Most people do it, but a urologist is warning men and women to stop urinating in the shower for a very important reason while informing women of the exact position they should sit every time to prevent health problems.
Stop urinating in the shower right now, Doctors warns
Although not everyone will admit, from time to time, most people urinate while showering. But one Doctor is warning people they need to stop peeing in the shower right now, before causing themselves bladder problems.
Urogynaecologist Dr. Teresa Irwin, who specializes in pelvic health, is on a mission of sorts, and she has taken to posting a video on TikTok to inform people that they need to immediately break the habit of urinating while showering, UniLAD reports.
The reasoning behind it is a psychological one that affects the body in a physical way that has a detrimental effect on the bladder.
“You don’t want to do it all the time because what happens is every time you hear the sound of water your bladder is going to want to pee,” Doctor Irwin says, explaining that it happens “because it [the bladder] is used to hearing the sound of the water in the shower.”
In essence, you’re training your bladder to react to the sound of running water. And it’s not just water in the shower that can have this effect – and that’s where it becomes a problem.
“So whenever you’re washing your hands, washing the dishes, your bladder is going to be salivating so to speak because it wants to go and pee,” Dr. Irwin explains.
“You don’t want to do it all the time because what happens is every time you hear the sound of water your bladder is going to want to pee – because it’s used to hearing the sound of the water in the shower,” Dr. Irwin added.
Another doctor concurs, quotes famous experiment
Dr. Alicia Jeffrey-Thomas, a Boston-based pelvic floor therapist, concurs with the assessment of Dr. Irwin, the Daily Mail reported.
“If you pee while the water is running then you’re creating an association in your brain between the sound of running water and having to pee,” Dr. Jeffrey-Thomas told her TikTok followers in 2021.
Dr. Jeffrey-Thomas compared the effect to the famous conditioning discovery conducted by scientist Ivan Pavlov, which uncovered the effect during an experiment on dogs.
“He rings the bell every time he puts food out for the dogs,” Dr. Jeffrey-Thomas explained. “So eventually, the dog starts to associate the bell [with food] and he starts to slobber even if there’s no food there.”
How not training your bladder is problematic
Dr. Jeffrey-Thomas warned that not conditioning your bladder to develop a strong pelvic floor “could potentially lead to some bleak issues when you hear running water outside of the shower.”
“So try to pee before you ever turn on the shower water and if you get the urge to pee while you’re in there try to ignore it,” Dr Jeffrey-Thomas added.
Here’s the exact position women should sit to urinate to prevent health problems, Doctor advises
Professor Ajay Rane, Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at James Cook University and Director of Urogynaecology at Townsville Hospital, told Mamamia about the exact way women should sit when urinating to avoid health problems.
“Given the construction of the western closet, the appropriate posture is to sit on the toilet with your feet flat on the ground, because flat feet promote relaxation of your thigh muscles and your pelvic muscles,” Prof. Rane said. “You have your elbows on your knees and you lean forward as if you are reading a newspaper on the floor. This promotes efficient emptying of both your bowel and bladder.”
