I'm a urologist - this is the question I always ask my patients and the red flags that something is wrong with your bladder

A top urologist shared the one question he asks all patients - and revealed how often you should be urinating every day. 

Dr Yaniv Larish, from New York, said he always makes sure to ask people in his consult room 'Is your bladder being nice to you?'

He said the question sometimes confuses patients but is a good gauge for a number of things that could be affecting their toilet habits. 

'It's meant to be an open question, right? This is your moment to tell me about your bladder. So, is it nice or not nice?' Dr Yaniv said on HuffPost's Am I Doing it Wrong? podcast. 

He explained the query can apply to several things including how often someone is weeing, what they feel while weeing and what they see when they look into the toilet before flushing.  

Dr Yaniv revealed there is no normal or 'magic number' for how often you should be weeing each day. 

'I think that the question is not "how often are you peeing?" It's more "are you hydrated enough or overly hydrated?", and what is the point at which everything is sort of normal?' he said. 

The doctor explained a typical healthy person should not be 'pushing' to urinate but feel 'relaxed'.

'You will know (everything is working correctly) if it's coming out easily if it all comes out in one shot very quickly and then stops. We don't want to see hesitation before it comes out,' he said. 

'We don't want to see a prolonged standing time where you're just sort of there... And at the end, we don't want to be dribbling after or having the urge to pee two seconds after we peed.' 

Dr Yaniv also said what people see when they look into the toilet after they've finished can be a strong indicator of whether their bladder is healthy and functioning.

Blood is a big red flag and needs to be investigated. In young people, it could be a sign of a kidney stone while in older people, it could point to something 'more nefarious' such as cancer.

He also said to look out for any sort of 'mucus' or what looks like sand or gravel at the bottom of the toilet as that is another possible symptom of a kidney stone developing.

Another unexpected sign something could be wrong is passing gas every time you wee.

Dr Yaniv explained if you're passing wind because you're needing to use your abdominal muscles to wee or get the last third of urine out, there's something going on that needs to be evaluated. 

His 'golden rule' is that people should be 'thinking about nothing' when they wee and be in tune with any changes to their bladder functions. 

For example, if you never normally wake up in the middle of the night to wee but suddenly you're making multiple late-night toilet trips, something abnormal is happening and you should see a doctor.