Dr. Yaniv Larish sees dozens of sufferers every week at Fifth Avenue Urology in New York Metropolis. A urologist and surgeon, he treats all types of circumstances, from advanced kidney stones to incontinence to urologic cancers. However irrespective of why somebody leads to his examination room, he asks the identical query at each preliminary session: “Is your bladder being good to you?”

That’s what he lately informed us — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, the hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Incorrect?” podcast — when he dropped by our studio to speak about the entire methods we is likely to be peeing improper and how you can do it higher.

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“They go, ‘What do you imply?’” Larish mentioned of his sufferers. “It’s meant to be an open query, proper? That is your second to inform me about your bladder. So, is it good or not good?”

It seems that “good” and “not good” can apply to a number of various things — like how typically we’re peeing, what we really feel whereas we’re peeing, and what we is likely to be seeing after we look into the bathroom after we’ve completed — and might contain extra organs than simply the bladder.

As for what number of occasions a day try to be peeing, “there’s no magic quantity,” he informed us.

“There’s no ‘regular.’ It doesn’t work that approach, as a result of in case you are stranded within the Sahara desert beneath the baking solar and 120-degrees warmth, your kidneys are going to do all the things attainable to carry on to each drop of water that they will,” he mentioned.

“On the opposite excessive, if you happen to’re, say, a college-going frat man or gal, and also you’re pounding these beers on a Saturday evening … you’re going to make much more. So I feel that the query shouldn’t be ‘how typically are you peeing?’ It’s extra ‘are you hydrated sufficient or overly hydrated,’ and what’s the level at which all the things is form of regular?”

One factor Larish is for certain about is what a typical wholesome individual ought to expertise once they’re urinating.

“Most individuals affiliate peeing with pushing, and in actuality, peeing has to do with rest. … An important factor is try to be relaxed,” he informed us. “And you’ll know [that everything is working correctly] if it’s popping out simply, if all of it comes out in a single shot in a short time after which stops. We don’t need to see hesitation earlier than it comes out. We don’t need to see a protracted standing time the place you’re simply form of there. … And on the finish, we don’t need to be dribbling after or having the urge to pee two seconds after we peed. So it’s not a lot ‘am I doing it improper?’ It’s extra ‘is there a difficulty?’ And if you happen to’re not simply peeing multi function shot in a relaxed approach, then there’s most likely a difficulty that may be handled.”

We additionally may develop into conscious of a difficulty primarily based on what our pee appears like or what we see within the bowl.

“The presence of blood within the urine is irregular — at all times,” Larish informed us. “It must be investigated … no matter whether or not you see your urine being pink in coloration. After we discover an adolescent with blood within the urine and concentrated urine, it’s a reasonably good predictor of getting a [kidney] stone. When you’re an older individual and you’ve got blood within the urine, and you’ve got a smoking historical past, which may be a superb clue that there’s one thing extra nefarious occurring, that possibly there’s a most cancers someplace.”

Different issues to be careful for are the presence of any form of mucus, which Larish mentioned is “regarding,” and gravel or sand on the backside of the bathroom.

“When you then see little sand particulate in your bathroom, that’s a fairly large pink flag” for the start of a kidney stone, he mentioned.

One other sudden signal that there is likely to be one thing improper? When you’re passing fuel each time you urinate.

“The bladder must contract by itself — it’s a muscle by itself, not related to the rest,” Larish famous. “So if you happen to’re farting, that implies that you’re utilizing stomach musculature, proper? You’re rising the complete intra-abdominal stress with a view to squeeze on the bladder. So I inform folks, if you end up farting with a view to provoke a pee or with a view to get the final third of your urine out, there’s one thing occurring that must be evaluated.”

In the end, Larish’s recommendation for maintaining all issues urologic as “good” as attainable boils all the way down to only a few ideas.

“[You] ought to be serious about nothing when [you’re] peeing,” he mentioned. “It ought to be clean Zen. That’s the golden rule. I feel you need to be hydrated, however not overly hydrated. All the pieces must be carefully. Not overdoing it with dietary supplements, in the event that they’re not needed. Being tuned in to your physique might be a very powerful half. When you see that one thing has modified, like, ‘I haven’t woken up at evening in 20 years to pee, and within the final three weeks, I’m waking up 3 times an evening to pee, and it’s actually disruptive,’ yeah, that’s an enormous distinction in baseline. That’s irregular, so one thing is going on. And you probably have adjustments to your physique that you just’re attuned to, then getting an professional opinion and determining if there’s a difficulty is an inexpensive factor to do.”

We additionally chatted about why some persons are pee-shy (and how you can assist overcome this sense), whether or not urine is actually sterile, whether or not you need to drink it if you happen to’re marooned on a desert island, and way more.

After you’ve had a take heed to the complete episode above or wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe to “Am I Doing It Incorrect?” so that you don’t miss a single episode, together with our investigations of the ins and outs of tipping, how you can rating the greatest offers on airline tickets, how you can apologize or vanquish your bank card debt, how you can discover love on-line or overcome nervousness, ideas for on-line procuring, caring for your enamel and pooping like a professional, secrets and techniques to reserving and staying in a lodge, how you can take care of an offended individual, cooking ideas from celeb chef Jet Tila, stunning laundry secrets and techniques and extra.

Want some assist with one thing you’ve been doing improper? E mail us at AmIDoingItWrong@HuffPost.com, and we’d examine the subject in an upcoming episode.