Holding Your Pee: Is It Safe?

You have to pee urgently, but are you too busy to go to the toilet right now? It doesn’t matter. A little bit of time won’t hurt. Or does it?

First the good news: No, you won’t harm your health immediately if you let your bladder wait for an hour or two. But, as is so often the case, the healthy level is crucial in this matter as well.

Anyone who drinks around two litres a day has to go to the toilet four to five times on average. Those who drink more have to go to the toilet more often. And the breaks between visits to the toilet should not be longer than four hours, according to urologist Lisa Hawes from Chesapeake Urology Associates in Maryland.

Restraint should not become a habit

It is quite normal that your body has to be patient for a while. Be it because there is no toilet nearby or you simply don’t want to use the public ones. Such exceptions do not have a negative effect on the functioning of your bladder.

The situation is different when suppressing the urge to urinate becomes a habit. If your bladder is regularly filled completely, it will begin to expand.

You risk a urinary tract or kidney infection

Because of this overload, the bladder can no longer define when it is full. This in turn means that it no longer empties completely when you urinate – fluid residues form. And if your bladder is no longer able to get rid of all the urine, the risk of a urinary tract infection increases enormously.

“If bacteria are in the fluid and remain in the bladder for more than six hours, the conditions for them to spread are optimal,” says Hawes.

If you already have a urinary tract infection, special care should be taken: if you continue to put your bladder at risk, you risk kidney infection. The bacteria that have settled in the urinary tract will then find their way into the kidneys.

Another problem: if the bladder becomes too full, urine can be forced back into the kidneys. If this happens frequently, it can damage the kidneys.

Listen to your body!

The next time you are comfortable on the sofa and urgently need to go to the toilet: Don’t even try to ignore the urge to urinate – he’ll just be more and more insistent on his right to do so from hour to hour.

And let’s be honest, we can’t really relax with a pressing bladder anyway. And that you can “train” the bladder is unfortunately a rumour.