Why do some people get goose bumps when they pee?

In addition to the sense of relief that comes with emptying a full bladder, some people also experience a different sensation during the process of urinating: a kind of chills or chills. Although not everyone has it, it is quite common, especially among children.

According to urologists and scientists studying both the nervous and urinary systems, there are two possible hypotheses to explain this phenomenon.

The first, quite simple, concerns a kind of thermal equilibrium. By urinating, we leave our lower body exposed to room temperature, which is usually colder than our body. In addition, the process of peeing is to remove hot liquid from the body, and our body temperature is also slightly reduced.

This possibility, in fact, does not explain why babies get goose bumps - as they are in diapers when that happens - and that is why many scientists believe this has something to do with our autonomic nervous system, the one responsible for good part of the involuntary relationships of the human organism.

It is divided into two parts: the Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic, and, as Dr. Simon Fulford, consultant urologist at James Cook University Hospital in the UK, explains in an interview with the LiveScience website, actions that can justify this reaction. .

It all starts with a slight rise in blood pressure that starts when we have a full bladder. Emptying it causes a sudden drop in pressure, and that's where the first part of the sympathetic nervous system enters, releasing a substance called catecholamine, a neurotransmitter that helps rebalance the pressure and contract the bladder.

In contrast, when the bladder begins to fill, body sensors identify the stretching movement and activate the sacral nerves located in the spinal cord, which in turn warn the parasympathetic nervous system. It is he who causes the muscles that make up the bladder to contract to expel the urine.

Although these two systems are complementary and usually responsible for the chain of various nervous and biological processes, in this case it is possible that they conflict and the product is precisely the shiver.

This connection with the rise and fall of pressure is also reinforced by the fact that this phenomenon is experienced in greater numbers by men, probably by the fact that they urinate standing up - when the pressure increase is also higher.

Urination even triggers - or is triggered by - a series of reactions in the body. For example, the fact that we pee more when it's cold or when we're nervous, and when urine comes out blue. There is, of course, that urge to run to the bathroom when we hear running water. In all these cases, science strives to give a plausible explanation!

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