A toilet that tells you to drink more water, or to take it easy. It sounds like science fiction, but thanks to researchers at Radboudumc, it can become reality. During the Four Days Marches, research will be done into the fluid balance of runners, using smart toilets.
‘You just weighed yourself? Great, you can come and pee here’, it sounds in the corridor of the Karel de Grote College on the Bijleveldsingel. During the Four Days Marches, the Radboudumc research center is located in the secondary school right next to the start and finish location at De Wedren. Scientists conduct research here all week into moisture balance and temperature regulation among runners.
Coen Bongers. Photo: Johannes Fiebig
A hiker who has just completed 40 kilometers walks to the toilet. This is not just a standard pot, like the many dixies along the route, but a smart toilet that measures all kinds of things. For example, a heart rate and blood pressure monitor are built into the toilet seat, and sensors analyze the color and temperature of the pee. Part of the urine is also collected in a tube for further analysis.
The plaything
‘We are studying three groups of walkers here’, says Coen Bongers, physiologist at Radboud university medical center and lecturer at HAN. ‘A group that receives diuretics, a drug prescribed for people with high blood pressure. In addition, a group with other medicines and a group without medication.’
‘Diuretics are water tablets’, Bongers continues. ‘You get rid of your excess fluid, which can lower your blood pressure. We investigate the effect of taking these pills on the fluid balance of hikers. Whether they dry out faster than other runners.’
‘We measure whether it is wise to reduce medication during a major effort’
To find out, the researchers use the smart toilets. But there are also other means of measuring the degree of dehydration. For example, walkers themselves keep track of what fluids they take in (how much and what they drink) and what they lose (the number of toilet visits) and the runners are weighed and blood and urine analyses.
But what can you do with that research? ‘For us it is of course an interesting scientific study, but we can also filter out concrete tips for hikers,’ says Bongers. ‘Thanks to previous research into fluid balance, for example, we know that 20 to 25 percent of hikers arrive dehydrated at the finish line on the first day. Then you can advise, for example, to drink more, to slow down the pace or to take in more electrolytes (salt, ed.).’
The smart toilet. Photo: Johannes Fiebig
‘This year we want to measure whether it is wise for people who use diuretics to reduce their medication during a major effort, such as walking four days in a row. In consultation with the GP, of course, because it is not the intention that people with high blood pressure just adjust their medication before they start the Four Days Marches.’
Heat
Members of the Radboudumc research team were also involved in last year’s decision to cancel the first walking day due to the heat. ‘I think that was the only right decision’, Bongers looks back. ‘If on an average day almost a quarter of the walkers are already dehydrated, then it is irresponsible to walk at 38 degrees.’
The researchers hope that the smart toilet can ultimately offer a solution in healthcare. The toilets, developed by collaboration partner OnePlanet Research Center from Wageningen, could help in care homes or hospitals in the future, for example.
‘It would be nice if healthcare providers could monitor the health of their patients in this way, without having to carry around pots of pee or requiring additional measurements. After all, many more things can be measured on the basis of the urine than just the degree of hydration,’ says Bongers. The toilet can then do all the work.
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2023-07-21 09:58:22
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