Have you ever wondered how long it takes to pee after drinking water? The process of urination is a complex one that begins with the filtration of blood in the kidneys and involves the intricate workings of the glomerulus, reabsorption, and secretion. While many factors, such as your hydration level, bladder capacity, and even age, affect how long it takes for water to pass through your system, understanding the science behind it can offer valuable insights into your health. In this blog, we’ll explore the journey water takes through your body and discuss how long you might expect to wait before nature calls.

Glomerulus Filtration:

 
Glomerulus are found on nephrons, which are tiny structures found in your kidney. This is where the blood is filtered to remove waste products and excess water. The filtered fluid (urine) now passes through the ureters to the urinary bladder. It will be stored here until it’s eliminated from the body through urination. Click here to find out how urination is formed? 
 

Reabsorption:

 
While your urine is still forming, your kidney reabsorbs the useful nutrients (glucose, ions, etc.) and water that was filtered out of the bloodstream. This is done through the renal tubule – where all vital nutrients are passed through adjacent capillaries.  

Secretion:

 
Secretion is the process of waste ions and hydrogen icons passing from the capillaries into the renal tubule. The secreted ions then combine with the remaining filtrate in the tube and becomes urine. Which is then passed out of the kidney, through the renal pelvis, into the ureter and down to the bladder. Where it will be stored until it’s ready to be removed from the body.
 

How Long it Takes To Pee After Drinking Water?

 
The amount of time it takes to pee after drinking will vary depending on the state of the person. For someone who is hydrated, and their bladder is near full, it can take five to fifteen minutes to pee after drinking water. However, someone who is dehydrated and has an empty bladder, it can take up to nine to ten hours to pee after drinking.
But do remember that there are many factors affecting how long it takes to pee. So do continue reading to find out.
 

Time it Takes To Pee After Drinking Water, By age?

 
You may think you only need to pee when your bladder is full. But interestingly your bladder is not designed to get full but instead when it becomes one-quarter full – it sends signals to our brain that we need to pee. This mechanism is extremely helpful as it stops your bladder from becoming full to the point where it can burst – causing discomfort and pain.
 

Age	Bladder Size (Ounces)	Bladder Size (ML)	Time to fill Bladder	Time to pee
Babies (0-12 months)	1-2 ounces	30-60	1 hour	~ 15 minutes
Toddler (1-3 years)	3-5 ounces	89-148	2 hours	~ 1 hour
Child (4-12 years)	7-14 ounces	207-414	2-4 hours	30 min – 1 hour
Adult	16-24 ounces	473-710	8-9 hours (2 ounces per hour)	~ 2 hours

 
Source: Healthline 
 

Factors Affecting How Long it Takes To Pee:

 

Volume of water consumed:

 
As you would think depending on your liquid intake – this will have an impact on whether you urinate frequently or not. It is recommended that having 2 litres or drinking six to eight cups of water, per day, is needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But drinking more than the recommended amount will influence your peeing frequency.

This is why you see yourself peeing frequently throughout the day as you are consuming more fluids than you actually need. But adversely if you are drinking less, you will find yourself peeing less. So keep in mind that the more you drink – the more you will pee.
 

Types of Drinks Consumed:

 
Different types of drinks that contain coffee and alcohol and even some soft drinks cause you to frequently urinate. This is because they are diuretics (coffee and alcohol) or can have diuretic effects (soft drinks).

Coffee is a diuretic that does not affect your urine formation. However, it does make you feel like you need to pee more often. So, drinking a lot of coffee and soft drinks – equals a lot more trips to the toilet.

Alcohol on the other hand, is a diuretic that does affect your urine formation. The process is that when you consume alcohol your body produces urine faster than usual. This is because your body is trying to get rid of the alcohol in your body as quickly as possible. In return, you will feel the urge to pee a lot more when consuming alcohol.
 

How Active You Are:

 
To all gym rats, your peeing frequency may be high or low - depending on well you keep yourself hydrated. For your peeing frequency to be high you would have to consume are large volume of water after a workout.

This may be more than what you in fact needed, causing you to want to pee soon after consuming it. But for peeing frequency to be low you perhaps had a really sweaty workout and did not refill your body with water to compensate for what was lost. You will be dehydrated and not have any urine to expel. Therefore, you will not feel the urge to pee as much.

Are you an active gym goer check out these insulated water bottles. perfect for gym goers. 

Your Age:

 
In the previous section we saw how age affects your peeing frequency due to the size of your urinary bladder. For babies and toddlers, they have smaller urinary bladders compared to adults, so they will urinate more frequently.

Adults are also able to decide on how much fluids they take and can control their bladder urges to a certain level. Making it less likely for adults to urinate more than children.
 

Salt Intake:

 
If your diet consists of food that has a lot of salt, you may find yourself peeing a lot more after having a drink.The reason for this is that when you have excess salt, your body now needs to dilute it by using water in the body.

In preparation for this, your body stores up water, to help process the salt faster. When it has been processed, the water used then fills up the bladder, increasing your urge to urinate.
 

The Weather:

 
Climate changes can play a huge part when looking at how often you urinate.
In hot weather, your body sweats more to help it cool down. This causes you to lose water in your body and if this is not replaced – you will end up becoming dehydrated. Therefore, if your body has less water and you are not hydrating, you can expect to find yourself taking less trips to the toilet. But if you drink more fluids due to losing a lot of fluids because of hot weather. You will certainly urinate more frequently.

In cold weather, your body tends to sweat a lot less and you don’t lose as much water. Subsequently, you do not drink much water because you are not thirsty. Causing you to urinate less as you are not consuming high volumes of fluids.
 

Your Mental Health:

 
Surprisingly your mental health can have an impact on your peeing frequency.
For instance, if you’re feeling anxious – this puts your body in a state of ‘fight or flight’. Making you feel like your need pee when instead you don’t need to (I know, it’s strange).
So, remember to stay calm and take deep breaths – to help you lose this temporary urge to pee.
 

Your Physical Health:

 
Your physical health will affect your peeing frequency more than you think.
Health conditions such as type 1 and type 2 diabetes are some of the most common health conditions that affect your urination frequency. As for someone with this condition, they can pee twice as often as someone that does not have diabetes. The reason for this is that the body is trying to get rid of excess sugar and the best way to do this is through urinating.

Other health conditions that may affect your urination frequency include obesity, kidney stones, kidney disease, weak pelvic muscles, nervous system damage and urinary tract infections.

If you are peeing too frequently or not often at all, contact your doctor for support and advice.
 

Medications:

 
Medication overall is there to help you and make you feel better. But certain medications can have adverse effects on your body.

Medications for kidney disease, heart failure and high blood pressure are known to increase peeing frequency as they can act as diuretics.

Diuretics causes you to urinate more frequently than usual after drinking fluids. So, make sure to ask your doctor if your medication is a diuretic – so you understand why your peeing frequency has suddenly changed (if it does).
 

Pregnancy:

 
Pregnancy can increase your urge to pee due to the uterus putting pressure on the bladder.

As the bladder is under pressure – there is less space for storing urine. Causing you to pee more frequently.

Think you might be pregnant? For early testing, try the Clearblue Early Pregnancy Test kit
 

Does Water Pass Through Faster Than Food?

Water does in fact pass through your body much faster than food. Here’s why.
Let’s think about when you eat a burger. Once you take a bite, the food then needs to be pushed down your oesophagus and down to your stomach. Then your stomach helps to break down the burger with stomach acids.

Now look at all the different components of your burger being the: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, salts and sugars. These all need to be broken down and then absorbed into intestines – to take all the good nutrients into the blood stream. What is left of the food will pass through the large intestine and become your poo (I know – yuck!).

But as you can imagine when it comes to digesting water, many steps are missed making the process much faster. There is nothing specific to take out of the water except for the water itself – which helps many other processes in the body. Overall, there is less effort in digesting water in comparison to food.
 

How Long After You Drink After Does it Take To Digest And How it Works?

 
When consuming water, the process of digesting it quite swift, as there are not as many stages for digesting water as there is for digesting food.
Simply put, when drink water it goes to the stomach, then into the small intestine where the water is absorbed into the bloodstream. Allowing all the nutrients from the water to be spread around the body where it is needed.
But for the excess water that is in the bloodstream, this is then filtered by the kidneys, which then produces urine. So, be careful when consuming a lot of water because you will feel the urge pee a lot more.
 

Factors Affecting Digestion:

 
How long it takes you to digest something is all determined by your body. There are various factors which can play apart in slowing or speeding up your digestion.

 

Your activity:

• When you are more active, it can impact how quickly your body digests food. That’s why it is common that after physical activity you feel hungry - due to your bodies digestive system accelerating.

Your Sleep:

• Having a lack of sleep can lead to stress which can cause an imbalance of your gut microbiome. Your gut microbiome is made up of trillions of bacteria, fungi and other microbes. It helps to control your digestion and having this unbalanced can cause digestion issues. Read More (3).

Having trouble sleeping? Enjoy a more restful night's sleep with Oregon's Wild Harvest Sleep Better capsules.

Your Diet:

• Your diet plays a major part in your digestion. Foods consumed that have fibre will affect how quickly food passes through your digestive system. Also, foods that are high in starch and are soft pass through your stomach and small intestines quickly. But these foods tend to leave your body later than other foods.

Your Health History:

• Unfortunately having health conditions like irritable bowel disease and colitis change the rhythm of your daily digestion.

Past Surgeries:

• People who have had stomach surgeries can experience digestive conditions post operation. Conditions like dumping syndrome can affect your digestion.

 

How does water leave your body:

 
When you think about how water leaves the body – your first thought is through urination. That’s correct. But there is not just one way but instead several ways:

 

Urine:

• Your kidney has the job of processing water consumed. Much of this water then leaves the body through urine.

Sweat:

• To keep your body cool when it gets too hot, your body sweats. Most of your sweat is made from water making this another way water leaves the body.

Stool:

• To help make your poop exist easier - there is certain amount of water added to it to make it heavy enough to leave the body.

Breathing:

• To my surprise also, we do lose water through breathing. This due to the gas exchange happening in your lungs and the body moistening the lungs to combat the dry air inhaled. Read more.

 

How To Reduce Peeing Frequency:

 
Going to the toilet a lot can be annoying. So here are 7 different ways in how you can reduce your peeing frequency. But please do contact your doctor if your peeing frequency does not decrease.

 

1. Drink water sparingly. It obviously still important you remain hydrated, but you don’t have to consume a large volume all at once. Using something like a reusable water bottle to take sips throughout the day indoors or outdoors is a much better choice.

 

2. Drink plain water and avoid diuretics. Avoiding things like caffeine, fruit juices and alcohol will reduce the frequency in which you pee. As these are known diuretics causing you to pee more often.

 

3. Avoid foods with a high-water content. Foods like cucumber, tomatoes, celery, and lettuce have high water content. So consuming large amounts of this will make you pee more often.

4. Stay away from salty foods. Having too much salt makes your body hold onto much more water than usual. This water will then be urinated out of the body.

 

5. Increase your body temperature. Your body will sweat to cool it down. Most of the sweat is made up of water – so now you will pee less as there is less water in the body.

 

6. Reduce your anxiety. When your anxious you go into ‘fight or flight’ mode which gives you the urge to pee. So, learn to manage your anxiety so you can stop yourself from having this urge.

 

7. Pee before you go to bed. Doing this will reduce the chances of you waking up in the middle of the night to pee. No one likes their beauty sleep interrupted.

 

How To Make Peeing Easier:

 
At times you may feel like you are not urinating enough. This may happen when you are dehydrated when you have kidney disease. But don’t worry. Here are some simple tips in how you can increase your urination frequency.
Drink lots of water.

• As you know consuming more fluids is going to make you pee more frequently. So, if you’re struggling to pee – maybe try setting the goal of having three 340ml water bottles full of water. In order to try motivate you to drink more.

Vary Which Fluids You Take:

• Have some unsweetened juice or even a shot of coffee from time to time. As these can help to make peeing easier due to them being diuretics (a substance that increases the production of urine).

Apply Cold Compress:

• Applying a cold compress on the lower abdomen can prompt urination to occur due to the temperature. Keep the cold compress on that area for only 2 minutes at a time as leaving it for long periods can damage the skin. So, keep it on for 2 minutes and take it off for 5 minutes. Repeat this 5 times. Check out these reusable cold gel ice packs. 

 

Light Exercise:

• Carrying out light exercises like a walk or stretching can prompt urination as blood flow increases. But be careful not to make it too vigorous otherwise you will start to sweat and lose water through that. Reducing your urge to pee as the water is now lost.

 

How Much You Should Pee Everyday:

 
Commonly, within a 24-hour period you should pee 6 to 8 times a day. But going above this or below this is not something that should immediately concern you. There are many factors which play are part in how many times you pee everyday:

• What you are drinking.
• How much you are every day.
• Medical disorders e.g., diabetes or urinary tract infection.