Do you need to pee while diving? Urination and diving explained.

[Dive Wananavu Fiji]

Dear FM1520,

Please do not question the qualifications that I have taken many years to gain. I am a very highly qualified Staff Instructor with many years of experience working as a diver. It may not be April 1st, but just because this topic is something that people have not spent time thinking about, because they just do what their body tells them, doesn't mean it is not true. And for any other non believers, you may continue to question if I am making this up, or you can follow this link to DAN and the doctors who answered a question on this topic DAN | Medical Frequently Asked Questions

 

[fisheater]

Hmmm.

I'm not seeing where in the DAN article they said anything about the water pressure from the depth causing immersion dieresis.

Rather, they said it occurred whenever immersed in water colder than air.

Very confusing.


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[RJP]

Dear FM1520,

Please do not question the qualifications that I have taken many years to gain. I am a very highly qualified Staff Instructor with many years of experience working as a diver. It may not be April 1st, but just because this topic is something that people have not spent time thinking about, because they just do what their body tells them, doesn't mean it is not true. And for any other non believers, you may continue to question if I am making this up, or you can follow this link to DAN and the doctors who answered a question on this topic DAN | Medical Frequently Asked Questions

Perhaps during all those years of experience you should have read the DAN article more closely, instead of posting some nonsense about "pressure" forcing the water from your skin into the rest of your body.

 

[Pangpop]

Emptying the bladder has no effect on the body system while deep sea diving..so this doubt shal be eradicated from mind.

 

[Dive Wananavu Fiji]

Thank you all for creating a discussion from this topic. Bringing attention to a change in the body's function during a dive is good information for all divers. There is a plethora of scuba diving information that is available beyond the basic open water course and as dive instructors it is our goal to provide an increase in knowledge beyond just the basic entry level information taught in the basic Open Water course. For those who continue to argue against why the body increases waste fluid production while being under an increase in pressure please reread the opening paragraph in the above posted DAN article.

"The phenomenon you describe is known as immersion diuresis and occurs whenever the body is emerged in water. Immersion, along with a water temperature that is colder than air, causes narrowing of the blood vessels..."

"...The increased blood volume to the major vessels is interpreted by your body as a fluid overload. This overload causes ADH production to stop, which in turn allows the kidneys to immediately produce urine..."

It talks about the body being immersed (ie under pressure) which if we remember back to the Open Water course the greatest change in pressure is within the first 5-10 meters so it doesn't matter how deep you are diving the fluid production by the kidneys is increased. This combined with water "colder than air", so even in the tropics the water temp is cooler than the air temp contributes to this phenomenon.

Cheers for reading our article and cheers for sharing your feelings and creating a discussion. For those who are just "Trolling" and trying to discredit the author please only share constructive information.

 

[fisheater]

But in your article you say: "But what you won’t have been taught is that the surrounding water pressure pushes the fluids from your skin tissues away from the surface, and into lower layers of tissue"

That's nowhere in the DAN article. Never once does DAN say that water pressure is the causative factor.

 

[drinksfromtap]

I agree with fisheater - it seems like a better summary of what DAN is saying in that reference article is that the vasoconstriction is a function of immersion in water that isn't necessarily a result of the water pressure. To be fair, it looks like the author was trying hard to put the concepts of what's happening into layman's terms, but I think the way it's stated isn't quite the same as what's going on. I could be wrong, though - my background is engineering, and not human physiology.

The OP had brought up qualifications, so now I'm curious - from your website, it appears that the author has a background in marine biology and ecology. Does she also have significant training and experience in human physiology and dive medicine? I'm not trying to troll - just to get more information.

My own experience has been fortunate in that I've never really had a strong urge to pee during or just after diving.

Edit: To be clear, I think the other parts of the article were clear, interesting and informative. Thank you for posting it.

 

[fisheater]

Where, pray tell, would your bladder find any air to replace the voided urine?

 

[dfx]

"The phenomenon you describe is known as immersion diuresis and occurs whenever the body is emerged in water. Immersion, along with a water temperature that is colder than air, causes narrowing of the blood vessels..."

"...The increased blood volume to the major vessels is interpreted by your body as a fluid overload. This overload causes ADH production to stop, which in turn allows the kidneys to immediately produce urine..."

It talks about the body being immersed (ie under pressure) which if we remember back to the Open Water course the greatest change in pressure is within the first 5-10 meters so it doesn't matter how deep you are diving the fluid production by the kidneys is increased.

It's got nothing to do with pressure. Immersion diuresis also occurs right at the surface, i.e. when swimming.

Pressure affects your body as a whole. There's the same pressure on your skin as is on your intestines, kidneys, brain, bladder, bones, everything. Nothing gets pushed nowhere.

I'm gonna join in the crowd and say this article is BS.

 

[Davidccs]

I think we are getting confused by the word "immersion" it has not to do with pressure but with going in the water that its colder than your core temperature. This colder water surrounding you causes your vessels to constrict sending more blood to the vote to keep your vital organs warm and working. This increase of fluid to the core causes the kidneys to have more fluids to filter, removing more waste from your body, creating more urine. Its not complicated, but it has nothing to do with pressure.

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