval France, today is a top addition to any bathroom. The bidet has long ago become a staple in bathrooms across the glove, from Japan to the Middle East. As more and more people discover all of its benefits, the bidet will enter more and more households (and their bathroom).
This is primarily because of hygiene issues that a typical bidet addresses. However, it is also practical to use and it helps protect the environment by doing away with toilet paper. The full list of benefits a bidet comes with is fairly long but here are the most important points.
Improved personal hygiene
For starters, a bidet offers a cleaning method that is different from what you might have gotten used to. The lack of toilet paper is not a downside to the bidet but its advantage. The rough surface of the paper not only irritates the skin but it contributes to an ill-executed wiping procedure. Even with all the twisting and turning involved, you still cannot reach every single spot on your bottom. This is breathing grounds for diseases because your private area has little to no breathing space.
A bidet, on the other hand (pun unintended), offers much more thorough clean up. Because you are using water as a lubricant of sorts, there is only skin to skin contact. This results in less irritation or no skin irritation at all. More importantly, the stream of lukewarm water allows you to clean your bottom in an efficient manner so there is no residue left. After you’re done using the toilet, you wash your hands like you normally would, thus eliminating the potential spreading of a disease like Hepatitis A, called the Dirty Hands Disease.
Treating constipation…
Another condition a bidet can help with is constipation. In fact, the two share the burden of the “no talking about it” stigma. That’s why people who often feel constipated cannot speak openly about their problem, which is preventing them from finding an efficient solution to their problem. A bidet can spray warm water on the bottom, stimulating the bowels to empty themselves. Furthermore, the cleaning after this process is much easier using water than toilet paper that just smudges the reside.
…as well as diarrhea
Another health issue that is not talked about in public is diarrhea. Perhaps the most irritable, literally, thing about this condition is the fact that you need to make repeatable visits to the bathroom. Wiping the bottom so often with toilet paper almost certainly irritated the skin causing it to inflame or become sore. The nozzles that are the heart and soul of a bidet come into play here and provide for a more comfortable cleaning process. Furthermore, they help clean the entire bottom, because diarrhea often comes in its most gruesome form: explosive diarrhea.
Ah, those hemorrhoids
Another condition that has been around as long as humankind are hemorrhoids. They occur after the skin at the private parts gets irritated enough or they are the result of a urinary tract infection. Whatever their cause may be, hemorrhoids hurt a lot on their own. Let alone if you try to run toilet paper over them. No matter how soft the paper is, the fact remains that you are rubbing a foreign object over a sore spot.
A bidet offers you the opportunity to avoid this painful contact altogether. Like we stated earlier, water acts as a lubricant that reduced friction and allows you to thoroughly clean the inflamed area. People who suffer chronically from hemorrhoids swear by the bidet to help them ease the pain. Hell, even those of us who have had only flare-ups of this disease will not renounce the bidet.
For the ladies
One thing that you have to understand about a bidet is that it’s unisex so both men and women can use it in the same way (and benefit in the same way). However, pregnant women are among the group of people who have the greatest benefits of using a bidet before and after childbirth. During pregnancy, they lose mobility in the hip area, which makes it hard for them to turn while sitting. This can turn a casual visit to the bathroom into a nightmare because reaching out for the toilet paper roll will prove to be a painful experience.
A bidet is much easier to use than a conventional toilet bowl and it requires less “gymnastics” to get the job done. In fact, rapid lateral motions can even harm the fetus, which definitely something that mothers-to-be wish to avoid. Even after the give birth, mommy can benefit using a bidet because the skin around their private parts is sore and irritable. Like with other groups of people who have a skin condition, a bidet will prevent inflammation from developing.
The mental impact for the seniors
Once people reach a certain age, even the most mundane of chores become a hassle. In fact, seniors who lose their mobility end up in retirement homer where others have to assist them when they wish to use the bathroom. Even if they stay at home, their children still have to help them in and out of the toilet. This can deliver a devastating blow to their self-esteem, deteriorating their mental health.
However, aging people aren’t entirely powerless. Most of their mobility problems originate in the hips, as most lower back exercises no longer help. Perhaps they can sit on the toilet but they need help reaching the toilet paper roll and using it. A bidet is much simpler in design as sitting down is already half the procedure. You needn’t rotate your hips too much to reach the private parts using one hand. For some seniors, the ability to go to the toilet unaided can make a world of difference!
Preserving money and the planet
Moving on from the health benefits of a bidet, we must write a word or two on the “health” of your home budget. Have you ever counted how many toilet rolls you use on a weekly basis? Even if you were extremely thrifty, this still amounts to at least one roll every seven days. This might not seem as much but add the other people in your household and multiply this amount with 52 and you figure of at least 200 dollars a month that you needn’t spend.
Apart from copy paper (which is obviously unsuitable for use in the toilet), the rest of the money you spend on paper in your household goes on kitchen towels. However, if you throw toilet paper out of the picture, you stand at saving hundreds of dollars each year. This money can be reinvested into something more lucrative, like starting a business or getting your kids good college education.
On the plus side, you will get a chance not only to save money but to save the planet as well. The amount of energy that goes into a single paper roll is stupendous: cutting down trees, processing plants, shipping, etc. by opting out of toilet paper, you give this hazardous industry a small blow.
The list of bidet’s benefits goes on and on but the ones we have listed should be persuasive enough to make you give the bidet a chance. For starters, you can go to a restaurant’s toilet and try out a bidet for the very first time.
