If you're out on the town and drinking a lot of beers, you may have noticed that it makes you need to pee. (Obviously.)
But once you do, it seems like you need to keep peeing all night, right?
And as long as you can resist the urge to "break the seal" you can avoid going to the bathroom every five minutes.
It turns out that there's actually a scientific explanation for this!
"Alcohol has the effect of inhibiting Antidiuretic Hormone (ADH), or vasopressin, which is what makes us feel like we need to pee," explains Dr. Lígia Brito, general practitioner and infectious disease specialist at the Edmundo Vasconcelos Hospital Complex in São Paulo, Brazil.
But this side effect only occurs once your body has metabolized the alcohol, so it takes a little while for to work.
So by the time it kicks in, most people are on their second or third beer. With your ADH inhibited, you don't realize it, but your bladder is plenty full.
It actually happens with any alcoholic beverage, but people drink beer in greater quantities than other drinks, so there's more liquid in your body.
So here's a tip: stop holding in your pee! It's uncomfortable, and it doesn't actually help. Just go take a pee.
This post was translated from Portuguese.