By Dr. Sylvester Ikhisemojie
The ability to pass urine whenever you want to without even being conscious of the processes leading to it is one of the true mysteries of nature. It seems quite routine that we drink water or some other kind of liquid and after about half an hour, we are feeling the urge to pass urine and we just believe that it’s the way things should be. That to them is not a huge thing to be achieved in nature but when you come across people who are not able to engage in this activity on their own, be they little children or elderly men and women, you will have no choice but to appreciate the miracle of God’s creation. This is an entirely natural process designed to eliminate waste products through the urine and to get rid of excess water in the body. The main thrust of this essay is not the integrity of the process but in creating some awareness about how often a normal, healthy individual ought to pass urine during a 24-hour cycle in order to maintain optimal health. The frequency of passing urine is dependent on a variety of factors such as age, sex, the number of fluids taken per unit of time, the usage of certain medications, the presence of certain medical conditions, and age. With advancing age, the capacity of the bladder to hold urine also reduces due to diminished elasticity of the organs so that urinary frequency becomes more.
Young children tend to pass urine more frequently than older children and adults for a variety of reasons. First, they have a relatively smaller bladder capacity than adults as a result of which they can hold a lot less urine. For this reason, they pass urine a lot more often than adults do. Besides, depending on how young they are, children do not have the ability to effectively control their urinary flow until the third or fourth year of life. Sometimes, because many children wear diapers around the clock, it is impossible to tell how many times they pass urine during the day not to mention how often at night. However, one of the reasons this might also be so is because the younger children are, the more likely they are to consume liquid and semi-liquid food. This constitutes a huge part of their urine output. Understandably, a diet consisting mainly of breast milk and later formula feeds and then cereal will produce more urine than a diet composed of yam, bread and potatoes. Therefore, one of the most significant factors for increased urine production is the frequency of drinking water and the volume of water taken. The habit of drinking enough water is absolutely vital for keeping the cells of the body well hydrated.
The adequacy of water intake is measured by the colour of the urine, in that clear or pale yellow urine is consistent with adequate hydration. Whereas, urine that appears to be dark yellow or even brown is a sign that there is dehydration. On this page last year, we explored the various colours that urine might produce and what each colour variant meant. This is a confirmation of one of those colour changes we discussed then. When the urine is dark, therefore, it is a sign that not enough water is being consumed and that there is a need to drink more. However, if the urine is consistently clear, it is likely that you are drinking too much water and overhydrating. In general, however, most people would pass urine between six and eight times in the daytime and two to three times at night. Healthy adults could do so four to six times during the day. This number can vary depending on a number of circumstances, some of which have been discussed above. Other reasons will be due to some of the factors we shall still discuss in the following paragraphs. In the same way, adults who are in their senior years may make more frequent trips to the bathroom to pass urine due to reducing the elasticity of their bladder, which has implications for the amount of urine they can hold. The volume diminishes as a result but the frequency increases.
Other factors that can cause seniors to urinate more often will have to be due to certain factors like prostate enlargement in men and cystocoele in women or utero-vaginal prolapse. We have discussed prostate enlargement at several times on this page in connection with benign prostatic hyperplasia and cancer of the prostate. In this essay, it becomes clearer why these conditions cause increases in the frequency of passing urine. It is because they act as dams obstructing the outflow of urine from the bladder. Due to that fact, urine is never completely emptied from the bladder during trips to the bathroom and so, in a very short while, the bladder is full again, resulting in the person having to return to the bathroom again.
Medications in use for the treatment of high blood pressure and heart failure often act to reduce the volume of blood in circulation by causing the production of excess urine. These medicines, known as diuretics, are crucial in the management of either of these two conditions. Urinary tract infections also cause frequent urination that has a burning, intense character that makes the sufferer aware that there is a problem. Therefore, a reduction in both of those symptoms is an indication of improvement once treatment has begun.
Urinary frequency is not the only measure of overall general good health; the amount of urine produced in each trip to the bathroom is also vital, as the average adult should produce between 1.5 and 2 litres of urine each day. Therefore, if an adult realises that they are making a lot less urine than this amount, due to reduced volume alone or increased difficulty with passing urine, it is an indication of a medical problem like prostatic enlargement or bladder infection, or as discussed above and would require a visit to a hospital.
However, if you find that there is increased urge to urinate or the volume is more, that could be a sign of a medical problem such as diabetes or an overactive bladder. In this particular aspect, there are two different types of diabetes either of which can lead to a markedly increased amount and frequency of urination. Diabetes mellitus is due to insulin lack or insulin insufficiency and one of its earliest symptoms is frequent urination. Diabetes insipidus, on the other hand, is due to not being able to regulate the amount of urine produced by the kidneys due to failure of action of anti-diuretic hormone. This is a rare condition characterised by intense thirst and excessive passage of urine.
Finally, it is emphasized here once more that people must listen to the signals their bodies send to them. Your body speaks to you and it is important to pay attention. You will need to maintain a proper amount of hydration by obeying your body when it says it needs water and exercising your right to urinate when your bladder tells you it is full. By doing so, you will get to see what colour of urine you are producing each time you go to the bathroom and the volume; take a mental note of what is normal for you and act appropriately when your body begins to behave differently. In that connection, when you notice pain, an increase in frequency or volume or when you observe a reduction, and you are not able to see why, then you must seek doctor’s attention. The same is true when you observe blood in the urine or if you must push like you have very hard stool in the anus before the urine will come out. These are abnormal situations that demand treatment, and it is important for us to learn to pursue clues when things do not seem right with the way we urinate because we have developed well the power of observation. Often, that is a lot better and safer than seeking clues by Google search.
*Culled from The Punch
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