Do you find that first cup of coffee in the morning races through your system? You’re not the only one — lots of people find that they need to pee almost straight after drinking coffee. This can be especially annoying during your busy mornings.
Here, we’ll cover why coffee makes you pee and how you can avoid multiple trips to the bathroom after a cup.
Why Does Coffee Make You Pee?
You may have noticed that after drinking a cup of coffee, you need to pee more urgently than with other drinks. The main reason for this?
Caffeine.
Let's discuss how caffeine impacts your system to make you pee more often:
Caffeine as a Diuretic
Caffeine is a stimulant — it boosts energy and may improve focus, which is why most of us drink it. However, it’s also a diuretic — it makes you need to pee more.
Caffeine does this in the same way it makes you feel less sleepy — once dissolved in your blood, it interacts with the pituitary gland. Once there, the caffeine inhibits the production of the antidiuretic hormone (ADH) the gland normally produces.
Ordinarily, ADH moves to your kidneys to signal them to produce aquaporins, proteins that help your kidneys absorb water and distribute it to keep your body hydrated. Once caffeine stops the release of ADH, your kidneys reabsorb and distribute less water through aquaporins. This “extra” water has to go somewhere, leading to an increase in urination.
Other Impacts of Caffeine
Caffeine's diuretic impact can be experienced even if you have only one cup of coffee or a glass of Coke. When you consume caffeine in excessive amounts (over the 400 mg per day safe limit), however, it can lead to irritation in your bladder tissues.
In time, this irritation can even lead to an involuntary bladder contraction, making you need to pee more often. The more your bladder contracts this way, the more you’ll suffer from incontinence, needing to go to the toilet as soon as the urge to pee strikes you.
The Diuretic Action of Coffee & Other Drinks
There are two main diuretics in beverages that we encounter fairly regularly — caffeine and alcohol. Alcohol works as a diuretic in the same way as caffeine does — by interacting with your pituitary gland and making it produce less ADH.
But alcohol can also make you pee more often because you may drink a lot of it in one sitting. A night of heavy drinking is technically five beverages. If you compare that to your typical night at home, are you drinking five pints of water? Likely not.
Caffeine isn’t a very powerful diuretic, so it’s unlikely to cause dehydration, especially in coffee. In an 8-oz cup of Joe, you’re getting around 100 mg of caffeine. Despite its diuretic effect on your system, the amount of fluid in a cup cancels out this effect.
When you drink caffeine, the primary concern is that your system may speed up a little. The stimulant can cause a slightly raised pulse and blood pressure and increased blood motility. However, as long as you stay within safe limits, this boost isn’t something to be concerned about.
When Should You Be Concerned About Peeing?
Should you be concerned about a small change like peeing more than usual? A trip to a medical professional is never wasted if you're in any pain or discomfort.
Here are some things you should consider if you think you’re peeing too much:
Symptoms to Look Out For
Peeing just a little more than normal may be a sign that you’re well-hydrated. However, when considering excess urination due to caffeine, you need to look out for two main symptoms.
The big symptom to be aware of is having to go to the toilet more often to pass urine. Specifically, if you’re going more than seven times per day, you should consider what’s going on behind the scenes [1].
Your kidneys can process around one liter of water per hour. Any water you drink beyond that will immediately be flushed out of your system. Before thinking about caffeine, consider if you’ve been drinking a lot more water than normal, as that may be the issue.
The other symptom to consider is urge incontinence. Under normal circumstances, most people experience the urge to urinate but can delay a trip to the bathroom for quite a long time. If you get the urge to pee and then need to go immediately, that’s urge incontinence. Consider reducing your caffeine intake or potentially visiting a healthcare professional.
How to Figure Out If Caffeine Is to Blame
Other factors in your diet and environment may cause these symptoms, including caffeine. However, excessive caffeine consumption can manifest these symptoms more intensely than other factors. Therefore, reducing your caffeine intake slightly could make a difference.
If you think your caffeine intake is making you pee more, try drinking one less caffeinated beverage per day. This slow reduction can prevent caffeine withdrawal headaches. Continue the reduction until your caffeine intake is below 100 mg daily. After a couple of weeks at this level, it should be obvious whether caffeine is making your bladder overactive.
If reducing your caffeine intake doesn’t prevent you from peeing as much, consider contacting a healthcare professional. When concerned about your health, a doctor will be able to put your mind at rest at the very least.
How To Stay Hydrated
Staying hydrated helps your organs and brain to function at their best. Here’s how to enjoy your favorite coffee beverages while staying hydrated.
How Much Water Should You Drink Per Day?
In truth, there’s no exact amount of water you should drink in a given period. Everyone has slightly different needs in terms of hydration, and even one individual’s hydration requirements can differ daily.
A general rule of thumb is to aim for between 70 and 100 ounces (roughly two and three liters) of water per day. This might seem like a lot, but that total includes water in your food, as well as coffee or juice.
To simplify things, the consensus among healthcare professionals is that you should have a balanced diet and drink water when you’re thirsty. Your body’s natural guidance for when to drink more water is built into your system, and it’s wise to follow it.
When to Drink More or Less
Following your sense of thirst is the most reliable way to ensure you get plenty of fluids. A person’s hydration needs can vary across sex, weather, activity level, and health. There may be certain times when you need to actively ensure you drink extra fluids.
For instance, if you’re doing something physical on a hot day or going to the gym, your body will maintain a good fluid balance by losing water in several ways, including sweating. If you’re going to be sweating a lot, have a ready supply of water and a glass or so in advance.
A sign to watch for is the color of your urine. In an otherwise healthy person, urine color indicates how much water the kidneys are actively trying to flush out of your system. Aim for a pale yellow color — darker would mean that you need more water, while colorless urine could mean you’re overhydrated.
How Much Water Is Too Much?
It’s entirely possible to drink too much water.
Marathon runners and triathletes can sometimes experience overhydration, as can members of the military engaging in training exercises. In these situations, people often drink a lot of water before, during, and after the exercise that they’re doing. Sometimes, this can be too much for your body to handle.
When considering hydration, remember that your kidneys can only process around one liter of water per hour. If you drink more than this, your system will “store” the water to access it later.
By continuing to drink beynod this limit, you may increase this volume of water in your blood. Drinking more water than your kidneys can eliminate is generally a bad idea, so aim to consume less than one liter (0.2 gallons) of water per hour.
There is no “hard” number for the exact amount of water that makes you unwell, as this figure differs for everyone.
However, if you continue to drink more than 1 L (0.2 gal) of water per hour for several hours, you could experience negative symptoms such as head pain, cramping, nausea, and fatigue.
FAQs: Why Does Coffee Make You Pee?
Now that we’ve dived into the science of coffee and pee, let’s discuss some FAQs.
1. Is It Normal to Pee a Lot After Drinking Coffee?
Yes, it is normal to pee a little more after drinking coffee. Caffeine is a diuretic, so it can increase the amount you urinate.
2. Does Coffee Actually Dehydrate You?
While coffee is a mild diuretic, it’s unlikely to dehydrate you. You're also taking in a lot of liquid for all the caffeine you drink, so the two can somewhat balance out. You should be fine as long as you stay within the safe daily caffeine limit of 400 mg.
3. Why Does My Pee Smell Like Coffee?
“Coffee pee” — where your urine can smell a little like coffee — tends to happen only in people who drink more than four cups per day. This may lead to some of the chemicals within coffee not being absorbed into your system and passing into your urine.
4. Is Peeing Every Thirty Minutes Normal?
Peeing every thirty minutes is quite frequent and may be a cause for concern. Generally, healthcare professionals suggest that peeing more than seven times per day may be excessive [1].
5. Is Coffee Bad for the Kidneys?
No research has shown that coffee is especially bad for the kidneys. However, drinking a lot of caffeine can lead to higher blood pressure, which may eventually impact the kidneys. If you have concerns, speak with your doctor.
6. Does Coffee Help You Lose Weight?
Coffee can aid weight loss as part of a balanced diet and exercise regimen. Caffeine increases metabolism slightly, so regularly drinking coffee may allow you to burn more calories. However, if those coffee drinks also contain a lot of sugar and cream, those extra calories may balance out the metabolic benefit.
7. Is Decaf Coffee Bad for You?
No, decaf coffee is perfectly healthy as part of a balanced diet. However, there are more work in processing decaffeinated coffee than regular, caffeinated coffee.
8. Is Coffee a Laxative or Diuretic?
Interestingly, coffee can actually function as both a laxative and a diuretic. The caffeine in coffee is a diuretic while also increasing the release of hormones that push along the progress of food in your intestines. Coffee may also trigger the gastrocolic reflex, where something that you regularly do in your day triggers the urge to poop as you routinely do.
9. Why Drink Water Before Coffee?
Some people suggest that drinking water before coffee is a good idea first thing in the morning. The general reason for this suggestion is that the time you spend asleep is time you’ve spent not taking on water. You can rehydrate quickly and effectively by having a glass of water first thing in the morning.
10. Does Coffee Make You Gain Weight?
As a low-calorie beverage, coffee alone doesn’t necessarily make you gain weight. However, if you add many things to your coffee, those additions can lead to weight gain over time. This may be particularly true if your coffee order regularly includes whipped cream, syrups, or other calorific additives.
References:
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NHS. (n.d.). Fluid and caffeine intake for bladder and bowel health. NHS choices.
