Is Peeing After Sex Actually That Important?

You enjoy the careless abandon of a romantic weekend away - wine, Egyptian cotton bedsheets and some “quality time” with your other half. Too distracted to possibly remember to pee after sex.

Q: When my mom had “the talk” with me, she told me to pee after I had sex, and I’ve been doing it religiously ever since. But I’m not exactly sure why you need to pee after sex, and now that I’m an adult with real knowledge about my body, I’d like to know. I know it does something to clean your bladder so you don’t get an infection, but how does that actually work? How does having sex get stuff into your bladder in the first place?

A: A wise woman once told me, “a sponge is not a lifetime investment, and always pee after sex”. I’ve found both to be very helpful advice, although it took me a while to find someone to actually take the time to sit down and explain to me exactly why we need to do this. Knowledge I’m now extremely pleased to be able to share with you!

SHOULD YOU PEE AFTER SEX?

“Sex introduces bacteria into the urethra which can cause irritation,” says Dr Pallavi Latthe, gynaecologist and spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists.

So if you pee after sex does this get rid of the bacteria?

“Some women with recurring symptoms do find that peeing immediately after intercourse reduces the risk and for those who are particularly a ffected, an antibiotic could prevent further occurrences.”

For those who don’t su ffer on a regular basis, you don’t need to hotfoot it to the toilet to pee after sex straightaway.

Urologist Dr Jennifer Berman recommends going within 30 minutes of the big finish, to pee after sex just in case. That should clear that up, then.

Why Peeing Helps Protect You

Wait, so why don’t you get a UTI every time you have sex? That’s a great question, and the answer is urine. Your body is well-equipped to protect itself from bacterial infection. In the case of potential infection in your urinary tract, it fights back by flushing out the bacteria through urination. This works very well most of the time, which is why even if you’re prone to getting UTIs, you won’t get one every time you have sex.

Sometimes, not all the bacteria gets flushed out during urination. When this happens, you may end up with a UTI.

When Exactly Should You Pee?

Yes yes, we now know that peeing is important to prevent UTIs, but when?

Pee Right After Sex

You should pee after you're done having sex, to flush out any bacteria hitching a ride up your urethra as a result of your previous (hopefully) delicious experience. You don’t need to leap up the second after you orgasm and run to the bathroom — but going within 30 minutes is recommended. Basically, you just want to catch the bacteria when it’s still in your urethra and therefore easily flushable. If it reaches your bladder, that’s when you can start to have issues.

... But Maybe Don’t Pee Right Before Sex

It used to be commonly recommended to pee before sex too, and many guides will still say to do this. However, there is now some evidence that this isn’t the best idea. If you pee right before sex, your bladder won’t be as full when you pee after sex, which is when you need your urine to push out all the climbing, freeloading bacteria right on outta there. So don’t pee before sex, and instead store your pee for post-coital flushing (unless you need to pee so much that you'll be uncomfortable during sex, in which case you should obviously pee before).