Remember a time when you didn’t have to rush to the toilet every 20 minutes? You could go for long walks in the hills without needing to eye up the nearest bush for an emergency pee, au natural-style. You could enjoy a party or social gathering without looking like a total weirdo, spending half the time queuing up for the toilet. You could even sleep through the night without waking up every hour on the very brink of wetting the bed.
Those were the days.
But unattainable as they may seem, you can relive those golden days of total bladder control. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it’s normal to pee anywhere between four and eight times a day. Anything over that might mean you’re doing something to exacerbate the problem, or that there’s an underlying health issue. Identify the cause, and you’ll be able to quickly find a solution to your weeing woes.
1. There are a little too many fluids going down the hatch
Funnily enough, our bodies are an open system: what goes in, generally comes out again at some point in time. Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule, but when it comes to peeing, this very much holds true. If you’re going to the toilet more than eight time a day, it’s possible that this is simply due to you drinking too many fluids — be those fluids water, soda, juice or otherwise. It’s really just your body’s way of excreting what it doesn’t need.
So what is the optimum level of water to drink in a day then? That’s a hard one to say, as everyone’s water needs are different, and will change on a daily basis depending on what activities they’re doing and how hot or dry it is. Generally speaking, though, the average adult should aim to drink around eight glasses a day. Better yet, monitor the color of your pee each time you go to the toilet. If it’s clear with almost no yellow color to it, you’re probably drinking too much water. If it’s a deep yellow color, you’re not drinking enough.
2. You’ve got a UTI
You feared that this might be the reason why you always need to pee, and statistically speaking there’s a very good chance that you were right. Urinary tract infections, otherwise known as UTIs, occur when bacteria such as E. coli make their way from your bowels or colon to your bladder, urethra, ureters or kidneys. Bacteria can infect any and all of these urinary tract elements, causing inflammation and irritation… and the sensation that you need to pee all the time.
Most people would make a beeline for the doctor at the first suspicion of a UTI, there’s actually a decent amount of effective natural remedies out there, especially colloidal silver. Funnily enough, drinking lots of water when you’ve got a UTI is also a very good thing, despite what we told you in the first section! Getting plenty of water into your system can help to flush out the microorganisms causing the UTI in the first place, so get drinking!
3. You’ve got an overactive bladder
If you feel like you’re always needing to pee even when you don’t drink much, it could be because you have an overactive bladder. Under normal conditions, as your bladder fills with fluid nerve signals signal to your brain that it’s time for the bladder to contract and push urine out. An overactive bladder occurs when those nerve signals have for some reason gone haywire, and your bladder contracts at random times regardless of how full it is.
The causes of an overactive bladder are many. They include excessive alcohol and caffeine consumption, neurological disorders like stroke, or even a tumor within the bladder itself. This one probably does necessitate a visit to your doctor, so you can determine the cause and therefore the best form of treatment.
4. You’re pregnant
It’s time to do some math. How many days was it since you last had your period? If it’s been a while, and you’ve all of a sudden started getting the urge to pee a lot, it could be that you’re in the process of brewing a small human.
During the first trimester, your blood volume begins to increase significantly, making your kidneys process more fluid which invariably ends up in your bladder. The result? You need to pee a heck of a lot more than you used to. This will likely continue throughout the second and third trimesters, as the fluid retention increases and baby starts to put pressure on your bladder.
If this is you, there’s nothing actually wrong with your health — it’s simply one of the joys of pregnancy! Your best bet is to wear pantyliners when you’re doing anything high risk or watching a funny movie, but if your pee starts to look a weird color then consult your doctor to make sure it’s not amniotic fluid.
5. You have a pelvic floor problem
When it comes to peeing (and a whole lot of other functions besides), your pelvic floor is kind of a big deal. When people refer to your pelvic floor, they’re talking about the group of muscles that are designed to support the various organs of your pelvis, including your bladder and urinary tract. With a weakened pelvic floor, you lose a lot of control over your bladder, often making you need to pee far more than you should.
Pelvic floor disorders come in many different shapes and sizes, but often they can be rectified naturally by doing Kegels: yoga-type exercises designed to strengthen the pelvic floor and get you back in control of your bladder. If those don’t work, your doctor can guide you through a range of other treatments so that you don’t have to be that gal or guy constantly rushing off to the toilet.
— Liivi Hess
