The science behind 'breaking the seal' - and why alcohol makes you pee more often

You're at a bar with your friends. After a few beers, you feel like you need to go pee. As you get up to go to the bathroom, one of your friend shouts "Don't go, you'll break the seal!"

The term "breaking the seal" refers to an urban myth that says when drinking alcohol, urinating the first time will break some sort of seal in your body, and you'll have to get up every five minutes to go to the bathroom. Is this a real phenomenon?

Joe Avella and Jessica Orwig tackle this question on the Facebook series "Science the $#!* out of it."

It turns out, you don't actually "break" anything inside your body when you urinate. However, alcohol does directly impact the amount of liquid that fills the bladder which causes the urge to urinate.

Learn more about how alcohol affects your bladder on this episode of "Science the $#!* out of it."