Are There Benefits to Drinking Your Own Urine?

Human or animal urine has been used locally for therapeutic purposes for thousands of years.

Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome are the origins of recorded prescriptions in Europe.

The use of urine and other excrements remained common in medieval times.

However, many of the innovations of ancient medicine were lost following the fall of the Roman Empire.

It can be hypothesised that people in Africa, the Americas, and other regions have long used pee for various medical causes.

The benefits of drinking one’s urine are described in ancient Indian yogic books and ancient Chinese manuscripts.

The 250,000,000 results returned from a Google search for “urine therapy” show that this practice is still rather common today.

What is Urine?

Water makes up 95% of human urine.

The remaining components include smaller amounts of urea (2%), creatinine (0.1%), uric acid (0.03%), chloride, sodium, potassium, sulphate, ammonium, and phosphate, as well as other ions and molecules.

Compared to the levels found in blood plasma, protein is only present in very little amounts.

Your body doesn’t need the fluid and waste components that make urine.

Your kidneys function as filters, removing extra water and cellular waste from the blood.

Urine is produced from this waste and delivered to the bladder.

Your urinary tract runs from your kidneys to your urethra.

Your body has two kidneys, one on each side. Urine is transported from the kidneys to the bladder through two ureters, which are muscular tubes.

Nerve endings in your bladder inform your brain when it is time to use the restroom.

Urine leaves the body through a little tube known as the urethra when the bladder is emptied.

Some bacterial species reside in the urethra.

These bacteria often don’t create any issues unless they go out of hand.

However, studies on the makeup of urine reveal that these bacteria can taint it as it leaves the body.

Read: What are Natural Remedies for Common Health Issues?

What is Urotherapy?

Traditional therapies like urotherapy involve drinking one’s own urine or using it to massage the skin or gums.

Urotherapy appears to have its roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda.

Ancient cultures employed urine therapy as a poison antidote and a healing tonic for infections.

Ayurveda has also been termed a spiritual discipline.

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), it is believed that it is beneficial to consume foods comparable to those you are trying to cure.

As an illustration, eating tripe is excellent for your stomach, eating meat is good for your muscles, and so forth. In actuality, desiccated porcine (pig) thyroid is used to make a common thyroid medicine.

Therefore, if the kidneys are deficient in particular nutrients, urine may be able to assist.

According to certain TCM practitioners, small amounts of pee can be cleansing, clear away extra mucus, and function as an antiseptic.

Some people have recently tried urotherapy, despite the fact that the method has roots in TCM and Ayurvedic traditions.

Supporters still make similar broad-based claims regarding urine’s healing abilities.

So, should you add your morning urination to your smoothie?

Most likely not.

The benefits of drinking urine have not been proven scientifically.

Contrarily, research indicates that consuming it may cause the bloodstream to become contaminated with harmful bacteria, toxins, and other substances.

Your kidneys may even experience undue strain as a result.

Continue reading to find out more about the possible consequences of drinking pee.

Read: Staying Hydrated: Tips for Better Athletic Performance

Claimed Benefits of Drinking Your Own Urine

One of the materials that are readily available on the globe is urine.

Over the day, everyone produces some pee.

Due to the prevalence of urine, numerous folk medicines have employed it in one way or another to cure a range of illnesses.

In the past, it was utilised as a home treatment for illnesses like:

• Asthma
  
  
• Arthritis
  
  
• Asthma
  
  
• Cancer
  
  
• Indigestion
  
  
• Migraines
  
  
• Infertility

In modern-day Nigeria, some traditional communities still use it as a home remedy for children with seizures.

Despite the abundance of folk remedies, science unanimously agrees that drinking pee is unsafe and unhealthy.

Contrary to what tense survival films may have you believe, drinking urine isn’t even a healthy way to stay hydrated.

Read: What Preventative Health Care Steps Should You Take?

Potential Risks of Drinking Urine

Your body is trying to rid itself of salts and chemicals, which are powerfully combined in urine.

Consuming these chemicals could have a serious negative impact on your health.

Additionally, drinking urine does not offer any health advantages over ingesting other foods and beverages.

Dehydration

The most frequent justification for drinking urine in movies and popular culture is to avoid dehydration.

Sometimes, people are shown drinking their own urine to retain moisture when they are adrift at sea or in the middle of the desert.

It is very doubtful that this will actually be helpful.

If you become dehydrated, the amount of salt in your urine increases and becomes much more concentrated.

Dehydrated people can quickly have too much salt in their urine.

When you consume extra sodium, you become more thirsty.

Higher salt levels in the body swiftly bring on dehydration.

Ingesting urine, which has a high sodium concentration, can quickly create a negative feedback loop where you feel thirstier despite consuming liquids.

Excessive Sweating 

The hazards of consuming urine can rise when you sweat.

Normally, sweating causes your body to expel salts and water.

Your electrolyte levels maintain equilibrium when you also lose salt through your urine.

Re-consuming the salts from it, on the other hand, concentrates salts inside your body and worsens thirst.

Even under dire circumstances, the US Army’s field handbook expressly advises against drinking urine to stay hydrated.

Interference with Medications

After being metabolised by your body, many drugs are eliminated in urine.

These drugs are not broken down; instead, they leave your body in a state that is very identical to the one they entered it in.

Penicillin and all water-soluble drugs are examples of drugs that can be excreted in this manner.

You introduce any of these medications into your body by drinking urine that contains them.

Unfortunately, you will go above and above the recommended dosage if the drugs are ones you already take.

You might introduce pharmaceuticals that have not been recommended for you if you drink someone else’s urine.

This may result in harmful reactions and critical health issues.

Infections

Contrary to popular belief, pee is not sterile.

Just like any other physiological discharge, it contains microorganisms.

It’s possible that urine collection techniques introduced bacteria from the source’s genitalia.

Some of these microorganisms can cause life-threatening illnesses.

Unless it has been sterilised individually, drinking any kind of pee can have major health repercussions.

Toxins

Toxic compounds are particularly removed from your body by your urinary system.

Urine is one of the main ways your body gets rid of harmful toxins when they accumulate there.

Whatever your kidneys take from your body is eliminated through your urine.

You are ingesting these toxins your body was designed to eliminate by drinking pee.

As a result, having to work harder to handle the elevated concentration of hazardous compounds can cause kidney damage or disease.

Read: What are Natural Remedies for Common Health Issues?

Healthier Alternatives

Urea, a component in urine, may have advantages when applied topically.

When pee is applied to the skin, none of the hazardous effects that come with drinking it take effect.

Even skincare products include synthetic urea.

Water, electrolyte drinks, and most other beverages are probably safer to drink when hydrating than pee.

Urine has no health benefits, and drinking any other beverage is probably safer for you overall.

Urine won’t help you, even though it’s unlikely to damage you in modest amounts.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while urine therapy has a long history rooted in ancient traditions, modern science does not support the practice.

The potential risks, including dehydration, infection, and toxin exposure, far outweigh any purported benefits.

Drinking urine introduces harmful substances back into the body, undermining your health rather than enhancing it.

Safer and healthier alternatives, such as water and electrolyte drinks, are readily available and recommended for hydration.

It’s important to rely on scientifically backed methods for maintaining health rather than resorting to outdated practices with dubious benefits.

Your well-being deserves the best care, not unnecessary risks.

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