Do women urinate more often than men,and if so is this natural or is
this because of something like childbirth.

Hi arkin,

Barring any health problems or disease, one sex does not generally
urinate more frequently than the other. All healthy humans produce
about 1.5 liters of urine a day.

Men will need to urinate more frequently than ?normal? in the presence
of prostate problems, urinary tract infection, diabetes, ingestion of
certain medications such as diuretics, or from drinking large amounts
of fluids.

Women, on the other hand may urinate more frequently than ?normal? due
to urinary tract infection, diabetes, ingestion of certain medications
such as diuretics, drinking large amounts of fluids, or pressure on
the bladder from pregnancy and childbirth.

Note than increased frequency does not equal increased output! A
person with a UTI (Urinary tract infection), enlarged prostate, or
bladder pressure due to childbirth and pregnancy may feel the need to
urinate more often, but produce smaller amounts of urine.

Urinary incontinence, on the other hand IS twice as common in women as
men. Incontinence is described as an inability to ?hold? your urine.
http://www.diagnose-me.com/cond/C563515.html

From the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse web site:
?Pregnancy and childbirth, menopause, and the structure of the female
urinary tract account for this difference. But both women and men can
become incontinent from neurologic injury, birth defects, strokes,
multiple sclerosis, and physical problems associated with aging.
Older women, more often than younger women, experience incontinence.
But incontinence is not inevitable with age. Incontinence is treatable
and often curable at all ages. If you experience incontinence, you may
feel embarrassed. It may help you to remember that loss of bladder
control can be treated. You will need to overcome your embarrassment
and see a doctor to learn if you need treatment for an underlying
medical condition.
Incontinence in women usually occurs because of problems with muscles
that help to hold or release urine. The body stores urine--water and
wastes removed by the kidneys--in the bladder, a balloon-like organ.
The bladder connects to the urethra, the tube through which urine
leaves the body.?

http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/uiwomen/index.htm


An article about urinary incontinence, from Mentor:
http://www.mentorcorp.com/bladdercontrol/dailymanagement/dailymanagement-male/bc_dmmale_overview.htm

Here is an illustrated explanation of how the kidneys work:
http://renux.dmed.ed.ac.uk/EdREN/EdRenINFObits/NormalKidney.html

Hope this answers your question adequately. If any part of my answer
is not clear, please use the Answer Clarification button. THis will
allow me to further investigate any part of the answer that is
unclear.

Regards, crabcakes-ga

Search Stategy
urinary output 
women men urinary frequency

---

Request for Answer Clarification by arkin-ga on 06 Dec 2003 18:56 PST

Thanks for responding.I have heard of women having smaller bladders
and that the internal organ structrue puts pressure on the bladder,but
that could just be a myth i guess.

---

Clarification of Answer by crabcakes-ga on 06 Dec 2003 20:38 PST

Hello again arkin,

That is a very good point! Although I did not find anything stating
women's bladders are smaller, I would think they *might* be, at least
a bit. I'll look some more, now that you have piqued my interest!

Meanwhile, this site mentions "human bladders" and does not differentiate.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/Urinary_bladder

Men's urethras are longer than women's, (Obviously :-)  )
http://www.scarleteen.com/body/male_anatomy_6.html

I'll look further, but it may be a day or two till I get back with you!

Regards, crabcakes-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by crabcakes-ga on 06 Dec 2003 20:42 PST

Its me again!

This site from Yahooligans, which is using "Gray's Anatomy" material
states "The female bladder is said by some to be more capacious than
that of the male, but probably the opposite is the case"
http://www.yahooligans.com/reference/gray/255.html

So, probably, if there is a difference, it is miniscule!

Bye, crabcakes-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by arkin-ga on 07 Dec 2003 17:58 PST

Thanks for showing a lot of intrest in my question.i guess if the
female bladder is slightly smaller it's because women have smaller
builds than men.Anyway i had heard something about the uterus putting
pressure on the bladder even if that woman never had been pregnant or
given birth.Thanks again!

---

Clarification of Answer by crabcakes-ga on 08 Dec 2003 07:23 PST

Hi again arkin,

 Pregnancy and advancing age are the primary causes of pressure on the
bladder. A woman who has not been pregnant may experience pressure on
her bladder through disease (especially uterine fibroids) or advancing
age. This additional pressure can cause the feeling of pressure and
the need to urinate. Barring uterine pressure from any cause (weak
muscles, fibroids, pregnancy, etc.) women don't actually urinate more
than men.

"The uterus and the bladder are held in their normal positions just
above the inside end of the vagina by a "hammock" made up of
supportive muscles and ligaments. Wear and tear on these supportive
structures in the pelvis can allow the bottom of the uterus, the rear
of the bladder or both to sag through the muscle and ligament layers."
 
http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/23414/9370/210485.html?d=dmtHealthAZ

So, you can see it appears that the build of a person, presence of
disease (infection, fibroids, diabetes, etc.), weak muscle tone,
amount of liquid intake, and some medications are what determine
urinary frequency, and not necessarily the sex of the person.
Hope this cleared things uo for you. It was an interesting question to research!

Regards, 
crabcakes-ga

I have noticed that the women I know go when they first perceive the
need, whereas men seem to take pride in holding off until they are
about to burst.  (You understand, I hope, that there is no research,
scientific or otherwise, behind this observation.)