A viral video that has been viewed more than 70 million times has sparked intrigue about men’s mysterious bathroom habits.
A comedy clip, posted on Instagram by influencer Hannah Stocking, pokes fun at the time her male partner spends in the bathroom.
The video, which has received more than a million likes, shows her “preparing” her bath for her male partner, adding candles, video games and books, before hugging him goodbye.
He emerges from the bathroom much later with a full beard, and the two share a loving reunion.
Influencer Hannah Stocking has set social media alight with a comical clip about men spending long periods of time in the bathroom.
The influencer joked that her partner Answar spends “four days” in the bathroom.
Dozens of viewers have commented on the video, sharing details of their male partners’ equally lengthy bathing sessions.
“So true. Why do men spend 60% of their life in the bathroom?” wrote one Instagram user.
Another said: ‘I’m watching this from the couch, while my man watches NRL highlights in the bathroom with the sound blasting.’
Meanwhile, one woman said she had made peace with her partner’s time in the bathroom “after 25 years”. “I just buy him a duvet and say goodnight, bye.”
But the men have responded to the accusations, offering insightful explanations for the behaviour.
“The bathroom is a men’s escape,” wrote one male commenter. “Where we can be alone for a while.” While another said: “It’s a way to appease our memories because when you’re with her, she wants all the attention all the time… when we’re in there, no one bothers us until we get out.”
Now, experts have weighed in on the debate, confirming Hannah’s tightsSuspicions of.
“It’s true that men spend more time in the bathroom or on the toilet than women,” Dr. Kyle Staller, a gastroenterologist based in Massachusetts, told Yahoo Life.
“But they are actually much less likely to have bowel problems and chronic constipation than women.”
Rates of bowel problems such as irritable bowel syndrome are between one and three times more common in women than in men, according to the charity The IBS Network.
This is thought to be due to a number of factors including fluctuating hormones during the menstrual cycle that affect a woman’s gut and the fact that the female colon is, on average, 10cm longer than a man’s.
Studies suggest that the increased time men spend in the bathroom may be due to other activities. A 2017 study from the University of Oxford and the University of Canberra indicates that men are six percent more likely to spend time on their phone in the bathroom. The Huffington Post says.
Studies show that women are up to three times more likely to suffer from bowel problems than men, but men spend more time in the bathroom.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Alpert, a psychotherapist and author, told LiveScience that the toilet can be a ““Hideout” and “me time,” because “no one asks what you’re doing there, even if it takes a while. It can be a really safe place.”
This is in line with the results of a 2018 survey by bathroom company Pebble Grey, which found that a third of UK men spend more than seven hours a year in the bathroom to “enjoy a break” and “avoid stress”.
A 2021 survey of 38 men aged 19-55 conducted by VICE Media revealed more interesting information about the psyche of men who spend long periods of time in the bathroom.
About 84 percent of men surveyed said they spend their time browsing social media, while 62 percent said they read the news.
Half of respondents said they use the time to catch up on emails and text messages.
A smaller number said they read a book (14 percent) or make calls (eight percent).
Significantly, 63 percent of men who responded to the survey said they purposely took longer in the bathroom when they were feeling frustrated at work or at home.
Psychotherapist Benjamin Jackson summed up the phenomenon in a statement to VICE: “I call it cave time.”
“I always ask the men I work with where they get that time for themselves. If they live in small apartments or share large houses, that place is usually the bathroom.”
