The eternal question of wetsuit urination If it hasn?t
happened to you already, it will. You descend to 15 feet, and
you?ll feel the sudden urge. You can?t hold it. And there?s no
way you can get to a bathroom without spoiling the whole dive.
So you consider ? if I?m in the water, my urine will just
dissipate and dissolve and disappear. Is it OK to whiz in the
wetsuit? The simple answer is ?yes?. Take a leak. The truth is,
there is no health risk to watering the neoprene. Many people do
not realize that urine ? unlike feces - is sterile, unless you
have a urinary tract infection. It contains a lot of dissolved
bodily waste (mainly nitrates), but poses no health risk to you.
The only symptom of wetsuit whizzing is temporary warmth in your
vicinity. But beware, if your urine is dark (a sign that it is
probably strongly odorous as well), you might get a reaction
from other divers, especially if they happen to swim through
your ?yellowish cloud of warmth.? As a frequent diver, your best
strategy for dealing with this common situation is
counterintuitive: drink more water. A hydrated diver can urinate
in their wetsuit and their urine will not be dark or smelly. You
have surely noticed the difference between your morning pee and
your pee after (or during) a long night of drinking. Dehydration
is very common, yet minimal dehydration is tolerated and goes
unnoticed by most people because of the symptoms are fairly
mild. If you are properly hydrated, your urine is clear and
odorless. A practical diver should drink plenty of fluids the
night before and the morning of a dive, to ensure adequate
hydration. You may hear divers joke about ?warming the wetsuit?.
The warmth offered by wetsuit irrigation is comfortable, but
temporary. Yes, when you pee you will feel warm initially, but
in the end it will actually lower your overall body temperature.
You might notice that even though you relieved yourself before
the dive, you need to go again when you get down to 20 feet. Why
do you need to pee again? You may be experiencing a phenomenon
called immersion duiresis: as a response to an increase in
pressure, your body feels compressed and your kidneys start to
produce urine. Since you already rinse your wetsuit after each
dive, you don?t need to be concerned about odor from your
underwater urine. An unrinsed wetsuit develops its lovely stink
from algae and crud in the water, not from your urine. Tinkle
away!
About the author:
Ian Scott is an experienced diver and freelance writer for
http://www.thescubaguide.com (THE scuba diving resource) ? which
offers information every scuba diver
(http://www.thescubaguide.com/ ) can use. The site also has
information on scuba gear (http://www.thescubaguide.com/gear/ ),
scuba diving equipment (http://www.thescubaguide.com/gear/ ) and
more.
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