I Don't Want to Swim in a Toilet, so Please Don't Pee in the Pool

Sheila swimming in a TCU toilet, 1994.
Courtesy of TCU teammate, Walter Soza.(sozadesigns.com)

Like me, many of you have probably heard all the recent talk and read the articles about the unhealthy adverse effects of urinating in the pool.  For those who have not, here is a brief overview.

• China Agricultural University and Purdue undertook the task of seeing what happens when swimmers pee in the pool
• The combination of uric acid (by product of urine) and chlorine create 2 dangerous gases.  Cyanogen chloride, gas that can cause harm to the the heart, lungs, and central nervous system when inhaled, and Nitrogen trichloramine which can cause acute damage to the lungs.  If you have ever had red itchy eyes,  bronchial asthma symptoms, cold symptoms, or start losing your voice while at the pool, it could be because someone you swim with is peeing in it.
• At a US National Swim Meet, researchers measured the levels of Nitrogen trichloramine before the meet started, then after day one the levels doubled and by day 4 levels increased by 4 times the original measurement. GROSS!!

Researchers hypothesize that the creation of this gas may be a contributing factor in many of the health problems seen in competitive swimmers.  

Okay, don't pee in the pool is the main take home from that story.  But why pee in the pool in the first place; the washroom is readily available. The first obvious reason might be that any current or former competitive swimmer (mostly the males in my experience - sorry guys) has a deep seated, ingrained fear of leaving workout mid-way through  for any reason at all (thanks coaches ).  

Not sure about any one else, but when I hit the pool, regardless of whether I've gone to the washroom just before,  my skin seems to suck up the water like a giant sponge and within a few minutes I'm running back to the washroom again!  So I looked up reason two, and this is what I found.

Immersion Diuresis 

When we jump into the water, the decrease in temperature  works on our bodies to increase urine output.

• cold water pulls heat from our body causing blood vessels to constrict to hold heat in.
• our blood pressure quickly rises.
• Our body wants to lower that pressure and does this by getting the kidneys to release "excess" fluid.  Hence why we have to go pee.
• Keep drinking during workout because,  we are not sponges sucking up pool or lake water. That liquid is not excess;  It is a natural body reaction to colder water and we are excreting fluids we actually need.

When it comes right down to it, we will almost always feel the urge to urinate when we get into a cold lake or pool, but take a minute and run to the bathroom if you absolutely can't hold it in. Try to go between sets, during warm up or something easy.    No need to help create a room full of tear gas just so you don't miss 50m of workout.