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CrowdScience

Why does running water make me need the toilet?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science

4.81K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2020

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What does science say about controlling urination, and other bodily functions? We tackle three queries about peeing triggers, pooing positions and missing sweat. This episode CrowdScience presenter Marnie Chesterton poses some of the best listener follow-up questions that have landed in our inbox to a panel of experts.

Listener Samuel in Ghana is wondering why watery sounds seem to induce urination. Producer Melanie Brown heads out to survey whether this is the case for individuals in an actual crowd at a public fountain in London. And urologist and trustee of the International Continence Society Marcus Drake talks Marnie through how he uses the sound of running water during his work as a hospital doctor helping patients with common but distressing peeing issues, and the limitations of research into this question.

And he’s not the only listener who wants us to dig deeper into topics we’ve explored on the show before. Anna in Tokyo also got in touch after hearing our show about toilets, to ask if there is a toilet design that is most ‘natural’ for our health. Gastroenterologist Anton Emmanuel explains why small changes in people’s posture whilst pooing can have a significant impact on their quality of life.

Finally, listeners Stelle, James and Joel emailed crowdscience@bbc.co.uk after hearing Marnie investigate hyperhidrosis: Sweating too much. They and their relatives experience the opposite:

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of

0:07.0

Happiness Podcast.

0:08.0

For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want

0:14.4

to share that science with you.

0:16.1

And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.

0:19.4

I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that

0:25.5

calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:29.7

Okay, so I'm going over to the sink, and I'm going to do this.

0:40.0

I have turned on the tap.

0:46.0

Hello and welcome to crowd science from the BBC World Service.

0:50.0

I'm Marnie Chesterton and apologies if my demonstration of running a tap made you want to run for the lavatory.

0:57.0

Crowd science listeners ask us every shade of science question and listener Samuel from Ghana has a question about a topic

1:05.4

that normally makes adults a bit shy.

1:08.3

Okay my question is why does the sound of running water create the edge to pee?

1:14.0

I don't know if you've got a story here, but I'd love to know why you were thinking about this.

1:21.0

What is it about this that intrigues you? Well I think it's just silly

1:25.8

curious, I'm curious about the parts of the brain data involved in the process of this kind of

1:31.0

conditioning of our brains.

1:33.0

So when it's the sound of running water,

1:35.2

does it matter what type of water?

1:37.4

Does it matter whether it's a river or a tap or a fountain?

1:41.0

Not really.

...

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