Why touching your belly button makes you need the toilet

The explanation we've all been waiting for

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Ever get a weird feeling when you touch your belly button?

You’re not alone.

The ambivalent body part has long been a thing of wonder, regardless of whether it’s concaving into your stomach or popping out of it, like a little balloon.

For some, it is more problematic than others, as just one simple touch of the belly button can induce a sudden urge to use the toilet, so I’ve heard.

A US doctor has revealed why this might be the case.

Dr Christopher Hollingsworth of NYC Surgical Associates explained to Lad Bible that often, despite inducing the feeling of needing to pee, touching the belly button actually stimulates the lining of the stomach, so that you think you need the loo, even though you may not.

“As you stick your finger into your belly button, it sends a signal from the deeper fibres that line your inner abdominal cavity to your spinal cord,” he said.

The doctor explained that this happens because the spinal cord relays signals to the bladder and the urethra, which people commonly mistake for bladder discomfort that we feel when we need to use the toilet.

However, he added that you will only experience this feeling if you push the belly button in a specifically deep manner, as it’s necessary to hit the fibres that sit behind the muscular layer in the abdomen.

The internal lining that you reach when you push deep into your belly button is known as the umbilicus and it is extremely sensitive, hence the strong reaction stipulated by pressing it.

Now you know, you can rest easy - and fiddle with your belly button to your heart’s content.