Interesting Pee Facts

By Jeremy Chin
Posted on 25 Apr, 2022

Ever wondered if there was more to your pee than just being a bodily excrement? Well, urine luck. For your benefit, we've put together a golden list of interesting urine facts that you probably didn't know about.

The scientific name for urination is micturition.
Actually, urination is also called voiding, peeing, weeing, pissing, and emiction. The word “urine” is from the Latin urina, which is from the variant of the Proto-Indo-European root awer, meaning “to moisten, flow.” The word “piss” is an onomatopoetic term for urine and has been used since before the 14th century. Piss is also sometimes used as a word intensifier e.g. I'm tellin' ya, that dude is piss poor.

Forty-five percent of people urinate in the shower.
On the plus side, peeing in the shower once a day can save you from buying a roll of toilet paper every 50 days.

Funky smelling pee does not necessarily mean u-r-ine trouble.
Ever get those days where your pee smells a wee bit ripe? Fret not. Sometimes it has to do with what you had eaten earlier. What goes in affects what comes out. Some culprits for creating weird pee smell include garlic, coffee, asparagus and alcohol. Here's another interesting fact for you. Only 50% of the world’s population has ever detected the aroma of asparagus pee because only 50% of people have the genes needed to detect the smell.

The average adult produces 6.3 cups of urine a day.
One great way to impress the people at the next cocktail party you attend is to display your prowess as a numbers person. In a lifetime, the kidneys clean more than 1 million gallons of water, enough to fill a small lake. And to fully establish your position as a pee expert, you can throw in that a Clydesdale horse produces 72 cups a day, and an elephant, a mind-blowing 208 cups (13 gallons).

Urine has been used in many cultures for cooking
The Chinook Indian tribe used to make “Chinook Olives” by soaking acorns in urine for five months. The dish was considered a delicacy. In Europe, bakers used urine to help their bread rise before they discovered yeast. In Cameroon, drinking urine is a crime that can be punished with jail time.

Pee can sometimes be pink?
Alarmed by your pink or orange pee? Don’t be. The beets, rhubarb, or carrots you had for lunch may be the culprit. Eating beets can cause beeturia, or pink/red urine that contains betanin. Urine can turn neon bright if a person consumes a lot of Vitamin B. If however you see red or brown urine, go see a health professional. You could have kidney stones or a problem with your liver.

Pee is sterile.
Yes, BUT only while it’s In the bladder. As it leaves the body, it can trap bacteria from the urethra and anything it comes in contact with.

Pee is good for the skin.
A few centuries ago, the ladies of England and France would use urine to give their skin a fresh glow. Urea helps skin retain its natural moisture and, at higher concentrations, can exfoliate dead skin. For this, it is often used as an ingredient in moisturizers. But don’t start saving your liquid gold in bottles just yet. The urea used in creams is synthetically produced, so if I were you, I’d stick to store-bought. Several major league baseball players, including Moises Alou and Jorge Posada, used urine on their hands to prevent and relieve calluses.

The bladder can hold 2.5 cups of urine at a time.
Rather interestingly, 2.5 cups is a wee bit larger than a pint of beer. A fin whale’s bladder on the other hand can hold 5½ gallons of urine.

Peeing on a jellyfish sting won't heal it.
If you’ve done this to a friend, I’m sure it has become one of the funnest stories in your bag, one you’ve told and retold. And if you’re the one that was peed on, don’t be peeved. Some people actually pay money for the experience.

People dispose of their pee in different ways around the world
In ancient China, Chinese noblemen would urinate into hollow canes so the urine would flow far way from their bodies. In medieval Scotland, a man would walk through the streets with a big bucket and cloak. For a price, people could urinate in the bucket and drape the cloak around them for privacy. Truck drivers who do not want to pull over will urinate into gallon jugs and toss them on the side of the road. In one month, Washington State cleaned up 1,000 of these types of bottles on a 100-mile stretch of highway. Each year in Canada, about 225 men fall overboard and drown as a consequence of standing up in a boat to urinate overboard.

For whiter teeth, gargle urine.
“Oh, what pearly white teeth you have. You must gargle a lot of urine.”
In ancient Rome, doctors recommended rinsing your mouth with urine to get whiter teeth. Funnily, this crazy idea was not unfounded — the ammonia in urine actually whitens teeth. But good luck trying to get someone to kiss you.

Pee can be used as invisible ink
Ancient Roman spies sent messages to each other by writing secret messages between the lines of important official documents. Words appeared when the paper containing the peemanship was heated. (... and that was how the motion was passed.)

Men pee faster than women
Peeing rituals aside, men empty their bladders faster than women. But this is up until age 50, when the speed of his spurt declines. Then women take the lead.

Not all urine testing was done in labs
In the past, doctors diagnosed diabetes by pouring urine into the sand to see if it was sweet enough to attract bugs. Other physicians just dipped a finger in and took a taste. Some dogs can detect cancer simply by smelling people’s urine.

Shy Bladder Syndrome is a widespread problem
Paruresis—also known as Shy Bladder Syndrome, Tinkle Terror, Ballpark Bladder or Pee Anxiety—is a type of phobia in which the sufferer is unable to pee in situations where other people are in close proximity, such as in a public restroom. The International Paruresis Association reports that 220 million people worldwide are affected by it.

You can protect your garden with your pee.
About had it with pests chomping up your prized garden produce? Pee around the perimeter of your garden. Animals usually try to avoid human contact and your scent tricks them into thinking you are near. This method doesn’t work for more intelligent animals like squirrels, however.

The World Record for the longest pee is 508 seconds.
That's almost 8.5 minutes.

Urine Is Sometimes Used As Soap
The American pilgrims made a type of soap called “chamber lye” by letting urine sit in a barrel and then mixing it with ashes. The Inuit on the other hand cleaned themselves in steam baths made by urinating on hot rocks in enclosed tents. In parts of India and East Africa where water is scarce or polluted, people still bathe in cow urine.

Pee-phoria is also known as Pleasure Pee, Piss Bliss, and Ecstasy Pee
“Pee-phoria” or the sense of release as bladder pressure diminishes is a result of the stimulation of nerve endings in the urinary system. Urolagnia (also Golden Shower, Water Sports, urophilia, or undinism) is the sexual arousal associated with the sight or thought of urine. It is sometimes confused with arousal from having a full bladder or a sexual attraction to someone who is experiencing the discomfort of a full bladder.