A doctor and pelvic health expert has warned why you shouldn’t go to the toilet ‘just in case’ as it can cause more harm than good to your bladder – and what can happen if you do
If you’re the type of person to take a trip to the toilet “just in case” you may not have access to one again for a while – here’s why you should stop.
Dr Rachel Peck advised people to stop going to the toilet when they don’t need to, or only when you only have a “slight urge” to, as she warned it can do more harm than good.
The US-based pelvic health physical therapist said that going ‘just in case’ can start to trick our brain, and says it can become a habit, resulting in having an increased urgency and frequency to urinate, even sometimes causing leakage.
She took to Instagram to explain why it’s never a good idea and asked: “What happens to your bladder when you do a lot of ‘just in case’ peeing?”
“So ‘just in case’ right before you leave the house or because you’re passing a bathroom or you’re worried you’re not going to find one later when you don’t actually have to go… but you’re going ‘just in case’? Normally the bladder fills at a certain rate and, once we get to a certain point, we’ll get the first urge to go and we usually ignore that urge.”
“The (first) urge is just letting us know that it’s filling up, it gets a little bit farther and it sends some stronger urges and we may kind of ignore those as well and then, once it gets full, that’s when it sends us the urge like, ‘Hey you actually need to pee now’ and this is where we should be getting some of those stronger urges.”
Dr Peck said that if you start going “just in case”, you will start to teach your bladder to signal to the brain you need to go, even when it’s not full yet. She added: “So once it fills to that spot, it will start to send you the urges that are normally reserved for when it’s a lot more full, and that kind of tricks your brain into believing that you’re more full than you are actually are, so your bladder stops storing as much urine.”
However, there are times when it’s “appropriate” to take a precautionary trip, suggests the expert. She said that the only time it’s a good idea to do this is just before bed, before a long car trip or before watching a film. She said: “It’s appropriate once in a while but if you’re in the habit of doing it all the time, that’s when it can really become a problem.”
People were quick to comment on the helpful video, as one Instagram follower commented: “This makes so much sense, thank you,” while another added: “I have done this my entire life now.”
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