# How long can a normal person hold it in?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 10, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677 "2005-04-10T17:41:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677/1 "2005-04-10T17:41:56Z")
There was a Jonathan Creek episode on the PBS Mystery this week where it was said that one character didn’t urinate for a day and a half while he was handcuffed to a radiator. It really wouldn’t have changed the mystery at all, so I guess it was mentioned so the audience wouldn’t have to contemplate that.
But I’ve never gone more than overnight without urinating.
Assuming one had nothing to drink but no health problems, how long can he voluntarily hold it in?
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### Author:  [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677/2 "2005-04-10T23:03:41Z")
Well, it depends on how much he had before he “stopped”. A man wandering in the desert who hasn’t had a drop of water for a while isn’t stopping every 20 minutes to take a wizz. Also, if you gave me two 32 oz. Gatorades to chug before you strapped me to a radiator, I doubt you’d get more than and hour out of me before I tried to cut the restraints from the high pressure urine blast coming out of me.
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677/3 "2005-04-10T23:35:26Z")
It also depends on one’s age, state of health, and how tramatic his experience with toilet training was. (Yes, I’a serious.)
I’ve seen patients who, while being tested for bladder integrity, have been unable to pee after having 2 liters of fluid instilled.
A young, healthy adult male would have less than a 40 year old woman who’s had a child.
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### Author:  [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677/4 "2005-04-10T23:53:43Z")
> [@picunurse](#):
>
> It also depends on one’s age, state of health, and how tramatic his experience with toilet training was.
Minor hijack here. A lot of guys (myself included) have to wait a few seconds before the stream starts coming out. Other guys say it starts right away. Does this have something to do with bad potty training, or is just a another facet of human individuality?
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### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677/5 "2005-04-11T00:22:34Z")
I am not a doctor, but I know that sperm comes from the same place. perhaps you were arroused at the time, and you body was taking the time to switch barrels, like with one of those pens that prints in multiple colors.
Also, in my experience, on a long drive, the anwers to the OP is: hours and hours.
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677/6 "2005-04-11T00:24:26Z")
I date a teacher and she says she can hold it in as long as the school day lasts.
Of course when she’s with me, she gets up every 20-30 minutes. But she can be a camel if she has to.
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### Author:  [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677/7 "2005-04-11T00:59:05Z")
You only ever have to hold it for as long as it takes to drive through a full tank of gas. Anything more than that is just wasted bladder space, anything less than that and you probably need a smaller car.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677/8 "2005-04-11T02:31:23Z")
Strom Thurmond reportedly went over 24 hours without peeing while filibustering in the Senate against a civil rights bill (of course, he was a pissant for doing so).
There’s controversy over [whether he cheated](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-1539850_2,00.html) or not.
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### Author:  [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677/9 "2005-04-11T02:34:43Z")
Then again, **Tycho Brahe** held it in too long, which led to his eventual death.
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### Author:  [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-normal-person-hold-it-in/298677/10 "2005-04-11T02:48:56Z")
Well I thought I’d look for a website to confirm the cause of Tycho Brahe’s death and it seems recent evidence points to mercury poisoning instead.
[http://www.nada.kth.se/~fred/tycho/index.html](http://www.nada.kth.se/~fred/tycho/index.html)
Still, like the rumored cause of death of Cathering the Great, the “legendary” cause of Tycho’s death will be the one that everyone remembers.