How to Stop Peeing So Much If You Feel Like You Constantly Have to Go

A bunch of things can send your bladder into overdrive—but there’s also plenty you can do to rein it in.

rows of empty toilet paper rolls surrounding one full roll

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If you were to draft a list of places where you’d ideally spend your time, your bathroom probably wouldn’t make the cut (let alone a gross public restroom). But if you deal with frequent urination, or the persistent need to pee, you might feel like your bladder is constantly dragging you to the nearest toilet anyway, leaving you little say in the matter.

While being interrupted by the urge to pee at any point can be annoying, going up to eight times a day is considered normal—which works out to once every two to three hours, Alexis Griffin, MD, an ob-gyn and a urogynecology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, tells SELF. Needing to relieve yourself more often than that (or waking up to pee more than once a night) is a sign that you’ve crossed into too-much-peeing territory.

The potential causes of a needy bladder are pretty wide-ranging. Yes, there’s a chance you’re just taking in too much water—but exactly how, when, and with what you’re filling your bladder can all play a role, too, as can your bathroom habits.

On the more serious end, a variety of health problems can also leave you with extra fluid filling your bladder or just make you feel like you gotta go more often. The former can happen with conditions like heart failure and diabetes. Some medications, like diuretics (used to treat high blood pressure and prevent kidney stones, among other things), can also cause your body to create more urine. The persistent sensation of urgency more commonly occurs with issues right in or around your nether regions, like a urinary tract infection (UTI) or STI, interstitial cystitis (a.k.a. painful bladder syndrome, or inflammation of the bladder wall), or overactive bladder (OAB), which involves involuntary muscle spasms in this organ, Dr. Griffin says. (A neurologic issue like a spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis can trigger those off-kilter contractions, too, she adds.)

It’s also possible that a nearby mass, like a uterine fibroid or tumor, or even a full colon (a.k.a. constipation) or pregnancy, can put pressure on your bladder, giving you that incessant urge to go, she says. The same goes for an enlarged prostate in folks who have a penis. And finally, dysfunction of your pelvic floor can interfere with your flow and make it tough to fully empty your bladder, regularly sending you back to the bathroom soon after you’ve just gone, Riva Preil, PT, DPT, a board-certified pelvic floor physical therapist, author of The Inside Story: The Woman’s Guide to Lifelong Pelvic Health, and the founder of Revitalize Physical Therapy in New York, tells SELF.

The good news is, in many of these cases, there’s plenty you can do to regain control over your bladder and limit your hangouts on the porcelain throne. Read on to learn expert strategies for how to stop peeing so much and when it’s best to pay a visit to a doctor.

1. Keep a bladder diary to track your peeing and sipping.

It’s helpful to record each pee for a few reasons: It’ll let you know whether you’re actually peeing more than what’s normal and make it easier for you (or your doctor, should it come to that) to spot a pattern. Dr. Preil suggests marking down the time of each pee and how long it lasts in Mississippi seconds, and also creating a separate column to track each drink you consume—both what it is and the quantity—for four to seven days. Recording each poop, too, could let you know if constipation might be at play. (It’s also worth noting if you’re barely making it to the bathroom without leaking, which is a sign of urge incontinence, or peeing a little bit when you cough, laugh, sneeze, or exercise, which could indicate stress urinary incontinence.)

Generally, the length of time that your first pee of the day lasts is a proxy for the amount of urine your bladder can hold, Dr. Preil explains, since it’s theoretically been filling up all night. “So if your flow goes for 12 seconds in the morning, for example, then it means you’re capable of that same length of pee throughout the day,” she says. If you’re finding that, by contrast, your subsequent pees are all shorter dribbles (and happening nearly back-to-back), then some aspect of your daytime behavior is likely prompting the spike in frequency.

2. Be strategic about when and how much water you’re drinking.

You might assume that if you’re peeing all the time, you should gulp less water throughout the day—after all, less in means less out, right? But it’s actually not so simple. Drinking too little can make your pee super-concentrated, irritating the lining of your bladder and making you feel like you need to go more often.

So you don’t want to dehydrate yourself in the name of peeing less although consuming too much fluid will force your kidneys to constantly flush the excess. It turns out, there’s no goldilocks amount of water that everyone should drink in a day—contrary to popular belief, we don’t necessarily all need eight glasses, Lopa Pandya, MD, MS, FACOG, an Illinois-based urogynecologist, reconstructive surgeon, and medical advisor at Aeroflow Urology, tells SELF. For instance, if you exercise often, live in a hot or humid climate, or are breastfeeding or pumping, you’ll need to replenish your fluids more often. (And the liquids you consume in food also count toward your total intake.) “I always say to drink to thirst,” Dr. Pandya says. Another barometer is the color of your pee: If it’s as dark as apple juice, grab the H2O; if it’s lemonade-like or lighter, your intake is more on target.

The other key to keeping your fluid levels balanced is to sip water in regular intervals throughout the day versus chugging a bunch at once, Dr. Griffin says, which can overload your bladder and send you straight to the toilet. By spacing out your water intake, you can also avoid guzzling a full bottle’s worth last-minute before bed—and lower the chance that you wake up in the middle of the night to pee, too, Dr. Pandya says.

3. Go easy on the bladder irritants—both beverages and foods.

“The quality of what you’re filling your bladder with is oftentimes more important than the quantity,” Dr. Preil says. That’s right: Not all liquids have an equal effect on your urinary tract. A wide variety of bladder irritants can, well, irritate that organ in some people, prompting the muscle that lines it to contract willy-nilly, Dr. Preil says. That may give you the sensation that you need to pee even if your tank isn’t full.

Some of the most common bladder irritants include:

Coffee
Tea
Alcoholic drinks
Carbonated beverages (including seltzer water)
Artificial sweeteners
Acidic items (citrus fruits, tomatoes)
Spices and spicy foods
Chocolate

It’s worth mentioning that caffeinated and alcoholic drinks can also act as diuretics, meaning they prompt your kidneys to pump out more urine than usual—making them a double whammy when it comes to increasing your urge to pee.

Still, not everyone responds the same way to all of these foods and drinks; it’s possible that some rev up your bladder while others have minimal effect. So rather than cutting them all out at once (which might not be reasonable anyway), Dr. Preil suggests working piecemeal: One day, you might try eliminating coffee, for instance, and seeing what impact that has on your pee frequency; another, you might slash the booze or the spicy burrito. By being methodical about it, you’re more likely to identify the real culprit(s), she explains.

And if the irritant turns out to be something you really want to keep in your diet, like, say, coffee or tea? Try consuming it in a one-to-two ratio with water, Dr. Preil suggests. So if you need your morning cuppa, have it with double the amount of water. This way, you’re diluting the irritating substance, so it may have less of an impact on your bladder, she says.

4. Avoid peeing “just because” or “just in case.”

Whenever you go just for the sake of going—whether you’re trying to prepare for travel or are worried about your future access to a bathroom—you start to teach your bladder that it needs to empty itself more often, even when it’s just partially filled. That’s because you’re messing with the natural process that determines urge and frequency: Usually, your bladder sends a signal to your brain when it’s full that you need to find a toilet STAT, but if you’re regularly taking a whiz before that urge sensation hits, those wires get crossed.

So, it’s important not to make a habit of peeing if you don’t really feel the need to, Dr. Preil says. To parse out whether you should go, consider when you most recently went and how long it’ll be until you can hit up a restroom again. If the total is within two to three hours—for instance, you peed an hour ago and you’ll be able to pee again in another 90 minutes—you probably don’t need to make another trip at this moment.

5. Practice resisting or deferring the urge to go.

Whereas going “just in case” can train your bladder to carry less, holding out for a bit once the urge does hit can remind it of its capacity to expand like a balloon. (ICYWW: The average bladder can hold up to two cups of liquid.) Of course, embracing this kind of bladder training can be trickier than it sounds, particularly if you’ve gotten used to constant bathroom trips.

The goal is to do what Dr. Preil calls riding the wave anytime you get the urge to pee within an hour or so of going: Focus your brain on something else—counting backward from 100 by seven, doing a crossword puzzle, locking in on a tough work task—until the feeling naturally dissipates, like a ripple of water cresting and then falling. Ideally, you’ll be able to pass 30 to 60 minutes this way, until the urge hits again and you can answer the call. (Remember: You only want to do this if you recently tinkled and likely don’t have much in the tank; holding a full bladder for a long time can increase your risk of a UTI.)

If distraction isn’t sufficient to take your attention away from peeing for a bit, Dr. Griffin suggests a more physical task: Do five Kegel exercises, or contractions of your pelvic floor muscles, which run from your pubic bone to your tailbone and support all of the organs in your pelvis. “This can send a message to the bladder to relax, release, and fill more,” Dr. Preil explains. (If you’re having trouble figuring out how to do a Kegel, imagine you’re trying to stop peeing mid-flow.)

6. Sit down and fully relax your pelvic floor whenever you pee.

Your pelvic floor is essentially a sling of muscles that surrounds each of your holes down there, including the one at the end of your urethra where pee comes out. Like a fist squeezing around a hose, a tense pelvic floor makes it so this space can’t open as freely, essentially restricting the flow of urine from bladder to toilet, Dr. Preil says. So if you’re clenching those muscles (consciously or unconsciously) you might not be able to fully empty, which could mean you have to return to the bathroom shortly after…and maybe again after that.

To avoid that scenario, you want to give your pelvic floor a complete break when you pee by sitting down (yes, all the way!) and being okay with however long it takes you to finish up. “One of the most common things I say is that no one should be pushing to urinate,” Dr. Pandya says. So, instead of rushing or forcing it, take a few breaths and think about relaxing your entire pelvic area so the urine can just leisurely stream out on its own.

If you have a very tight or tense pelvic floor and are finding it challenging to unclench those muscles while peeing, Dr. Preil recommends consulting a pelvic floor physical therapist—more on this below. They can provide treatment in the form of massage and biofeedback (via a small device inserted into your vagina) and share at-home techniques to release these muscles, like stretches (for instance, “happy baby” or a deep squat) and deep breathing exercises. (You’ll also want to lay off the Kegels in this scenario to avoid firing up an already “on” muscle group, Dr. Preil adds.)

When to see a doctor about peeing too much

Peeing often, on its own, isn’t necessarily a reason to book a doctor’s visit—but if it shows up in tandem with other symptoms, it could point to an underlying condition. According to Dr. Griffin, coinciding urinary issues like cloudy, foul-smelling, or burning pee, or blood in your urine could signal an infection, as can abnormal vaginal discharge. And feeling like you have to pee urgently, can’t make it to a bathroom in time, or struggle to empty in one fell swoop might indicate one of the bladder conditions noted above, or an enlarged prostate. At the same time, pain during sex and constipation (or straining to poop) are hallmark signs of pelvic floor tightness or overactivity that warrant seeing an expert, Dr. Preil says.

Other symptoms aside, if your constant wee habit is causing you any amount of distress or anxiety, or interfering with your ability to lead your life—for instance, you’re organizing plans around proximity to a bathroom or worrying about getting enough breaks to pee at work—the experts agree that’s also reason enough to see a medical professional.

You can start with your primary care doctor or gynecologist, if you have one. They’ll assess your history and symptoms (here’s where a bladder diary comes in handy!), check for signs of infection (and prescribe an antibiotic if needed), and do a physical exam of your pelvis to search for any existing mass or muscle dysfunction. (They can also rule out other medical conditions that could have you peeing nonstop.) If they suspect your pelvic floor is to blame, they may refer you to a pelvic floor physical therapist; you can also find one using this PT locator. If your bladder seems to be the culprit, they could bump you over to a urologist or urogynecologist. These specialists can do further testing—for example, a bladder ultrasound or urodynamic study (which involves slowly filling your bladder to get a sense of how soon you feel a need to pee)—and offer a variety of treatment options, like oral meds or Botox injections to nix bladder muscle spasms, or nerve stimulation to reset the neurological pathways linked with urination, Dr. Griffin says.

The bottom line? The possible causes of incessant peeing may run the gamut, but the solutions are just as plentiful. And by setting in motion certain lifestyle tweaks or getting in touch with a doctor (or both!), it’s possible to take charge of your own peeing. You: 1, Bladder: 0.