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​Your Belly Button Makes You Want To Go For A Whizz, Says Doc

​Your Belly Button Makes You Want To Go For A Whizz, Says Doc

Your naval and the lining of your abdomen are connected so it causes a weird stimulation when touched.

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

The belly button might be just about the weirdest part of your body. A remnant of your birth, there isn't really any reason for the belly button to remain but remain it does.

Short of offering an extra thing to get pierced - essentially a jewellery mantelpiece in the middle of your stomach - and providing an efficient place for all that fluff on your belly to congregate, they're altogether useless.

Plus, they feel really strange. Stick your finger in your belly button now and remind yourself just how unusual the feeling is. Go on, we can wait.

WATCH THIS REACTION TO A BELLY BUTTON PHOBIA

Credit: Family Feud Australia

If you were wondering what the feeling was, then wonder no more. Boffins are there to provide answers to life's most challenging and vital questions and they really haven't let us down in this key area.

Doctor Christopher Hollingsworth of NYC Surgical Associates explains just why that unsettling feeling of needing to pee but knowing that you don't need to pee exists.

The doc said: "At the navel, you have the ability to stimulate not only the skin overlying the navel, but also the fibres of the inner lining of your abdomen.

"So, as you stick your finger into your belly button, it sends a signal from the deeper fibres that line your inner abdominal cavity to your spinal cord."

Belly Button
Belly Button

Credit: PA Images

He continued: "Because your spinal cord at that level is also relaying signals from your bladder and urethra, it feels almost the same. You interpret this as discomfort in your bladder."

So why doesn't that happen whenever you push around your belly button? Why just when you root around inside it?

Dr. Chris explained: "You will notice that if you push anywhere around the belly button, it won't give you the same sensation because you aren't hitting the deeper fibres behind the muscle layer.

"The internal lining of the abdominal cavity at your umbilicus (belly button) is called your parietal peritoneum. This structure is exquisitely sensitive and its sensory nerve fibres relay input back to the spinal cord at the same level as the nerves that relay sensation from your bladder and urethra."

It's as simple as that. We think. Now you can go to the pub, whip off your shirt and explain in punishing detail just what happens on the other side of your belly button. You'll be the life and soul of the party.

Featured Image Credit: Creative Commons

Topics: Science