I’ve never seen this aspect dealt with in any of the articles I’ve read about the urinary system

  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    You’d think it’d just be pressure receptors inside the bladder, but we’ve gotten a few interesting case studies from astronauts who report urinary retention in zero-g.

    Your bladder is just a muscle-bag that stretches and collapses like a balloon depending on its volume, so pressure from the urine wouldn’t change much in zero-g vs normal g.

    Makes me wonder if the receptor that triggers the need to pee is under and completely separate from the bladder, activated by the downward force of a heavy bladder laying on it.

    Easy enough to test: if you need to pee, hang your torso off the side of the bed or do a handstand or something so the gravitational force on the bladder is reversed – did the urge to pee go away?

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17511293/

    • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      Your bladder is just a muscle-bag that stretches and collapses like a balloon depending on its volume, so pressure from the urine wouldn’t change much in zero-g vs normal g.

      Have you used, for example, one of those camp showers? Water is heavy. Gravity builds up pressure fairly quickly, and it’s going through a pretty small pipe.