# How many times are we supposed to urinate each day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303 "2005-04-20T20:27:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/1 "2005-04-20T20:27:22Z")
I know much you’re supposed to poop, but not pee. I only pee like three times a day. I know people who pee once an hour. Am I getting enough liquids? Speaking of liquids, I recently heard that drinking 8 glasses of water is unnecessary. Is this true? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/2 "2005-04-20T20:57:35Z")
Eight. Hence the name. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/3 "2005-04-20T20:58:15Z")
I don’t think there is a guideline for how often you have to go. If you gotta go, you gotta go. If you’re going too often, you’ll likely be feeling sick with something else. And if you can’t go, you’ll be feeling sick too. ---
**Author:** ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/4 "2005-04-20T21:04:12Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > I don’t think there is a guideline for how often you have to go. If you gotta go, you gotta go. > > If you’re going too often, you’ll likely be feeling sick with something else. And if you can’t go, you’ll be feeling sick too. It used to be three for me too (have to admit, still sometimes is), but my doctor told me that is not enough - it means you don’t drink enough water to help your body clean itself out properly. If you want to know more, just look up what your kidney’s do in wikipedia or something similar. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/5 "2005-04-20T21:11:10Z")
There’s a snopes article and probably a SD article on the N-glasses of water per day thing. It’s basically bunk; the original article said something like “everybody needs to drink the equivalent of 10 glasses of water a day. Most people get this from their regular daily food intake.” News services saw the first sentence and ran with it, completely ignoring the second sentence because it turned it into a not-news item. Go figure. You should pee when you need to, and drink water if you’re thirsty. If you find that you need to pee every hour on the hour you should get tested for a variety of things, including diabetes. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/6 "2005-04-20T21:20:24Z")
In my experience, virtually no one outside the medical community knows how “much you’re supposed to poop.” Normal defecation is defined as anywhere from three times a day to three times a week. ---
**Author:** ![Aragowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/da6949/32.png) [@Aragowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aragowyn)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/7 "2005-04-20T22:01:07Z")
This exact topic has been discussed in a [previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=255515). ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/8 "2005-04-21T01:39:48Z")
I think of a lot of reasons for having to go to pee too much: Diabetes Nervousness (The day of the Northridge Earthquake of 1994, I went about every 20 minutes for about 6 hours) Consuming a lot of fluids Consuming a lot of diuretics Incontinence Pregnancy (not applicable to everybody) ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/9 "2005-04-21T01:46:07Z")
WAG What goes in has to go out. Drink a big pitcher of iced tea and pass an equal amount of tea pee later. As the doctor told me, “It all depends.” You have to pass what you eat! ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/10 "2005-04-21T01:46:30Z")
Let us not forget Diabetes…your body tries to ditch all the sugar. If you urinate way more than you think you should. Go get checked. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/11 "2005-04-21T02:57:58Z")
My doctor told me that you should be drinking enough that you pee light yellow - not clear, not really yellow yellow. If your urine is the right color, and you don’t feel you’re overly “holding it”, and you aren’t urinating way more often than you ought to, you’re probably fine. Everybody has “that friend” who’s always in the damned bathroom - some people just pee more, some pee less. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/12 "2005-04-21T10:37:10Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > WAG > What goes in has to go out. > > Drink a big pitcher of iced tea and pass an equal amount of tea pee later. > > As the doctor told me, “It all depends.” > You have to pass what you eat! Most water you ingest is passed out when you breathe, not when you pee. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/13 "2005-04-21T14:02:07Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Most water you ingest is passed out when you breathe, not when you pee. Cite? Unless I’m in the blazing desert, and somehow not sweating, I’d have to call foul on that claim. Granted I drink 2L of diet soda a day, and my “required” 8 glasses of water, so I’m in the bathroom pretty regularly. (yes, been checked for diabetes, I drink that much fluid instead of eating when I’m bored, got to watch my figure! 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/14 "2005-04-21T14:30:17Z")
Breath, not sweat. When you breath out, your breath is almost fully saturated. A rather simple test would just be to piss into a bottle all day and see that your nowhere near 8 glasses worth. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/15 "2005-04-21T15:26:38Z")
Er, yeah, but your body does _keep_ some of that. You’re not drinking just for the fun of passing it on through. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/16 "2005-04-21T15:50:30Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Breath, not sweat. When you breath out, your breath is almost fully saturated. A rather simple test would just be to piss into a bottle all day and see that your nowhere near 8 glasses worth. I agree, but would be a bit less dogmatic. The typical person loses about 750 cc of water each day through breathing (evaporative loss). This figure rises significantly as temperature rises and humidity drops. On the other hand, most people pee out more than 750 cc per day (note that anything less than about 30 cc/hr is considered “oliguria”). This is because they have free access to water-containing fluids. Bottom line is that urine loss of water can, and do, greatly exceed breathing losses, but only when a person is taking in lots of water. Conversely, in situations where water intake is minimal (e.g. lost in desert), most water loss from the body _will_ come from the lungs (and let’s not forget about sweating either). ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-are-we-supposed-to-urinate-each-day/300303/17 "2005-04-21T18:23:23Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Er, yeah, but your body does _keep_ some of that. You’re not drinking just for the fun of passing it on through. But unless you are in the process of gaining weight, any water that goes into the body comes out as water. Actually the amount of water that comes out should be _slightly_ greater than what goes in, because the body breaks down sugars and other molecules that contain hydrogen.