1
00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:06,880
Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

2
00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:11,520
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Vogel bomb here. Americans as a culture

3
00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:15,200
Speaker 1: are fairly interested in hygiene, or the country that popularized

4
00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:18,640
Speaker 1: hand sanitizer, for example, but parts of Europe and Asia

5
00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,360
Speaker 1: have been on the bidet bandwagon for a long time,

6
00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:25,639
Speaker 1: whereas Americans are apparently fine with cleaning their bottoms less

7
00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:30,639
Speaker 1: well than other cultures. But why It might have to

8
00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,800
Speaker 1: do with the biday's long and illustrious history, popular in

9
00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:38,960
Speaker 1: fancy European households since the sixteen hundreds. The original biday

10
00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:41,839
Speaker 1: was a little chair or stool with a tub of

11
00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:45,279
Speaker 1: water built into the seat. The user, after doing all

12
00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:48,680
Speaker 1: of their chamber pop business, straddled this device and washed

13
00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:53,040
Speaker 1: themselves off. The word biday means pony in French, which

14
00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:55,520
Speaker 1: goes a long way in helping the user understand how

15
00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,880
Speaker 1: to use it. Over the centuries, bidays became popular in

16
00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,920
Speaker 1: at rooms all over the world. Eventually they became a

17
00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:06,000
Speaker 1: plumbed fixture in the bathroom, sitting right next to the toilet,

18
00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:10,199
Speaker 1: but they never took off in the US. It's possible

19
00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,880
Speaker 1: that during and after World War Two, American soldiers visiting

20
00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,039
Speaker 1: brothels in Europe and Japan noticed bi days were common

21
00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,080
Speaker 1: in these establishments and began to associate the days with

22
00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,520
Speaker 1: sex work. It's possible they thought bidays were used as

23
00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:25,800
Speaker 1: a douching method, which was thought at the time to

24
00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:30,960
Speaker 1: be a legit contraceptive practice. It's not so. Even though

25
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,080
Speaker 1: the style of biday most commonly used throughout the world

26
00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,080
Speaker 1: now was developed in the United States, it had to

27
00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:42,040
Speaker 1: be exported elsewhere to become what it is today. For

28
00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:44,520
Speaker 1: the article, this episode is based on Hows to work.

29
00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,920
Speaker 1: Spoke by email with Sarah Shearer, owner of Clean Water

30
00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:52,800
Speaker 1: Bidays in Squim, Washington. She explained the old type of biday,

31
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,240
Speaker 1: the style that's a separate unit that sits next to

32
00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,120
Speaker 1: the toilet, is harder to work on. They require a

33
00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:00,800
Speaker 1: few thousand dollar remodel to install hall and they take

34
00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,680
Speaker 1: up a lot of space. Most Americans only see them

35
00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:06,800
Speaker 1: when they're on vacation in Europe, but they're still sold. Sometimes.

36
00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,799
Speaker 1: More common these days are the biday seats, an attachment

37
00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,480
Speaker 1: that it fixes to your toilet, replacing your old toilet seat.

38
00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:17,760
Speaker 1: This device sprays your bone with a jet of water.

39
00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,040
Speaker 1: It can be tap temperature or warmed with an inseat device.

40
00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:23,720
Speaker 1: Depending on how much you want to pay. There's a

41
00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:27,400
Speaker 1: front wash for cleaning the genitals. The biday attachment is

42
00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:29,880
Speaker 1: less expensive. You can buy a nice one and stick

43
00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:32,840
Speaker 1: it on your toilet yourself for less than four hundred bucks,

44
00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,680
Speaker 1: and some more basic models for much cheaper. It's also

45
00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,000
Speaker 1: more accessible than a traditional bidat, which requires the user

46
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,959
Speaker 1: to do their business on the toilet, stand up, scooch

47
00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:44,960
Speaker 1: over to the biday and sit back down to do

48
00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:49,960
Speaker 1: the freshening up. A shearer said. The first rudimentary bidday

49
00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:53,000
Speaker 1: attachment was created in the US in the nineteen twenties.

50
00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:55,799
Speaker 1: It didn't get very popular in America, but it really

51
00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,440
Speaker 1: caught on in Asia, where it's been engineered into what

52
00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:02,280
Speaker 1: it is today. In Japan, for instance, biday attachments can

53
00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,359
Speaker 1: be found in eight percent of homes and in public restrooms.

54
00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,239
Speaker 1: Most are produced in South Korea and some in China.

55
00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:13,400
Speaker 1: Using a biday may sound like a difficult process and

56
00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:15,959
Speaker 1: could be a bit intimidating at first, but it's really

57
00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:18,280
Speaker 1: quite simple and depends on the type of biday that

58
00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,639
Speaker 1: you're using. You use the toilet as you normally would,

59
00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,840
Speaker 1: both for urination and for defecation. The biday can be

60
00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:27,079
Speaker 1: used after you wipe with toilet paper or without the

61
00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:31,120
Speaker 1: use of toilet paper a totally personal preference, So what

62
00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,119
Speaker 1: you do is locate the biday. There are three basic types, standalone,

63
00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,680
Speaker 1: seat mounted, or wall hanging. For the stand alone type,

64
00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,040
Speaker 1: you must move off the toilet and straddle the biday,

65
00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:43,520
Speaker 1: either facing the water jet or with your back to it,

66
00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,040
Speaker 1: again personal preference. For the type of biday attached to

67
00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,000
Speaker 1: the toilet seat, locate the controls, which will either be

68
00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,720
Speaker 1: mounted on the wall or attached to the seat itself.

69
00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:55,800
Speaker 1: The wall hanging type of BIDAY will function much as

70
00:03:55,840 --> 00:04:00,720
Speaker 1: a handheld shower device. Then when you're finished, by yourself off.

71
00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:03,920
Speaker 1: Some bday models have an air drying system, which you'll

72
00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:06,880
Speaker 1: operate with controls, and which can of course be used

73
00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,240
Speaker 1: in combination with toilet paper should you feel the need.

74
00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,000
Speaker 1: Some models don't include the air dry feature and necessitate

75
00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,880
Speaker 1: the use of toilet paper or towels. Although the days

76
00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:21,560
Speaker 1: definitely cannot ward off pregnancy or STDs, they can be

77
00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:26,159
Speaker 1: a healing balmb for other conditions. Shearer said. We see

78
00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:28,240
Speaker 1: them used most in the US for people who have

79
00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:33,240
Speaker 1: a medical need. Crones colitis, colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome.

80
00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,200
Speaker 1: The symptoms that make life hard with these conditions can

81
00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:40,040
Speaker 1: be alleviated with bida seats. General practitioners O b G

82
00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:43,120
Speaker 1: y n S and occupational therapists send patients to us

83
00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,040
Speaker 1: for a variety of conditions. We have people who used

84
00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,600
Speaker 1: to get urinary tract infections once or twice a month

85
00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:50,560
Speaker 1: come in and tell this they're down to three or

86
00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,240
Speaker 1: four times a year after getting a bida seat. It

87
00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:58,039
Speaker 1: can make an extreme difference. Not only that, but as

88
00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,400
Speaker 1: we age, it's more difficult to keep lean, particularly if

89
00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,880
Speaker 1: we develop arthritis or other rheumatic disease. It makes it

90
00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,279
Speaker 1: harder to maneuver a wipe or wash, and infections like

91
00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:10,240
Speaker 1: U T e S can be a lot more serious

92
00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:14,560
Speaker 1: and older patients. Bdays can help with this. A sharer said,

93
00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,000
Speaker 1: for a lot of aging people, the main thing that's

94
00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:19,560
Speaker 1: going to keep them independent and at home the longest

95
00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:25,159
Speaker 1: is their ability to toilet themselves. However, some research has

96
00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:29,000
Speaker 1: shown that bidats can make some conditions like anal fissures

97
00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:33,680
Speaker 1: and vaginal bacterial infections worse. If you're experiencing any kind

98
00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:37,360
Speaker 1: of medical issue, definitely consult a medical care provider before

99
00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:42,640
Speaker 1: self treating. On another hand, bidats might help the planet.

100
00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,960
Speaker 1: While it's true the bidats use water, it's not as

101
00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,320
Speaker 1: much as a luxurious shower. But the real savings come

102
00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:51,880
Speaker 1: in when you consider how much toilet paper you don't

103
00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,920
Speaker 1: have to use if you're using a bi day. Almost

104
00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:58,600
Speaker 1: of the toilet paper sold in the US comes from

105
00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:02,400
Speaker 1: the Virgin boreal forests Canada, which cover about six of

106
00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,040
Speaker 1: the country. They're making the air we breathe in addition

107
00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:09,039
Speaker 1: to the toilet paper we use, and the American lack

108
00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,200
Speaker 1: of interest in bidays means that although our country accounts

109
00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,400
Speaker 1: for only about four point five percent of the world's population,

110
00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:20,039
Speaker 1: our citizens use about of the world's toilet tissue, which

111
00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,800
Speaker 1: is why America might need to jump on that biday bandwagon.

112
00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,240
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article getting to the

113
00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:32,440
Speaker 1: Bottom of the Biday on how stuff Works dot Com,

114
00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:35,280
Speaker 1: written by Jescelyn Shields. Brain Stuff is production of I

115
00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:37,480
Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com,

116
00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,400
Speaker 1: and it is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts

117
00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,560
Speaker 1: from my heart Radio visit the i heart Radio app,

118
00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,480
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,