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We've all heard of the book Everyone Poops, but let's remember that it's not just No. 2s coming out of our bodies.
While you're hopefully long past that stage of peeing into a musical potty for toilet training, urinating is an important part of our daily lives as we expel the various toxins and waste water consumed throughout the day.
Still, we're sick of looking at Dulux color charts to compare whether our urine is considered 'healthy', even though our bodily functions can tell us a lot about our overall wellbeing, and there are important warning signs we should be looking out for.
Whether you're constantly up and peeing like a racehorse, or you've trained yourselves to have a bladder of steel, is there a correct number for how many times we should be visiting the little boys' or little girls' room every day? According to consultant urologist Hamid Abboudi, the kind of drinks we're consuming can affect the frequency we'll need to spend a penny, as caffeine, alcohol, and fizzy drinks can all make our bladder 'twitchy'.
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Elsewhere, the likes of urinary tract infections (UTIs), your age, and whether you're pregnant also affect your health and mean you might be going more or less than usual.
As reported by Metro, Abboudi has a magic number for how many times we should be peeing a day, with a healthy adult going for a whizz no more than nine times a day. Younger children can go anywhere between eight and 14 times a day, although this can be reduced to six as they get older. Teenagers are said to go between four and six times a day, with Abboudi noting that this can go up during puberty due to the 'transition of hormonal imbalances'. Although this is nothing to worry about, as it will typically balance out. Then again, frequent urination that doesn't go away could be a warning of UTIs, diabetes, or excessive caffeine consumption. In rare cases, it could even flag bladder cancer.
Adults under the age of 60 can expect a visit from the Tinkle Fairy five to eight times during the day, with "once at night depending on their circumstances."
Women apparently urinate more often than men, with one study suggesting the fairer sex goes 5.6 times a day, compared to men at 4.8.
Hamid explained: "For women, pregnancy can be a trigger, as the pressure effect of the baby on the uterus can cause increased frequency of urination and nocturia (nighttime urination).
“Urinary tract infections are also very common in women and can lead to increased urinary frequency."
Like we urinate more when we're younger, expect your toilet trips to increase again as we get older. This can spike at 10 times a day for the over 60s, thanks mainly to reduced kidney function and weaker bladder muscles.
The NHS notes that nocturia is more common, meaning over-60s are known to get up twice in the night because of reduced antidiuretic hormone (ADH), trying to regulate how much water we have in our bodies.
Abboudi noted that older people might be on diuretics for various medical reasons, which can again lead to more regular visits. As a warning to men, Abboudi concludes: "For men, as they get older the prostate gland increases in size. This puts a pressure effect on the bladder and can increase the number of times a man urinates."
No one knows your body better than you, so if you feel something is amiss or you notice any prolonged changes, it's best to seek the advice of a doctor.
