TikTok user warns why people shouldn’t pee ‘just in case’ when they don’t feel the urge

A TikTok user is warning others not to make a habit of urinating ‘just in case’ every time they leave the house because it can train the body to need to urinate more frequently.

A woman named Sabrina shared the urinary health lesson on TikTok last week, explaining why the extra-cautious bathroom habit could be harmful.

While it’s fine to urinate ‘just in case’ — as in, when one doesn’t really feel the urge — before a long car ride or after sex, doing so all the time can confuse the body into needing to urinate when the bladder isn’t full.

Rethink! A woman named Sabrina shared the urinary health lesson on TikTok last week, explaining why the extra-cautious bathroom habit could be harmful

‘Let’s talk [about] what happens when you pee “just in case,”‘ she says in her viral video, which had been viewed 1.2 million times so far.

‘It like, when you’re about to leave the house, and you’re like, “I don’t really have to pee, but I may have to pee, so I’m gonna go pee,”‘ she goes on.

‘Once in a while, no big deal. If you do this often, your bladder is never filling up properly. It’s not filling to full capacity.

‘You’re peeing when it’s halfway full. So you may have the urge to pee more frequently, because it’s only filling halfway and it’s going, “Ding ding ding, I have to go pee right now.”

‘You’re essentially sensitizing your bladder to go at lower volumes than needed, and then your body gets used to that, so it’s hard to get out of that. It’s a habit.

‘So this is when we have to retrain your bladder. 

While it’s fine to urinate ‘just in case’ — as in, when one doesn’t really feel the urge — before a long car ride or after sex, doing so all the time can confuse the body

Heather Jeffcoat, DPT, a Los Angeles–based physical therapist with an emphasis in pelvic floor health, confirmed Sabrina’s warning to BuzzFeed. 

‘When the neurologic connection between the bladder and the pelvic floor becomes dysfunctional, instead of the pelvic floor contracting to maintain continence, they relax and the bladder contracts in a setting where it is not appropriate to do so, and urinary leakage may result — in your car, in the hall on the way to the bathroom, etc.,’ she said.

‘The sweet spot [for urination] is a regular frequency of once every two to three hours. At…