There are quite a few causes of different urine color—including cancer. This is why you should regularly inspect your pee.

Guidelines for Checking Your Urine

Get in the habit of checking your urine. This does not mean you must obsess over it or become filled with anxiety whenever it’s time to relieve yourself.

Just make it a routine habit. The more you stick with the habit of checking your pee, the more in control you’ll be — and you’ll have less anxiety than if you were to go months between inspections.

Make a rule never to inspect your urine while using a public restroom. The lighting in public bathrooms is usually on the dim side.

The other reason is that the avoidance of checking (either on the toilet paper or in the bowl) in public bathrooms will help prevent becoming obsessive over this practice.

You urinate plenty of times throughout the day, so there’s plenty of opportunity to look at your urine. And this should be done in the controlled environment of your home.

It is best checked by voiding in a clear, clean plastic cup rather than trying to accurately view it as it enters the toilet bowl or while it billows out once in the toilet water.

There is so much more you can observe if it’s been collected in a clear and clean plastic cup.

However, this isn’t always practical (even at home). You need not collect your pee for every inspection.

But every day, for at least one voiding, the minimum inspection should consist of seeing what it looks like on the toilet paper, or as it streams out into the toilet bowl.

You’ll also want to view it in the toilet water. But make sure the toilet bowl is white and clean!

A dirty bowl, or one colored with cleaner, will hinder the accuracy of the inspection.

Here is a sample of urine articles — which describes your pee lately?

FOAMY

FISHY SMELLING

ORANGE

BROWN or TEA COLORED

How many times a day should you take a good look at your urine? As many times as you feel at ease, but again, don’t become obsessive about it.

Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.