If you're the kind of person who gets red, itchy eyes from being in the swimming pool, listen up: that isn't a reaction to chlorine, it's a reaction to other people's urine.
"Chlorine binds with all the things it’s trying to kill from your bodies, and it forms these chemical irritants," a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the US explained. "That’s what’s stinging your eyes. It’s the chlorine binding to the urine and the sweat."
Gross.
Although no one would ever admit to taking a leak in the swimming pool, it appears it still happens. And it's making us feel kind of gross, I mean - who ARE you people?
Don't worry, it gets worse: a recent study found that urine may be the least of your worries, as more harmful chemicals - including insect repellant, caffeine and flame retardants - could be floating around in your local swimming haunt.
Commenting on the study, Professor Ernest Blatchley from the Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering said, that swimmers are exposed to chemicals through three different routes.
"You can inhale, you can ingest and it can go through your skin. So the exposure you receive in a swimming pool setting is potentially much more extensive than the exposure you would receive by just one route alone," he said.
The lesson we can all learn from these studies: shower before entering the pool and if you've got to go, GET OUT.
[H/T Women's Health Mag]