Is peeing ‘just in case’ bad for you?

Going for a wee before heading out the door 'just in case' is not a bad thing, but building a lifelong habit of it can become a problem.

Eva Fong, a urologist at Auckland’s OneSixOne clinic, says constantly going to the toilet without a real urge can train your bladder to send false alarms. This can lead to an overactive bladder, when your bladder starts contracting or squeezing even when it’s not full.

Analysis of international data applied to New Zealand suggests about 600,000 Kiwis might be affected by this condition, with incident rates increasing with age. Daytime wetting happens in about 3 percent of healthy tamariki, with about 67 percent of them also experiencing bedwetting too, according to KidsHealth.

A normal bladder can usually hold about 500ml (or about two cups) comfortably but everyone’s a bit different. Dr Fong says most people shouldn’t need to go more than eight times a day.

An overactive bladder will give a sense of urgency that if they don’t go they may wet themselves – even if that’s not the case, she says.

“They go ‘just in case’ too often, then they educate their bladder to become very sensitive as well to the signals and they start to go at very low volumes and that can become a cycle that needs to be broken.”

Christchurch-based paediatric urologist Stephen Mark says encouraging a child to use the toilet before a trip is fine if it’s occasional — especially since public toilets can be a hassle. But if it becomes a routine, it could train their bladder to have a slightly smaller capacity.

“They can end up training themselves to go a little more frequently and urgently to the toilet.”

One of the most important parts about emptying the bladder fully is relaxing, and not rushing in and out too quickly, he says.

Children usually gain daytime urinary control between the ages of two and three and nighttime control between three and five. Once a child has bladder control, it's more important to respond to their cues than to pre-emptively prompt them all the time, Dr Mark says.

Instead of obsessing over how many times they went to the loo or how much water they drank, it’s better to check in when there’s cause for concern, he says. For example, if it’s becoming disruptive to your lives or a kindy or teacher notices a problem.

Dr Mark says it's very rare for a child's urinary problem to continue into adulthood.

But if there are concerns, your GP or a continence nurse are a good first stop. Urologists can help in more complex cases where there may be a nerve-based issue or a complicated infection or patients don’t respond to initial treatment, he says.

Dr Fong says pelvic floor physiotherapists can help retrain the bladder with exercises like toe-clenching, pelvic floor relaxation (because a tight pelvic floor can cause signals in the bladder) and breathing exercises.

People shouldn’t suffer in silence because there can be an underlying problem on top of the 'just in case' habit so intervention is important, she says.

“There's probably a spectrum from the 'just in case', which is like try and nip it in the bud, go and see the physio and see if you can manage it.

“If it's really impactful and it's gotten to more than ‘just in case’ over the years … they should come and see a urologist because there's lots of ways we can help them.”