Tips for Bladder Health

Take good care of your bladder, and it will thank you by helping you urinate regularly. Our bladder is controlled by our brain. Thus it can be trained to have either good or bad habits. In this issue we will discuss some of these bladder habits and how to retrain your bladder.

Riding The Wave

The urge to urinate is often described as a "wave". When the urge first appears, sit quietly. Know that it will get stronger and peak. Take deep breaths when you feel the urgency to get to the bathroom in time. Practice pelvic floor muscle squeezes. Distract your mind by thinking hard about something else (counting backwards from 100 by 7's, saying the ABCs backwards, recounting the last 10 movies you saw...whatever works).

Take Two (Minutes, That Is)

Sit all the way down on the toilet. Avoid hovering or crouching. This does not allow your pelvic floor to relax fully, which is what needs to happen for normal urination. Line the toilet seat with toilet paper if that makes you more comfortable, but consider that you kitchen cutting board or the dollar bill you just used to pay for your groceries may have more germs than the public toilet seat.

• Sit with your legs comfortably open. This alignment again helps to open the pelvic floor for you to expel with ease.
• Relax and give yourself a much-needed break. Going to the bathroom should not be a race.
• DON'T PUSH. Pushing is straining the muscles you want to relax. Relaxing and breathing helps you go.

Rock And Roll

Use the "rock and roll" technique to empty your bladder. Once you think you have "gone" all the way, try rocking back and forth on the seat; side-to-side and front to back. Your bladder is like a plastic bag. If you filled the bag with water, you would need to tip it and squeeze from different directions to expel all the liquid. The "rock and roll" technique helps any urine caught in the crevices of your bladder walls to run out.

Stop "Just-In-Case" Peeing

When you go every chance you get, even when you do not need to, it signals to the bladder permission to go as often as it wants - even when it is not full. Peeing as a precaution, or "JICing" for short, can shrink the bladder's capacity over time. The next time you feel the urge to JIC ask yourself, "Do I really have to go to the bathroom?" and make sure you do! If you are not sure, then you need to wait. You will know when you really need to go.

Squeeze Before You Sneeze

Sneezing, coughing, and laughing can cause many women to leak. Try squeezing your pelvic floor before you sneeze or while you are coughing to gain more control. A proper pelvic floor muscle squeeze is a puckering around the vagina and should feel like a lift up and in. Remember to try and hold the squeeze through the entire sneeze.

To Drink or Not To Drink

To avoid having to make too many bathroom visits, stay hydrated, but not over hydrated. Drink whenever you're thirsty, but don't feel as though you have to adhere to the eight-glasses-a-day recommendation (unless you have kidney or bladder stones, in which case you'll need to increase your fluid intake). A good rule of thumb is to check the color of your urine. If you see clear, pale yellow urine, you are well hydrated. Dark urine or urine with a strong smell means you have not hydrated enough. Urine that is too concentrated can really irritate the bladder and cause infection.

If you're getting up during the night to use the bathroom, stop drinking three to four hours before bedtime. Limit caffeine, which can irritate the lining of the bladder. Also watch your intake of alcohol, which can have similar effects.