What’s The Normal Color of Urine?

A lot of foods can change the color of your urine. Eating a whole bunch of beets can make your urine red, while eating asparagus can make it green. The color of the urine is not the barometer for health, unless you want to make sure that you are hydrated and see that it is relatively clear. If your urine is a darker shade, like dark yellow or even amber, this means you are not getting enough fluids. Urine ought to be closer to clear than it is to dark yellow.

How Often Should You Urinate?

There is no normal amount per se. Healthy people with healthy kidneys produce 2 liters of urine a day (about 68 ounces) since normal bladder capacity is between 300 to 400 cubic centimeters (that means going about five times per day).  What may be normal for one person may not be for another so there is no need to compare. If you feel like you are going more than normal, discuss this with your doctor. It could signal something more serious like diabetes.

*See How You Can Reverse Diabetes With Nutrition

What’s The Proper Way To Urinate?

Men can either pee standing up or sitting down. But men who have to sit down to pee should see a doctor. Sitting down to urinate to push it out is called “credeing”. This means that you basically have to use your abdominal muscles to pee which is a sign of a problem. However it is a good idea for men of a certain age to sit down even if they are just urinating. Older guys are more likely to get up at night to void, and risk of falling increases with aging.

Is ‘Breaking The Seal” Myth True?

You’re out to drinks with friends when you feel the sudden urge to urinate. It is commonly known as “breaking the seal”— the idea that your initial jaunt to the restroom will trigger a barrage of trips thereafter. When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go. There is also no truth about healing a jellyfish sting by urinating on it.

What If There Is Blood On Your Urine?

While beets may make your pee look red, urinating blood is a different story. Blood in your urine isn’t something to be ignored. It may mean something as serious as bladder or prostate cancer, but also as benign as having exercised or developed a bladder urinary tract infection. See your doctor.

Does It Hurt When You Urinate?

Painful urination could be signs of a bladder or urinary tract infection, a sexually transmitted disease or stricture (abnormal narrowing) of your urethra. You should see a doctor. This is more common in women than in men.

Is it Bad To Hold Your Pee In?

Holding your pee in during that long bus ride home from work isn’t inherently an issue. But making it a chronic habit may not be the best idea, as that’s training your bladder to hold more and more urine beyond the 300 to 400 cc limit.

What Does It Mean When You Urinate Too Much?

This can be a sign of a larger health issue. People with diabetes often will present with urinating too much. This includes both the more rare diabetes insipidus (a salt and water metabolism disorder that makes you thirsty and indeed, pee heavily) and mellitus (what is generally referred to as diabetes, when your blood has too much sugar). Peeing too much could also be a sign of overactive bladder, a chronic condition although for some folks it may manifest as the sudden urge to urinate.

*See Meal Planning For People With Diabetes

Can You Drink Your Urine?

Urine is sterile but that doesn’t mean you should drink it. The trend of “urotherapy” in which you drink urine or put it on yourself in hopes of achieving clearer skin and an energy boost isn’t generally advisable unless you are fighting to survive.

Do You Feel Like You Want To Pee But Nothing Comes Out?

This happens to a lot of people and very common both in men and women. Usually it is your bladder kind of being overactive or overly sensitive. It could however be a sign of something more serious depending on factors like the age, medical history or tagalong symptoms.

Originally Published at US News – Health 

 

 

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