How to Hold Your Pee in the Car: Road Trip Survival Guide

Plus, tips to prevent excessive peeing in the first place

It happens to everyone: one moment you’re enjoying your car trip, the next moment you’ve got the unbearable urge to pee and you’re counting down the miles to your next stop. Stay strong! We’ll show you the best ways to hold your urine, what to do if you absolutely can’t, and how to prevent these situations in the future.

Best Ways to Not Pee in the Car

  1. Cross your legs and hold still to soothe your bladder.
  2. Distract yourself with games, music, or looking at the road.
  3. Unbutton your pants an unbuckle your belt to relieve pressure.
  4. Turn the AC down since cold temps can make the urge to pee worse.
  5. Perform pelvic floor exercises like Kegels to reduce the urge to pee.
  6. Drink less fluids before and during your car ride.
Section 1 of 3:

Holding In Your Pee During a Car Ride

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  1. This can help hold in your pee and relieve the unpleasant sensation. [1] Simply put one leg over the other and, using your hands, push hard on your inner thighs. Do not press hard on your lower stomach, which puts more pressure on your bladder area. Also don’t lean forward onto your bladder.
    • In the meantime, tell the driver that you need to use the restroom. Even if you’re on a bus or another public vehicle, your driver might be able to help.
  2. Squirming or fidgeting only makes the urge to pee feel even worse. Take deep breaths and sit as still as you can. Also, focus on relaxing your other muscles, which helps alleviate pressure. [2] Also avoid laughing, coughing or sneezing, since these might cause you to accidentally pee a little.
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  3. Often, the need to pee is mostly mental, and if you distract yourself, the urge will lessen. [3] Play games or scroll on your phone, read a book, or play a car game, like looking for the letters of the alphabet in order on other car’s license plates.
    • Also try thinking about your plans later today, or just paying extra attention to the road.
  4. Cold temperatures make you feel the need to pee more. [4] If possible, turn down the AC, and even consider turning up the heat a little bit. If that’s not possible, put on a sweater or a coat to raise your body heat.
  5. Reassuring yourself that you can manage your bladder is a powerful and effective tool. [5] Think, "I can hold it" or "I can make it." Repeat this in your head until you can use a toilet.
    • Avoid any thoughts of water, urination, moistness, or even sex.
    • If you can’t stop thinking about needing to pee, redirect those thoughts with “dry thoughts.” Imagine a dry desert, a cloudless sky, a roaring fire—anything but water.
  6. Avoid anything that puts pressure on your bladder. [6] Loosen up your pants or jeans if you are wearing them by unbuttoning or unzipping them. Also loosen your belt, and shift tight waistbands if at all possible.
  7. Pelvic floor exercises, or Kegels, tighten your pelvic floor, which helps block your urinary tract. To do a kegel , squeeze the muscles you’d use to hold in gas, hold the squeeze for 3 seconds, then relax for 5-10 seconds and repeat. [7] Repeat this 5-10 times, or until the urge to pee lessens.
    • This works for both men and women.
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Section 2 of 3:

What to Do if You can't Hold it Any Longer

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  1. If you can't get to a bathroom in time, peeing on the side of the road might be your next best option. Once you have pulled over, try to find the most discreet place to pee, for example behind some bushes. However, you shouldn't feel too embarrassed even if people driving by see you pee.
    • Use the car door as a privacy shield, or angle your car so that other traffic can’t see you. You might also wrap a sweater or blanket around your waist while you pee.
    • As a woman, pee in a place where the ground slopes away from your shoes. Squat or sit against a tree or a rock. You might even lean your back against the car to pee more discreetly.
  2. If there's no way you can pull over and pee, your next best option is to pee into a cup, a bag or other container. A container with a lid is preferable to prevent the pee from spilling while driving. Pee in a plastic bag only as a last resort since they can easily leak.
    • Consider keeping a pee funnel in the car if you’re a woman to make urinating on the go (outdoors or into a container) easier.
    • Even if the container is less than ideal, it’s still better than wetting your pants.
  3. If wetting your pants is inevitable, be as discreet as possible. Wrap your waist with a washable coat or blanket, and cover the seat with something like a plastic bag or a towel, if available.
    • Change your pants as soon as possible to avoid rashes or odors.
    • Open a window, if possible, to disperse the odor.
    • If you end up peeing in your pants, remain calm. Accidents happen, and it happens to everyone now and then. There's no need to panic.
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Section 3 of 3:

Preventing the Need to Pee

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  1. For several hours just before a long car ride, try to only sip water, and avoid other beverages. Especially avoid drinks which have diuretic effects, like coffee, tea, soda, and alcohol. [8]
    • This also goes for liquidy foods like soup or cereal with milk.
  2. Even if you don't feel an urgent need to go, it's a good idea to pee before the trip. That said, don’t go if you don’t have to! Forcing yourself to urinate more than needed is counterproductive, and “teaches” your bladder that it doesn’t ever need to hold it, making you need to pee more. [9]
  3. Bladder training involves holding your pee for set amounts of time to increase your bladder capacity. To do this, empty your bladder first thing in the morning, then, next time you need to pee, purposefully hold it in for 2-5 minutes. Or, set intervals throughout the day when you’ll pee, and at these times, try to pee even if you don’t need to, then hold it in until the next interval. [10]
    • Increase the interval by several minutes every few days, until you can comfortably hold your pee for longer.
    • Successful bladder training often takes several weeks to see results.
    • Don’t push yourself too hard! Holding in your pee for too long can lead to urinary tract infections or other complications.
  4. This way you'll always know where the closest restroom is should you need to go. If you know there isn’t a stop for a good while, go pee at the current stop. Or, change your route to include more rest stops.
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Expert Q&A

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  • Question
    Does holding my pee result in kidney stones?
    Arvind Madan
    Internal Medicine Doctor
    Arvind Madan is an Internal Medicine Doctor based in Orlando, Florida. With over 23 years of experience, Arvind works as a Physician at Central FL Kidney Specialists and is the Principal Investigator of the research division there. Arvind is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, with a sub-specialty in Nephrology. He is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Central Florida’s College of Medicine. He is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine (OCOM). He received his MD from Maulana Azad Medical College at Delhi University and completed his residency at Nassau County Medical Center.
    Arvind Madan
    Internal Medicine Doctor
    Expert Answer
    It’s not a good idea to hold your pee for a long time, and while it doesn’t directly cause kidney stones, it can contribute to issues that would make them more likely. When you hold urine for too long, you’re allowing waste products and minerals to sit in your bladder and urinary tract, which increases the chance that they can crystallize into stones. The most important thing for kidney stone prevention is staying hydrated. If you aren’t drinking enough water, your urine becomes more concentrated, making it easier for these minerals to form stones.
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  • Question
    I’ve tried all this before, but I still can’t find a solution to this problem and I’m a boy.
    Community Answer
    Get out of the car, look around for a secluded area and pee. Once you are done, go back in the car and continue your journey.
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  • Question
    What if I'm on a plane?
    Community Answer
    If it's a big plane, it will have a bathroom. If it's a small plane, you'll have to land and look for a bathroom.
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      Warnings

      • Public urination is illegal in many places. If you can’t hold it, do your best to urinate discreetly.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.hdft.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/overactive-bladder-and-bladder-retraining.pdf
      2. ↑ https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/bladder-training
      3. ↑ https://www.hdft.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/overactive-bladder-and-bladder-retraining.pdf
      4. ↑ https://www.outsideonline.com/health/wellness/why-do-cold-temperatures-make-me-pee/
      5. ↑ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7939720/
      6. ↑ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/urinary-incontinence/10-ways-to-stop-leaks/
      7. ↑ https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/aftercareinformation/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=ut3203
      8. ↑ https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/7064-bladder-control-issues
      9. ↑ https://www.hdft.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/overactive-bladder-and-bladder-retraining.pdf
      1. ↑ https://www.swbh.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Bladder-retraining-ML3615.pdf

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