Why do I have to pee after sex?
As gynaecologist Dr. Alyssa Dweck, author of The Complete A to Z for your V, told Insider, if you have a vagina, you need to pee both before and after sex of any kind. Because the vagina and anus are so close to each other, if you wipe your bum after going to the bathroom wrong, you can risk infecting your urethra. So, urinating after sex helps cleanse the urethra from harmful bacteria, which reduces the chance of you getting a nasty UTI (a urinary tract infection).
"By urinating both before and after and sex, the urine stream instantly mechanically cleanses and flushes the bacteria that could enter the urethra, which is where you urinate from," Dweck told Insider. "Peeing before sex can also be beneficial because it decompresses the bladder for comfort."
"In the female anatomy, the urethra, the vagina, and the rectum are all in close proximity to each other so there is a higher chance of these bacteria from the rectum area to get close to your urethra when you're having sex. So, by flushing out that bacteria you decrease your chances of getting a urinary tract infection," Dweck added. "Men, on the other hand, have a much longer urethra."
When should I pee after having sex?
To put it simply, there isn’t an exact time period after sex when you should go pee after sex, but anything that’s within a reasonable amount of time.
Will peeing after sex stop me catching UTIs?
Peeing doesn’t always eliminate the chance of getting a UTI, but it can significantly lower the risk.
To best prevent getting a UTI, you should consider changing some of your hygiene habits and drink lots of water. Doing so will dilute your urine and make you pee more often, flushing out all the bacteria before an infection can take over. And, as always, you should be wearing condoms and having safe sex to discourage the chance of catching anything.
