If you don’t put the lid down before flushing the toilet, you definitely will after hearing this.
A doctor has gone viral on TikTok after explaining why closing the lid is so important – and it’s really gross.
Always flush toilet with lid down
“Your puny human eyes can’t see this but every time you flush the toilet with the lid open, you create a raging sewage volcano,” British NHS doctor Dr Karan Raj said.
He explained that the force of the flush allows the “toilet juice” to travel far and wide, which is full of “microscopic pathogens”.
A pathogen is any organism that causes disease, including viruses and bacteria. Some of the most common ones are E. coli and norovirus.
Flushing the toilet with the lid up allows these bad pathogens to spread across bathroom surfaces and linger in the air, increasing the risk of you getting unwell.
A 2022 study in the Scientific Reports journal used high-powdered lasers to illuminate the aerosols that are emitted from the toilet.
It found that the toilet flush produces a strong chaotic jet which moves the pathogens two metres per second, rapidly carrying them to heights of 1.5 metres within eight seconds of the flush.
Some of the smallest water droplets lingered in the air for more than several minutes, potentially putting these harmful pathogens at mouth height to be breathed in.
Shut the lid! @💉 Dr Charles MD 💉
Closing the lid isn’t enough
However, flushing the toilet with the lid down isn’t enough to get rid of these germs – you need to be regularly cleaning your bathroom too.
Another study00820-9/fulltext) in the American Journal of Infection Control found that closing the toilet prior to flushing does not mitigate cross-contamination. They added a bacteria to household and public toilet bowls and discovered that viral contamination of restroom surfaces did not depend on toilet lid position.
Dr. Raj explained that shutting the lid “helps to redirect the toilet lid onto the floor instead of the air” – but doesn’t stop the pathogens completely. That’s why it’s really important to clean all restroom surfaces regularly, to kill any harmful bacteria or viruses.
MedlinePlus says you should regularly clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that are touched often to prevent the spread of infection and destroy germs that can make you sick. This includes countertops, doorknobs, faucets, toilet handles, light switches, remotes, and toys.
Cleaning removes dirt, dust, crumbs, and germs from surfaces or objects with soap or detergent while disinfecting uses chemicals to kill germs on surfaces and objects. You usually need to leave the disinfectant on the surfaces for a certain amount of time to kill the germs.
