“Usually I recommend that you empty your bladder every three hours, whether you have the urge to go or not,” says Nazia Bandukwala, D.O., a urologist at Piedmont. “It's important to do that so you're not retaining too much urine in your bladder.”
Many doctors recommend avoiding holding in pee for extended periods of time, as it can increase the risk of UTIs, especially if a person has a history of frequent UTIs. People who do not drink enough liquids may be more likely to develop a UTI, because the bladder is not telling the body to pee often enough.
Ideally, experts say adults should be urinating every three to four hours while awake, though the frequency may change depending on your liquid intake, health conditions you have, or whether you are pregnant.
Urinary tract infections (UTI) are the most common cause of frequent urination. These are bacterial infections in your bladder, urethra or other parts of your urinary tract. They include cystitis (bladder infection), urethritis (infection of the urethra) and pyelonephritis (kidney infection).
There's currently no official record set for the longest someone has gone without peeing, but holding it in is not advised. According to msn.com, no serious health problems have been linked to holding urine too long.
Your body's physical capacity to keep in urine is based on a few things: "Most of the time women can hold urine for three to six hours, but this will vary," says Brucker.
Holding your urine for too long can weaken the bladder muscles over time. This can lead to problems such as incontinence and not being able to fully empty your bladder. Holding your urine for extremely long periods of time can also cause urinary tract infections due to bacteria build-up.
Urinary hesitancy has many potential causes, including bladder obstructions, an enlarged prostate, and complications related to childbirth. If a person consistently experiences urinary hesitancy, they should contact a doctor. The inability to pass urine at all is called urinary retention and is a medical emergency.
On average, it shouldn't take longer than 30 seconds to urinate, Freedland said. “Once you get going and it takes you a minute to empty your bladder, that's a problem. That's not normal.” How you position your body can also help, experts said.
The amount of time that a person can hold in their pee depends on several factors, such as how much they have had to drink. If a person feels the need to urinate, they should only hold in their pee for as long as it takes to reach a restroom. When a person is awake, they should urinate about every 3–4 hours .
Basically, if you time yourself peeing (over a period of time, not just one sitting) and find that you take significantly longer or shorter than 21 seconds, it can indicate that you are holding it in for too long, or not enough.
Adults, on the other hand, have an average bladder of 16 to 24 ounces and they require approximately 8 to 9 hours to fill the bladder.
Mistake #4: Pushing
You shouldn't have to use your muscles to force urine out. A healthy bladder works best if the body just relaxes so that the bladder muscles naturally contract to let the urine flow, rather than using the abdominal muscles to bear down as with a bowel movement.
Holding it in for too long gives bacteria the chance to multiply and settle in the bladder, leading to infection. Holding urine can overstretch the bladder and lead to voiding dysfunction, which is a lack of coordination between the bladder muscle and the urethra.
Increases Risk for Kidney Disease
In fact, having the following health conditions and holding your urine for long periods can result in kidney disease: Having an enlarged prostate. Other kidney disorders. Urinary retention.
If there's no reason found for the frequent urination, a physician might recommend holding the pee to retrain the bladder and reduce bathroom visits. In general, this might include waiting for at least 15 minutes when the urge to pee hits, to see if it's truly necessary to go right away or if it can wait.
Most people need to pass urine about six to seven times in a 24-hour period. Peeing more than seven times a day when drinking about 2 liters of fluid is considered urinary frequency. Needing to pee 20 times a day would be considered frequent urination.
Drink one liter or 32 ounces of water 30 minutes before your ultrasound appointment. Don't empty your bladder again until the appointment ends. Wear comfortable clothing and take any prescribed medication as directed. Arrive at the ultrasound clinic 15 minutes before your appointment.
Drink 3 to 4 (8 ounce) glasses of water or apple juice starting 2 hours before your appointment. What is an Ultrasound? An Ultrasound is an imaging method that uses high-frequency sound waves using a transducer to produce images of structures within your body. What will happen during the Ultrasound?
The World Record for the longest pee is 508 seconds.
Needing to urinate right after you've just gone is not only annoying but can be a sign of an underlying health problem. While this is commonly related to drinking a lot of water or taking medication, sometimes, it could mean something more serious like an infection or diabetes.
The 2 main symptoms of diabetes insipidus are often needing to pee a large amount of urine and feeling extremely thirsty. If you have diabetes insipidus, you may pee pale, watery urine every 15 to 20 minutes. The amount of urine can range from 3 litres in mild cases to up to 20 litres per day in severe cases.