The urinary system maintains the composition of fluids in your body and excretes the waste fluids as pee, also called urine.
The kidneys, the bladder, the ureters, and the urethra make up the urinary system. The ureters connect the bladder and the kidneys, and the urethra connects the bladder to outside your body. Your kidneys play a vital role in your health. Every day, your kidneys filter all the blood in your body many times over to get rid of any waste and keep the composition of your bodily fluids balanced. The waste products produced when filtering blood are pushed down to the bladder. You don’t have control over your kidneys – they are constantly working to keep you healthy. However, once the bladder fills up with the fluid waste, this signals to your brain that you need to urinate, a process you can control.
Written using information from the NIH National Cancer Institute and the NIH National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
