Turns Out You’re Probably Peeing All Wrong. Here’s How to Fix It on ‘Live From Bed’

If you’ve ever forced yourself to “hold it” through a Zoom meeting, pushed your pee out because you were in a rush, or done the hover squat over a sketchy public toilet, you’re not alone—and you might be messing with your bladder. 

On Live From Bed, host Jade Iovine sits down with Dr. Sara Reardon—aka the “vagina whisperer”—to break down the pee, poop, and pelvic floor habits most of us are getting wrong. 

Stop treating it like a sprint

Most of us treat peeing like a race. Get in, get out, and move on. But rushing works against your bladder. “You should never push out your pee,” Reardon says. “The proper way to pee is to sit, chill, and breathe. Don’t push.”

When you bear down and force it, your pelvic floor muscles clamp instead of release. That’s like trying to open a door while someone’s holding it shut—you’re fighting your own body. The bladder’s built to contract on its own, but pushing confuses the brain–bladder signals and can leave extra urine sitting there. According to the Washington Post, that leftover pee ups your odds of leaks, infections, or just having to run back to the bathroom way sooner than you wanted.

The fix? Think of it like bathroom meditation. Sit down with your feet apart, lean forward slightly, relax your belly, and let your bladder do the work. That posture signals your pelvic floor to chill while your bladder does its natural squeeze. And if you still don’t feel empty, Reardon says to try “double voiding”—stand up, sit back down, and give it one more go without straining.

Holding it could actually hurt you

Skipping bathroom breaks might feel like a flex, but your body doesn’t see it that way. Reardon explains that chronic pee-holding can lead to urinary tract infections, kidney infections, and, in extreme cases, permanent damage. She shares a story of one patient “who held his urine for so long so consistently that he ended up with kidney damage and was on a catheter forever.”

The science backs this up. When you keep ignoring your body’s signals, you’re basically teaching your bladder to be a storage unit that’s way too big for its own good. Bladders are meant to fill and then release on a regular cycle. If you constantly delay that release, the muscle stretches past its comfort zone and starts losing strength. A stretched-out bladder doesn’t bounce back like a rubber band—it gets sluggish. That means when you finally do sit down, it may not contract hard enough to empty completely.

And here’s the other problem: Urine that hangs around becomes prime real estate for bacteria. Doctors often point out that stagnant urine is one of the main reasons UTIs develop. The longer you hold it, the longer bacteria have to multiply. If an infection isn’t cleared, it can creep upward into the kidneys, which is when things can get serious.

The 2–4 hour rule everyone should know

So, how long is too long to hold it? “Pee when you have the urge to go,” Reardon explains. “That should be between every two to four hours.” That’s the sweet spot for most people.

Sounds obvious, but think about how often you delay. Maybe you’re trapped in a Slack huddle that won’t end, stuck in traffic with no exit in sight, or trying to survive a festival with porta-potties you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Teachers, nurses, and anyone in jobs with limited breaks are especially at risk of making chronic holding a daily habit. Occasional delays are fine, but if you’re going much longer than four hours regularly, it’s time to rethink your bathroom routine.

Catch the full conversation on Live From Bed with Jade Iovine, streaming now wherever you get podcasts.

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