Our bodies are 60% water; so, to stay healthy, it is only natural that we replenish our water or fluid intake on a daily basis. However, we often pay more attention to the amount we take in than the amount we release.
We are taught a healthy amount of just fluid intake is about 64 ounces a day. This is often broken down into eight 8-ounce cups a day. However, as time has progressed, that number has changed as well! For example, The Institute of Medicine in 2005 measured fluid intake not only by the actual amount of water one drinks but also by liquids from foods or other drinks containing water. They determined that an adequate amount of fluid intake should be about 11.5 cups (92 ounces) of fluids a day for women and 15.5 cups (124 ounces) of fluids for men. And even more recently, it has become popular to determine fluid intake by considering factors like weight, activity level and age (Marcin, 2017).
Some Things Never Change
Though the number of ounces that determines a healthy amount of water intake have fluctuated, the amount of content a healthy stomach can hold has not changed. The stomach breaks down food turning it into liquid, and the average healthy adult stomach can hold on average about 33 ounces of drink/food (Squires, 2007). Depending on the frequency of an individual’s fluid intake, the female stomach has the capacity to hold one-third of the daily recommended amount liquid at a time. Not bad!
As fluid nears the end of its journey within the body, the road narrows. Our bladders only hold a fraction of liquid compared to the recommended fluid intake and stomach capacity. A healthy adult female bladder holds 10-13 ounces or about one-third what the stomach holds. Fitzgerald, Stablein, and Brubaker (2002) looked at the voiding diaries of 300 women and found the average void volume for women was 11.16 ounces/330 ml. However, the desire to urinate kicks in for some people when the bladder contains about around 7 ounces/200 ml (Magill’s Medical Guide, Volume III, 1998).
Let’s Be More Aware of Our Bladders
By using the daily recommended amount of water intake of 64 ounces, women whose bladders hold 10-13 ounces will need to pee 5-6 times a day. However, if you are a woman who experiences the urge to urinate when your bladder contains about 7 ounces of liquid, you could end up needing to pee about 9 times a day! And since we know that holding in your pee is not healthy, we need to make sure we go when our bodies tell us it is time to go.
Road Trip Potty allows you to go since traffic doesn’t move just because your bladder tells you it’s time to go!
Sources:
- Fitzgerald, Mary P., et al. “Voiding Patterns among Asymptomatic Women.” Obstetrics & Gynecology, vol. 99, no. 11, Apr. 2002, p. 111S.
- Institute of Medicine. 2005. Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10925.
- Marcin, Ashley. 2017. “How Much Water You Need to Drink.” Healthline Newsletter. https://www.healthline.com/health/how-much-water-should-I-drink.
- Magill’s Medical Guide, Volume III. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem, 1998
- Squires, Sally. 2007. “From Groaning Board to Growling Stomach.” Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/16/AR2007111602090.html
