Why you should never pee in the shower

A doctor has revealed the reasons you should never pee in the shower. Photo / 123RF
A video claiming a common habit can be particularly unhealthy for women has gone viral.
Urinating in the shower has long prompted debate online, with shower-pee proponents claiming the act can actually help conserve water. In 2021, the Michigan Daily found substituting a toilet flush for a minimally longer shower can save anywhere between 1.5 and 23 litres of water – in the US, at least.
One survey in 2015 also found 61% of Americans admitted to tinkling in the shower, while 41% said they even peed in swimming pools.
Now, Dr Emma Qureshey, an obstetrician gynaecologist in Houston, Texas, has taken to TikTok to share how women can maintain their gynaecological health – including resisting the urge to urinate in the shower.
“The first thing I would never do is pee in the shower, or more importantly, pee standing up,” Qureshey said in the clip last week, which has amassed more than 764,000 views at the time of writing.
“It is, one, not very hygienic, but more important than that, it will destroy your pelvic floor, and also it might create mental associations where you hear water running and all of a sudden you need to run to the bathroom – not interested in that.”
However, the sound of running water triggering a need to urinate isn’t just a phenomenon in women.
The brain-bladder connection, referred to as the brain-bladder axis, not only facilitates the act of peeing, but is also responsible for telling us we need to go in the first place. In 2015, researchers demonstrated that males with urinary difficulties found it easier to initiate peeing when listening to the sound of running water on a smartphone.
Qureshey’s video is not the first time a health professional has spoken out about the potential downsides of using the shower as a loo. In 2022, urogynaecologist Dr Teresa Irwin shared her take on the controversial subject on TikTok, explaining while you can correctly empty the bladder by standing up, it can also train the brain to release urine at the sound of running water.
“You don’t want to do it all the time because what happens is every time you hear the sound of water, your bladder is going to want to pee – because it’s used to hearing the sound of the water in the shower,” Irwin said. “So whenever you’re washing your hands, washing the dishes, your bladder is going to be salivating, so to speak, because it wants to go and pee.”
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Dr Alicia Jeffrey-Thomas – a Massachusetts-based physical therapist who specialises in the pelvic floor – has previously explained how peeing while standing in the shower can impact the pelvic muscles.
In a viral video in 2022, Dr Jeffrey-Thomas explained that female anatomy is not conducive with “[urinating] standing up”.
“Your pelvic floor isn’t going to relax properly, which means we’re really not going to be emptying our bladder super-well,” she said. “So try to pee before you ever turn on the shower water, and if you get the urge to pee while you’re in there, try to ignore it.”
Similar to Qureshey’s advice, Jeffrey-Thomas added the act can create an association between “running water and having to pee”, which could potentially lead to “leaking” at the sound.
Several viewers asked in the comments if Qureshey could elaborate as to why taking a tinkle in the shower can “destroy” the pelvic floor, to which she responded: “Will make a video on this soon! Too much to type.”
Urologists warn against it, but where does peeing in the shower sit on the spectrum of social conventions?
In 2018, a woman was branded “disgusting” on a parenting forum after she revealed she often enjoyed urinating while showering – prompting a debate as to whether it was a socially acceptable thing to do.
“I thought everyone did it occasionally,” the woman said in her post, to which one user responded: “Nope. Grim behaviour. I wouldn’t be impressed if my dh [darling husband] did it.”
“The only place any pee should be going is down a toilet,” another added.
In 2015, Gwyneth Paltrow – the founder of the controversial wellness and lifestyle brand Goop – made headlines after suggesting women should urinate in the shower to “engage” their pelvic floor.
In an article for Goop, the actress claimed “squatting” while urinating could help “stretch” and “tone” the pelvic muscles.
“Try peeing in the shower squatting down. When you squat to pee as opposed to sitting up straight on the toilet, you automatically engage your pelvic floor and it naturally stretches and tones,” she wrote.