We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how you should never hold in your wee when you’ve got to go.
We’ve also shared that while you shouldn’t suppress an urge if you’ve got a healthy bladder, you should probably hold off on “just in case” pees too if you have no real need to urinate.
And now, it turns out a lot of us are making a common mistake when going number one.
In a recent TikTok, site user Katie (@postvirallife) shared that after having an ultrasound, her technician taught her she’d been “peeing wrong [her] entire life.”
“My technician beforehand was like, ‘okay, you have to go to the bathroom, but don’t push,’” the creator said.
“She was like, ’just breathe through your nose and don’t push and make sure that you clear out your entire bladder.”
Just as widening your ribcage when you poop is better for you than straining, it seems experts agree about this lower-effort urine evacuation method.
Yale Medicine writes that “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.”
They share that if you feel the urge to “push” every time you go, you could have an obstruction ― especially if you’re a man. See a GP if that’s the case.
Nope! The TikToker added that her technician said, “You’ll know that you’re at the last bits of pee if it gets warm at the end.”
Though I couldn’t find any advice to support that, it does seem emptying your bladder completely is more complex than I’d thought ― the Harrogate and District NHS Trust shared that you’re probably not emptying it fully if you notice any of the following:
To empty your bladder fully, they recommend:
The more you know, right?
@postvirallife Anyone else or just me? #bladderproblems#bladder#interstitialcystisis#chronicillness#uti
♬ original sound - Katie