Did you know what you can't do sitting down...?

Orionaut · 16 Oct 2018 at 12:41

Scania said:
F1 drivers just go in their suit during races also.

!

As do Spacemen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shepard#Mercury_Seven

One thing that was not seen at the time by the public was Shepard's pre-launch "emergency". Because the entire journey was only expected to take fifteen minutes, Shepard's suit did not have any provision for elimination of bodily wastes. After being strapped into the capsule's seat, launch delays kept him in that suit for eight hours; Shepard's endurance gave out before launch, and he was forced to empty his bladder into the suit, which shorted out the medical sensors attached to it to track the astronaut's condition in flight. After Shepard's flight, NASA called in the space suit's manufacturer, B. F. Goodrich, and by the time of John Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 orbital flight the following year, a liquid waste collection feature had been built into the suit.

ttaskmaster · 16 Oct 2018 at 12:48

dl8860 · 16 Oct 2018 at 12:48

I get what OP is saying, the muscles work in a way that unless you send a positive signal to 'release', then you won't pee. The problem is when you have to go so bad that you feel like if you don't pee then your kidneys will pop, it is basically involuntary when you do send that signal. So it's just semantics saying you can't do it involuntarily.

And the conclusion that this means men shouldn't ever complain about needing to go while sat down is just lol.

Ryan-3 · 16 Oct 2018 at 13:16

What about the five percent who do neither though?

OldBobby · 16 Oct 2018 at 14:02

Ryan-3 said:
What about the five percent who do neither though?

Neither what?

Shocky-FM · 16 Oct 2018 at 14:28

OldBobby said:
Basically, if you're sober and sitting down, however desperate you are for a wee, you won't do it involuntarily because the body won't allow it. Contrary to popular belief, you can't wet yourself whilst driving or sitting in a car, etc!

Yes, just sit there in great discomfort until your bladder bursts pouring urine into your abdomen

What could go wrong? a bit of emergency surgery never hurt anyone right?

OldBobby · 16 Oct 2018 at 14:32

Shocky-FM said:
Yes, just sit there in great discomfort until your bladder bursts pouring urine into your abdomen

Now that really IS a myth... lol

ttaskmaster · 16 Oct 2018 at 14:59

Dis86 · 16 Oct 2018 at 15:07

I pee sitting down all the time.

Shocky-FM · 16 Oct 2018 at 15:07

OldBobby said:
Now that really IS a myth... lol

It's usually under special circumstances, underlying health issues usually, sitting for hours under the impression you can hold it indefinitely would probably qualify though.

I doubt anyone would make it that long but who knows.

DXP55 · 16 Oct 2018 at 15:25

The ex BIL used his flask sitting down in a motorway tail back - said it was still warm when he got home.

ttaskmaster · 16 Oct 2018 at 15:33

Dis86 · 16 Oct 2018 at 16:13

ttaskmaster said:
Prince Albert?

Nope. Just like to pee when I poop.

TimTom · 16 Oct 2018 at 18:18

No idea whether that's true or not but I do know it's possible to evacuate your bowels sitting in your car in a traffic snarl-up on the M6... especially when you're desperately trying to make it to a service station, suffering from the sh*ts!

RetiredGreyFox · 16 Oct 2018 at 18:37

Two weeks ago I did a little pee in my pants because my wife had gone past the services and there was no way I could wait.
I was in a bit of a state and let some go then realised I'd got a nearly empty coke bottle.
Any longer and I would have had a big accident.
I vote BS.

Malevolence · 16 Oct 2018 at 19:18

Having witnessed a mate simultaneously pee and shart himself after sneezing I'm going to say it's not the same for all people.

xb8browney · 16 Oct 2018 at 19:24

OldBobby said:
LOL!!!

hahaha

Admiral Huddy said:
I'm not sure.. it felt very involuntary at the time

Hahaha!

OldBobby · 16 Oct 2018 at 20:46

Malevolence said:
Having witnessed a mate simultaneously pee and shart himself after sneezing I'm going to say it's not the same for all people.

But was he sitting down at the time?

muon · 16 Oct 2018 at 21:40

I disagree with the 75%. It is instinctive to take avoiding action in a crash. If everyone closed their eyes when in a dangerous situation I reckon there would be far more accidents.

Even when a crash is inevitable I reckon most people would do what they can to avoid/minimise it.

When you've driven for a decent period of time, as most people have, it is all instinctive. You don't slam on the brakes and close your eyes unless you are at a stupidly high speed.

Angilion · 17 Oct 2018 at 00:36

OldBobby said:
With the greatest respect, isn't the point that the theory suggests 'involuntary' release? I'm sure anyone can "let go" if they feel they don't want to suffer the discomfort any more. What the analyst was saying was that men won't wet themselves if they don't want to. [..]

That seems wildly implausible, but I'll accept it for the sake of argument for the moment and proceed to the obvious question:

What happens instead?

There are physical limits to how much urine can be stored in a person's bladder and the processing that produces urine is constant. So something must happen if urination doesn't happen. Either the bladder bursts or the processing stops, either of which would be a far more serious health problem than a person wetting themself. It's possible to excrete waste products through sweat to some extent, but it's very suboptimal and not effective enough.

Also, why would it be limited specifically to men only? Women function in almost entirely the same way. The plumbing's a bit different, but the basic waste processing systems aren't.

I'm not buying it without evidence or at least a plausible explanation as to why such an evolutionary disadvantageous setup would evolve and in such a specific way.