So should we all get one of those little stools for our stools, like the squatty potty that you put in front of your toilet to step on? No they don’t seem to work. The researchers tried adding a footstool to decrease sitting height, but it didn’t seem to significantly affect the time it took to empty one’s bowels or significantly decrease the difficulty of defecating. They tried even higher footstools but people complained of extreme discomfort using them. So nothing seemed to compare with actual squatting, which may give the maximum advantage, but, in civilized countries, it may not be convenient.