Australia's bathroom habits are in the spotlight today as Cancer Council and the Australian Government encourage all Australians aged 50-74 to Get2it and participate in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) when they receive their free test kit in the mail.
New data from YouGov shows that people aged 50 and over, spend around 35 minutes a day in the bathroom, totalling 212 hours a year. Cancer Council suggests that this is more than enough time for eligible Australians do the test and potentially save their lives. Screening rates for Australia's second biggest cancer killer currently sit at just 43.5%.
Interestingly, one-fifth (21%) of Australians say that the time they spend in the bathroom is about maintaining good health, meaning that whilst they have the best intentions, they are simply not getting to bowel screening. Test kits are sent to 50-74 year old Australians every two years.
Cancer Council CEO, Professor Tanya Buchanan, said: "In the 424 hours, or 18 days, each Australian spends in the bathroom every two years, thousands of potentially life-saving samples could be taken. Countless lives can be saved if eligible Australians, especially those in their 50s swapped out time spent scrolling on their phones while on the loo, with bowel screening time."
A quarter (25%) of eligible Australians use their mobile phones on the toilet. The top reasons for using a phone on the toilet includes scrolling social media (45%), reading the news (39%), texting (23%) and gaming (23%).
Minister for Health and Aged Care, The Hon Mark Butler MP, said: "We are asking Australians aged 50 and over to make time to look after their health by doing their free bowel test when it arrives in the mail. If we can get 60% of eligible Australians screening and keep it that way, we can save 84,000 lives by 2040.
"Screen time is a feature of modern life and we want screening time to come just as naturally, so why not use your next bathroom stop to complete the test, or add a reminder to your calendar."
Research shows that placing the bowel screening test kit in the bathroom straight away, as well as setting reminders on your phone, could increase screening rates. People can set reminders at: www.cancer.org.au/bowelscreening/reminder
NRL stars and commentator, Petero Civoniceva, Geoff Toovey and Andrew Voss have been enlisted to help spread the word on the importance of bowel screening, particularly to men aged 50-59.
