After more than 20 hours of standing and talking on the Senate floor, Ted Cruz is still going strong, but how badly does he have to pee?
According to Focus Magazine, the average human bladder can hold about 400 to 600 milliliters of urine. The average person produces about 1,500 ml of urine every 24 hours, so it only takes nine or 10 hours before you're filled up and you've gotta go — bad.
How long that takes depends on your hydration level — if you don't have a lot of extra liquids in your system, your kidneys won't be creating as much pee.
The 9-10 hour figure is for a normally hydrated person.We don't know if Ted Cruz has prepared for the bladder-holding task in any way, say, not drinking water before he took the floor.
Others have used catheters to empty their bladders during filibustering.
There's currently no official record set for the longest someone has gone without peeing, but holding it in is not advised. According to msn.com, no serious health problems have been linked to holding urine too long. The idea that your bladder will burst is a myth — your bladder will simply override your willpower and your brain's attempt to delay urinating, and you'll simply wet your pants.
Of course there is the story of Tycho Brahe who supposedly died in the 1600s at a banquet from a ruptured bladder because he held it in too long, but it was more likely an infection that caused his death.
Holding it in won't kill you, it just might make you more prone to urinary tract infections, according to the Toronto Naturopathic Health Clinic.