Why does the sound/feel of water make you want to pee? (bladder, cold)

[little elmer]

One of my superiors at work actually wants to know why running water increases the urgency to urinate, and I don't know. Whether it's washing your hands, listening to a running stream, etc., it always makes you want to go!

[Steve Bagu]

This may be off the subject matter but did work.

When my kids were small...my wife would get the kids out of bed (before we retired for the night) to get them to empty the bladder to keep them from wetting the bed.

What she did was to pour a little COLD water on the **** to make them go...worked real well and NO wet beds in the morning.

Such memories. Steve

[Houston3]

Originally Posted by little elmer

One of my superiors at work actually wants to know why running water increases the urgency to urinate, and I don't know. Whether it's washing your hands, listening to a running stream, etc., it always makes you want to go!

Now I have to go just from reading the title of this thread... ;p)

[myrc60]

Yes, it's true but I don't know why. It also serves that if you are traveling on a bridge, a very long bridge like the causeway over Lake Ponchutrain in New Orleans (25 miles), you will have to go and there is no stopping allowed. I've been there and it hurts! lol

[TracySam]

When people have those "zen" fountains in their homes or offices, they always make me have to go! Just hearing that tinkling and trickling all day....I could never handle it. I'm not even gonna tell about my Niagara Falls trip!



Maybe it's like yawning: you see someone yawn and you have to yawn. You hear what sounds like peeing and you have to pee. Maybe some hard-wired leftover instinct that helped the pack bond together?

[TracySam]

Just found this, though I don't know how reliable the info is.
WikiAnswers - What causes the urge to urinate when hearing or feeling running water


If you've ever studied basic learning theory, this falls under classical conditioning. You brain pairs the sound of running water with the relief of urinating (the "running water is actually you going to the bathroom). So then when you hear the same sound, the conditioned response is an urge to urinate.

But I still like my peeing-as-bonding hypothesis!

[Laura707]

I know I don't dare start washing dished until I have went to the potty!

[Wee Fooot]

I do not know the reason why but I too, want to urinate as soon as I touch water, like when I am doing dishes. The urge is strong and urgent and my doctor says he does not know why. I think it has to do with the involuntary relaxation of the urethral muscles but the exact mechanism escapes me. I am a retiree and I thought it was something peculiar in old age. Seems not; other younger people experience this too.

[RayinAK]

The funny thing about water and peeing: when I was young it didn't make a difference if the water in the sink was on or off, but as I got old all I have to do is to think about it, and that would send me running to the bathroom

[FrankBlank]

At one time, and possibly still, during an Army physical you had to give a urine sample. You got the cup and were sent to a sink where you had to run water over your wrists. It worked.

So it is a long known phenomenon, but then as now, the Army doesn't explain.