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When grown men and little boys urinate, occasionally our entire body is abruptly racked with a mysterious, internal blast of cold that makes us visibly shudder from the shoulders down. It typically occurs near the end of the task, lasting roughly one frigid second.
This chill is not discussed, of course, in polite circles -- or even when we return to our buds in the sports bar. So, at no time will you hear: “Dudes, you’ll never guess what just happened to me in the bathroom?” Well … hopefully never.
Yet, we’ve given this sensation a name: the pee shiver. And as the name suggests, depending on a guy’s aim, it can make for messy results.
So let’s get right to question No. 1.
Why, in the name of Wiz Khalifa (or, if you like, P. Diddy), does this happen?
No leaks were required to obtain this information. We simply turned to Dr. Anish Sheth, author of “What’s My Pee Telling Me?”
“No one knows for certain what the specific trigger for the shivering is,” says Sheth, formerly director of the gastrointestinal motility program at Yale Medical School. But he points to two generally accepted variables to help solve this riddle.
First, the feeling “mostly” is experienced by males. Second, it “occurs most commonly while voiding large amounts of urine,” he says.
Or, to put it as delicately as possible, the icy jolt seems to hit after we’ve really, really had to go. Never after a tiny trickle.
According to Sheth, our parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for “rest-and-digest” functions) lowers the body’s blood pressure “to initiate urination.” One leading theory behind the shudder is that peeing can unleash a reactive response from the body’s sympathetic nervous system (which handles “fight or flight” actions).
On the cellular level, the body is theoretically flushed with catecholamines (which you know better as chemicals like dopamine or hormones like adrenaline). Those are dispatched to help restore or maintain blood pressure, Sheth says. But the microscopic energy bullets “may also trigger the shiver reflect.”
This theory, the author says, best explains “the gender difference as men pee standing up and, therefore, would be more prone to feeling the effects of a lower blood pressure, thereby triggering this exaggerated sympathetic nervous system response.
“Anecdotally,” he adds, “I don’t believe I have ever experienced the post-pee shivers while sitting down.” This would suggest that women don't tend to get them. (Do you? If so, please let us know.)
“I wouldn't know if it's a guy thing or a girl thing because I've never had a conversation with a girl about this – and it's not likely to happen anytime soon,” says stand-up comedian Dan Nainan
“I always wonder: what is that? … Why is it happening?” Nainan adds. “Obviously there is an evolutionary or natural-selection reason for everything. (But) as I'm trying to picture a caveman urinating out in the open, I'm wondering what the necessity of the shivering is.
“I think it tends to happen more in a public bathroom,” he adds. “Could it be some sort of way to warn off nearby enemies or something?”
Wow, comics must have to endure some pretty rough bathrooms.
Bill Briggs is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com and author of “The Third Miracle.”
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Leave a Comment:
I believe it was George Carlin who posited that it was intended to shake off the excess when done, and the practice "goes back to the days when we didn't hold on to it".
shivers before peeing if I have to go really, really bad. occurs while sitting down. female. I always thought it was when your body was trying to hold the large amount of pee in.
I am female too, and I get something similar, cwittel. It doesn't matter if I am standing or sitting, but if I have to go really, really badly, I get this shivery numbness across the upper part of my back. It's certainly unpleasant and it signals I better find the bathroom fast lol!
Me, too, cwittel - exact same thing.
I am female, I sit to pee and I shiver! WTF? Usually it is only after I have had to go very badly and held it for a LONG time. Then I will shiver as I let go-I have always thought it was my bladder sending me a "thank you"
Female and shivery here. Again, like the others, mostly when I've held it too long. I always thought it had to do with some sort of "sexual" response like a tiny orgasm, since the urinary works are down there by the reproductive works. Definitely not male-only though.
It has a name! Yes, I get them, not all the time, but some--seen others get it too. Never asked. Wow. I learned something new today!!!
I don't know, if it feels orgasmic like felesroo said, does it count as being the "pee shivers"? If so, add me in to the list (only when my bladder is super-full, though).
Also female, but mine comes at the end after having to go really really bad. I always thought it was my body relaxing after the stress of having to wait. I just assumed it happened to everybody.
To me, it was always at night when I'm tired. I've always assumed that releasing the pee was a sudden relaxing, and this relaxing felt so good it made me shiver.
So now I understand why I shivered in Hawaii ! Hawaiian women showed me how to pee standing up. ( Let me tell you it keeps the Kegel muscles toned and powerful.) And I got that frosted freeze after letting her rip into the jungle, or in the ocean. I just thought it was because all that body temp liquid was under pressure and now is gone.
I am female and have experienced this when my bladder is very full. But it occurs right after the start of voiding, not near the end. Interestingly, I also often get the same sensation while listening to hard rain or a shower running. Weird? I dunno, you'll have to tell me!
This happens to me occasionally, but usually not when peeing. It usually happens when I've been cold, but am getting warm; like standing in the sun after a long cold swim. A full-body shiver that fires through my body for a split-second, then is gone. Same exact feeling as the pee-shiver.
The common element for me is the body transitioning from a stressed state to utter relaxation.
Never noticed; maybe it is a sign of a sexual disease?
My wife used to shiver when she pee'd, more than half the time and more than me !
....and she remained seated for all performances that I'd admit to .
Oh and we both considered it orgasmic because it feels so good !
( come on admit it )
True! Is it weird that sometimes when it happens to me, it triggers wood?
The blood pressure lowering makes sense - I've had low blood pressure all my life. On more than one occasion, I've come to on a bathroom floor... the lights having gone out while peeing. Changed my life: I'm inclined to sit now whenever possible - it's not so far to fall (although I have hurt myself falling from the sitting position as well, just not as bad.)
female. Suffers from pee shivers, lol. I have not employed the scientific method to tell you when or if there is any consistency to the level of urine in my bladder. I actually thought this was a female thing and guys didn't get it :D
A college friend of mine (male, 30 years ago) always maintained that the shiver was a little bit of an orgasm that was bouncing around in your body and just finally reached the surface to come out. Following every pee shiver, it was (and sometime still is) customary to say, "Ahhhhh, she was great!"
I remember in junior high, a teacher (I think for biology) explained that it was the body's response to losing the source of heat that the urine was providing inside the body. Basically, the body shivered to adjust from that change in temperature, not unlike what joe (above) suggests when standing out in the sun. And for me (a male), it doesn't happen only when I pee. But regardless when it happens, I refer to them as the pi$$ shivers.
I am a female and get pee shivers all the time. I can hold my pee for a long time and usually do so I get pee shivers probably once every day. I'm going to have to ask my husband if he does because he has a small bladder.
I always called it a peegasm.
The sister on the movie, 'Knocked Up' shivers while she's peeing/taking a pregnancy test :)
I'm a 50-year-old female and I've always had the pee shivers. I remember asking my mother why i shook when I peed when i was very young. She had never heard of such a thing and said I was just cold. I asked other girls and they didn't know anything about it either. Back then, it never occurred to me to ask boys!
It doesn't happen every time i pee, but it's oddly satisfying when it does.
Seriously??? I am 48 and have no idea what the hell any of you are talking about! Never experienced it nor have I heard anyone in my 48 years make any mention of this until now. Weird! I suppose that is why the article has "you know you're curious" at the end of its title, because most people have never heard of it!
Gee, I thought I was the only one to have this. My mother used the shiver to tell when I was wetting my diaper was I was an infant. It continued up through about age 20. It happened every time I had to urinate. Don't have a clue as to why it went away.
Gee, I thought I was the only person (girl) to have this problem. My mother used the shiver to know that I had just wet my diaper when I was an infant. I continued to shiver every time I urinated until I was around 20. I don't know why it went away, but it did. I'm glad to hear that others have the same reaction.
Typical medical BS - they don't know, but they think it's one of two things; then, blah blah blah mambo-jahambo. Doctors are scary and should be avoided - and the US is full of AMA slaves and Pharma-junkies. Medicine is definitely a "practice", and who better to practice on than sheep, or guinea pigs?
I enjoy a good piss shiver and couldn't care less where they come from or why. And when I get cancer, I plan to die.
I think you've been holding it in way too long.
I'm a middle aged woman and have experienced this many times. Glad for the explanations offered here. I was afraid it was some symptom of illness, and no doctor I've asked (both sexes) ever had an answer. Interesting article. Thanks!
Five minutes of my life wasted that I'll never get back.
Definitely must be a slow news day...
Well hey, you read it.
news..check out the article about the 17 year old girl who was raped and CA tossed her in Juvie to make sue she testifies against her white supremacist rapist...
So finally we can be brave enough to talk about #1 shivers and even give it a name. Graduating from there, let talk about #2 shivers. Feel free to name it!
Female pee story - but different: wet suit scuba diving - and when the stream of cold water hits some magical point along the spine as the wet suit fills, the bladder empties. It IS universal. Obviously the pee-ing nerve is at that critical point along the lower back!
I feel like it's one of the 4 spots that cold water makes me cringe, too! Ankles, knees, pelvic area, and mid-chest are each of the areas that I notice cold water most, and I have to fight the urge to just let the nerves do their thing.