Urine is made in the kidneys and travels down two tubes called ureters to the bladder. The bladder stores urine, allowing urination to be infrequent and controlled.
The bladder is lined by layers of muscle tissue that stretch to hold urine. Wrinkles on this inner lining called rugae help the bladder to expand.
The normal capacity of the bladder is 14-20 ounces, or about 2 cups. The kidneys generate urine every 10 to 15 seconds, but it takes approximately 9-10 hours for your body to make that much urine. A healthy adult bladder can store up to 16 ounces of urine for between two to five hours.
As the bladder fills, nerve signals are sent to the brain. Once it is full, those signals from the bladder are responded to by messages to the muscles of the urethra to relax and the muscles of the bladder to contract and squeeze. If all the signals are in the proper order, you have a normal urination.
During urination, the bladder muscles squeeze, and two sphincters (valves or ring-like muscles) open to allow urine to flow out. Urine exits the bladder into the urethra, which carries urine out of the body.
It’s normal to go to the bathroom four to eight times a day and no more than two times per night.
The bowels are right next to the bladder and so constipation puts extra pressure on the bladder. Fiber-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables can help the bowels stay regular and keep the bladder happy.
Holding in urine too long can cause bladder problems. If urine is held too long over an extended period of time, it can cause the bladder to not contract fully and over time it won’t empty as well. Not only does it put the bladder at risk in of not functioning normally, a full bladder gives bacteria an opportunity to grow causing a urinary tract infection.
Here’s an interesting question! How long should it take you to pee? The answer is surprising. House cats, elephants, humans, in fact, most mammals take about 20 seconds to urinate.
How do “they” known that? Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology stumbled upon the average amount of time it takes a person to urinate while working on a project to figure out a better design for water towers!
They used high-speed cameras to record animals urinating at zoos and discovered that mammals weighing more than 6.5 pounds take about the same time to urinate. Larger animals have longer urethras and that amplifies gravitational force and helps push urine out at a faster rate.
That 20-second rule is a good way to determine bladder habits need to be tweaked of if their might be a medical situation that calls for a trip to the doctor.
Peeing too often or routinely holding it can cause the bladder-brain communication to go haywire.
Regularly waiting to use the bathroom can train the brain to ignore the bladder’s signals that it’s full. This can result in taking longer when it comes time to actually pee.
On the other hand, short urinating times could be related to an overactive bladder meaning that signals are sent to the brain saying it’s necessary to pee even when the bladder isn’t full.
Not emptying the bladder often enough may cause issues with recurrent urinary tract infections due to bacteria sitting and multiplying in the bladder. Also, prolonged urination times associated with a weak urinary stream can be due to urinary obstruction, possibly related to an enlarged prostate or a narrowing of the urethra.
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