What you do in the shower is your business, but there’s one specific thing experts wish people would stop doing while sudsing up: peeing.
One healthcare expert shared in a now-viral TikTok with over 1 million views that emptying your bladder while standing in the shower can be damaging — especially for women.
“Hot take but don’t pee standing up in the shower or anywhere for that matter. Ladies, you are training your bladder that it’s okay to empty while standing. Don’t do it! This could cause bladder leakage,” @kingsley.502 wrote as her caption.
As expected, people ran to the comment section to share their opinions on this advice.
“My body created a human… I’m gonna let her tinkle wherever she likes,” one commenter wrote.
“I can’t even enjoy the simple pleasures in life,” shared another frustrated person.
“Meanwhile sitting for too long messes with our pelvic floor. So what actually is ok anymore?” said someone else, making a valid point.
It’s no surprise that this news is upsetting for many, considering almost a quarter of Americans admit to peeing in the shower regularly, according to a survey.
Unfortunately for these multitasking people, @kingsley.502 wasn’t far off with her opinion on shower peeing — as other experts backed up her claims.
“It is one, not very hygienic, but more important than that, it will destroy your pelvic floor, and also it might create mental associations where you hear water running and all of a sudden you need to run to the bathroom,” Houston-based OB-GYN Emma Qureshey explained in a TikTok.
And standing while peeing is not only unhealthy for women — it’s also dangerous for men.
Since the pelvis and spine muscles are most relaxed when sitting, Gerald Collins, a consultant urological surgeon at Alexandra Hospital in Cheshire, England, said that “Sitting is probably the most efficient way of doing it [peeing]” the doctor explained,
Standing while urinating also puts men at risk for benign prostatic hyperplasia — which occurs when the prostate gland and surrounding tissue expand, obstructing the urethra.
Sadly, for many men, the thought of sitting while peeing is looked down upon.
In Germany, those who don’t stand to relieve themselves are called “Sitzpinkler” — a slur implying they are “wimpy or effeminate.”
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