Alcohol drinkers may not have many inhibitions after a few drinks, but most are wary of breaking the "seal" that supposedly releases a torrent of urine every ten minutes after it is "broken."
Some people actually believe when this seal is broken, it makes them urinate every ten minutes.
Although drinking alcohol, which is a diuretic--not to mention a liquid--does make one urinate more than usual, there is no such thing as a seal that is broken while drinking.
Thomas Stone, manager of SkyBar Cafe, offered a common sense explanation for the myth.
"I don't think it has anything to do with breaking the seal," Stone said. "More or less, when you're drunk, you just go to the bathroom more often so you don't pee yourself. It's just alcohol consumption. If it impairs how you talk, how you walk and everything. It's got to impair your ability to hold it."
Jack Gray, sophomore in electrical engineering, said he thinks there is some truth to the myth, although he knows there isn't an actual seal that is broken.
"The real question isn't whether there is a seal or not," Gray said. "The real question is 'why do we have to go to the bathroom every five minutes after the first time we pee, but can hold it in for so long after our first drink?'"
Gray said he thinks it is because emptying the bladder after it is full shrinks it and causes it to be more sensitive.
"Breaking the seal literally means, 'I'm going to empty my bladder which isn't as sensitive now because it has a normal amount of urine,'" Gray said. "'After that, my bladder will be smaller because it's empty, and I'll probably be back here really soon because the volume of my bladder is increasing so quickly it makes me feel like it's full.'"
Robert Lishak, associate professor of biological sciences, explained how alcohol affects the urination process.
"Alcohol is absorbed by the bloodstream from the stomach, and once in the blood, it inhibits the release of a vasopressin, (also known as antidiuretic hormone) which is normally produced by the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland," Lishak said. "Without adequate levels of vasopressin in the blood, the water that should return to the bloodstream by a process called reabsorption instead winds up entering the bladder. The person produces a large amount of dilute urine and will continue to do so until the alcohol is metabolized by the body."
To the dismay of many drinkers, there is no such thing as "breaking the seal," and drinking alcohol increases urination no matter how long they hold it.
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