Why you should not hold in: all about the genitourinary system of the male body

Whether the bladder can burst, the best way to go use the bathroom-sitting or standing, and why it is important to go to use the restroom before and after sex.

An adult's bladder can hold between 350 and 550 ml of urine. But even if you drink 550 ml of water in one gulp, you won't want to micturate right away. The fact is that first water enters the stomach, then the intestines and then the blood. The blood carries water throughout the body, and the kidneys filter it out, gradually removing unnecessary amounts. By the way, the bladder grows with the person – at birth, its capacity is quite small.

In 2015, a study on the combination of fullness of the bladder, self-control and the ability to convince the interlocutor was published. As it turned out, if you drink a lot of liquid (in the experimental group, students had 700 ml of water before the discussion), the arguments will be more convincing, the audience's attention will last longer, and students will get better grades for the performance itself. The reason for this curious phenomenon was explained by the activation of self-control: when it is necessary to control a full bladder, other controlling mechanisms, including working with information, assertiveness and persuasiveness begin to work simultaneously.

The bladder is part of the genitourinary system – the system that is radically different in men and women from birth. It includes 2 subsystems: sexual, which is responsible for reproductive function and urinary – excretory function. These 2 systems of the male body are very closely related and always go along with each other.

Why you should not hold your urine

• Urine is a product that the human body no longer needs. It contains toxic substances, acids, and ammonia, which damage the walls of the bladder and the walls of the urinary tract during prolonged stay in the system.
• The accumulation of urine in the bladder leads to the fact that the minerals calcium, phosphate, magnesium and others fall back into the kidneys and form small crystals. From small formations, they very quickly turn into kidney stones, which is one painful procedure to remove from the body.
• Due to delayed urination, such a thing as vesicoureteral reflux is formed – the reverse flow of urine to the kidneys, which causes serious infections.

Dr. Benjamin Brooker, an assistant Professor of urology at NYU Langone Medical Center, believes that you need to find a "middle ground": Do not run to the bathroom with a slight urge, but do not wait until it brings you pain. And if your body signals to you that it's time to attend to nature's calls, it is advisable not to wait more than 10-15 minutes.

Urinating standing versus sitting

In most European countries, men have long been peeing standing up. But in Muslim countries, most men use the restroom sitting down. The fact is that this is prescribed in Islamic toilet etiquette. It is preferable for Muslims to do all the business sitting down.

Urologists say that if a man has been holding in for a long time, then urinating while standing up may not completely empty his bladder. And if this happens regularly, then a chronic inflammatory process can start to develop in the genitourinary system.

Most studies on this topic do not support the benefits of a particular posture for urinating. Interesting fact: men on average get it done 3-5 seconds faster sitting than standing.

Dutch scientists chose men with diseases of the genitourinary system for the study and discovered that it is more beneficial for men having problems in this area to go sitting down to prevent problems with the prostate gland. In Switzerland, studies have also been conducted and concluded that the sedentary way of micturating significantly reduces the risk of prostate adenoma.

Most girls always use the restroom before getting intimate. Should men follow their example? Most definitely yes.

Why you need to relieve yourself before sex:

The prostate gland is located directly under the bladder, skirting the urethra. And it lies on the pubic-coccygeal muscle, which, contracting and relaxing, perfectly stimulates the gland. During sexual arousal, the prostate actively prepares for ejaculation and increases in size, thereby blocking the urethra and opening the vas deferens. If the bladder is full, it begins to press on the prostate, thereby stimulating it and reducing the duration of sexual intercourse.

Why you need to urinate after sex:

It is not necessary to take a leak after sex, but it is preferable. The problem is that the urine carries away bacteria that can get into the urethra. But this will not protect against STDs, since these diseases have a different mechanism of action – they enter the human body through micro cracks in the mucous membrane.

A man's genitourinary system plays a crucial role in his reproductive function. The health of a man as a whole depends on its health. Do not ignore the urge to go to use the restroom and follow our tips on maintaining men's health.