Jess Battison
Once you’ve checked you’ve got your keys, double-checked you’ve got your wallet and picked up your phone, something else might spring to mind before you can leave the house.
No, not taking a quit fit check snap in the mirror or grabbing an extra snack for the journey but nipping to the toilet before going out ‘just in case’ - even if you don’t feel like you need it.
It’s a pretty common habit for many of us often out of nerves or something your parents instilled into you as a kid who would always moan in the car.
You might even just go because you’ve walked past a toilet and don’t know when you’ll next see on.
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And yet it seems that it’s not such a good idea as a doctor is warning against it.
Pelvic Health Physical Therapist Dr. Rachel Peck took to TikTok to share what ‘happens to your bladder when you do a lot of just in case peeing’.
Peck says that she sees it a lot with some of her patients ‘who have increased urgency and frequency and sometimes leakage’.
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She explains that this happens because 'normally, the bladder fills at a certain rate and once we get to a certain point, we’ll get the first urge to go and we usually ignore that urge'.
“It’s just letting us know that it’s filling up.” she continued to say.
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The doctor continues that as it fills up more, the urges obviously get stronger (which we might ignore) until it gets full and that’s when the real urge to go comes in.
“When we get into the habit of always peeing just in case, we’re going when it’s not totally full,” she says.
So, this means you’re essentially training your bladder to a ‘filling spot’ to send those stronger urges for.
“That kind of tricks your brain into believing that you’re more full than you actually are,” the doctor adds. Therefore, she explains that your bladder stops storing as much urine.
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Although, Peck does say there are ‘a couple of times’ where a quick ‘just in case’ wee is appropriate.
“That would be once right before bed, right before a really long car trip, maybe right before you go into a movie theatre.”
So, ‘once in a while’ a ‘just in case’ visit to the loo is OK, but the doctor warns if you’re in the habit of always doing it then ‘it can really become a problem’.
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According to Aeroflow Urology, 'the proper way to pee' is to listen to your body, to 'go to the bathroom when you feel the urge' and not peeing 'before you actually need to'.