Science Questions

Why is it that when I’m nervous before a big event I always want to go to the loo? On the day of my driving test I must have pee’d about 6 times in a very short time before I left the house! Dev, Northampton.

There are many possible reasons, but it may be that your nervous system goes into overdrive when you’re nervous. This causes your sympathetic nervous system, the flight or flight mechanism, to kick in. This can cause an increase in blood pressure, which then inspires your kidneys to produce more urine, to try to reduce the volume of blood.

June 2007