How long after drinking should I pee?

If the urinary system is healthy, the bladder can hold up to 450ml of urine comfortably for two to five hours. however, there is no ‘normal’ time for how long after drinking a person should urinate.

After a liquid is swallowed, it takes about two seconds to enter the stomach and then small intestine, where the majority is absorbed into the circulation, becoming part of the circulating blood volume.

the blood is filtered as it passes through the kidneys. Both kidneys together filter approximately 125ml of blood per minute – or about 180 litres per day.

Our total blood volume is about five litres.

the filtration rate is pretty steady unless the kidneys are affected by disease or medication, and the filtration rate does decline with age.

A healthy person steadily drinking about two litres of water per day makes 800 to 2,000ml of urine every 24 hours.

Increased urgency can be caused by a number of things: drinking a lot, particularly drinks containing caffeine or alcohol; diuretics taken for heart trouble or high blood pressure; and people with illnesses such as diabetes.

Pregnancy labour and ageing, can lead to problems with the muscle involved with urinary retention, meaning an increased need to ‘go’ and a lessened ability to ‘hold on’.