Pee in shower at own peril, experts warn

Yahoo

12-05-2025

Peeing in the shower could mean 'urine' for some health risks.
While some medical experts claim it is entirely safe to do a No. 1 in the shower, not everyone is on the same page.
Dr. Teresa Irwin, an American urogynecologist, recently took to social media to warn about urinating in the shower, saying it could render you incontinent and in some cases cause kidney damage.
Irwin took to TikTok in a bid to get people to stop engaging in the habit committed by an estimated 60% to 80% of those who shower, according to polls.
The clip was shared with her 90,000 followers. In it, she claimed that urinating while showering trains the brain to associate the sound of running water with needing to urinate.
'It's kind of like Pavlov's dog training where every time they heard a little bell ring they will start to salivate,' she said, per the U.K. Daily Mail.
'So every time you're washing your hands, taking a shower, washing the dishes, if there is running water, your bladder is going to start 'salivating' because it wants to go and pee.'
This can interfere with the body's internal bladder control, she said, leading to frequent rushes to the toilet.
That's not the lone potential health hazard linked to peeing in the shower, however.
Some experts have warned that women who do so run the risk of urinary tract infections and even kidney failure.
The male bladder is supported by the prostate when urinating while standing, but women don't have that luxury.
Women who pee while standing are putting their pelvic floor muscles under additional strain, which could lead to the bladder failing to empty.
The leftover urine, which is called urinary retention, can lead to various health problems.
Boston-based pelvic floor therapist Dr. Alicia Jeffrey-Thomas previously warned that women are 'not designed to pee standing up.'
'Your pelvic floor isn't going to relax properly, which means we're really not going to be emptying our bladder super well,' she said.
One additional danger from peeing in the shower — for both men and women – is the potential of skin infection.
Open wounds on the lower body can easily become infected with bacteria that might be lurking in urine.
Experts say the risk is relatively minor, however, since in theory, the water from the shower should wash the urine away from the wound.
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