The Peeing Myth

Peeing in your wetsuit, it’s right up there with death and taxes as one of life’s certainties. Even so, our civil sides don’t like to talk about it; especially that great feeling it gives you on a cold dive. It warms you right up from the inside out—or does it?

I’ve been reading that despite what you might think, peeing in your wetsuit will not actually warm you up. What happens is that the warm urine opens up the blood vessels near your skin’s surface. These blood vessels think they are no longer cold and relax. Then, shortly thereafter, the warm pee gets washed away and cold water returns. The blood vessels are no longer constricted, so they very quickly allow your warmth to be taken away before they realize it’s cold again and constrict.

This constriction, by the way, is what leads to numbness. It’s your body’s way of protecting its vitals, by restricting blood flow to the less-important extremities.

This peeing myth was certainly news to me. It’s something to remember next time I’m tempted to pee in my wetsuit on a cold dive. But hey, who am I kidding? I’m gonna do it anyway.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 3rd, 2010 at 7:49 am and is filed under Comfort. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “The Peeing Myth”

  1. Brandon Says:
    January 20th, 2011 at 12:33 am

    This is where most people would submit the old saying about the 2 types of people:
    1 those who pee in their suit, and
    2 those who lie about peeing in their suit.

    I propose a secret third type:

    3 those who (like me) ligitimately do NOT pee in their suit, and think it is discusting that so many people think its ok…

  2. Tony Stott Says:
    February 8th, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    This is a totally wrong interpretation of the saying! It has nothing to do with warming you up at all, but is used in the context of “Its like p1ssing in a wetsuit” ie nobody knows but you, so think of another solution to the problem.

    I am surprised that you didn’t post that in your blog.

  3. Mik Says:
    February 27th, 2011 at 2:32 am

    I try not too but after I have done it. I feel so relived. I find it when you do pee in the water you dont have the urge to go to the bathroom but if you get out of the water and get back in your urge comes back.

  4. David Says:
    March 23rd, 2011 at 10:57 am

    @Brandon: I’ve actually met a variety of people who don’t pee in their wetsuits. It makes sense after you’ve owned a wetsuit for a while, that smell is near impossible to get out…

    @Tony: I’m not sure what you’re getting at. People do pee in their wetsuits because they like how it feels, especially on cold dives! It’s totally separate from any saying about “pissing in a wetsuit”. Thanks for stopping by!

    @Mik: Yeah, that’s the eternal struggle! Thanks for posting!

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