You may find that you sometimes tend to urinate more often. This unusual need to empty the bladder can be caused by an abundant intake of fluids, a weakening of the pelvic floor muscles, or it can be a side effect of surgery. If you have urinary incontinence, you can strengthen your pelvic muscles or take other measures, such as limiting the amount of fluids you drink, so that you feel less need to go to the bathroom. In some cases, you may want to see your doctor to have you diagnosed with overactive bladder syndrome.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Doing the Kegel Exercises to Strengthen the Pelvic Muscles
Step 1. Recognize the benefits of Kegel exercises
These are meant to strengthen pelvic floor muscles that may have weakened due to pregnancy, childbirth, surgery, age, or even excessive weight. Anyone can perform, discreetly and at any time of the day, these exercises that can help those suffering from urinary or fecal incontinence.
- The pelvic floor muscles support the uterus, bladder, small intestine, and rectum.
- The purpose of Kegel exercises is to consciously contract and relax the pelvic muscles.
- They are effective for anyone who wants to prevent urinary incontinence, especially during pregnancy.
- If you experience urinary leakage when you sneeze, cough, or laugh from weakened pelvic muscles, these exercises are less effective.
Step 2. Locate the pelvic floor muscles
You may not know exactly where they are, but it is very easy to recognize them, so that you know for sure that you are doing Kegel exercises properly and therefore get better results.
- The simplest way to recognize these muscles is to stop passing urine while urinating. If you can successfully stop it, you have identified the pelvic floor muscles.
- It may take a couple of days to figure out exactly which muscles are affected, but keep trying to recognize them and don't get discouraged.
Step 3. Empty your bladder
Once you have precisely identified the muscles involved, you are ready to do the Kegel exercises. It is important that the bladder is empty to exercise the pelvic floor more effectively.
Do not do these exercises to start and stop the flow of urine, as you may further weaken the pelvic muscles, thus worsening incontinence and increasing the risk of urinary tract infections
Step 4. Lie on your back
Regardless of whether this is the first time you are trying to do these exercises or if you have difficulty recognizing the affected muscles, you should lie on your back. By doing this, it will be easier to contract the muscles properly.
Make sure you have emptied your bladder completely before you lie down to start exercising
Step 5. Contract your pelvic floor muscles
Regardless of whether you are lying down or in any other position (by the time you have mastered these exercises), contract your muscles. Keep them taut for a count of 5 and then relax them for another 5 seconds.
- Do 4 or 5 repetitions.
- The goal is to contract the muscles for 10 seconds and relax them for another 10.
- Don't hold your breath as you tighten your muscles, just let it flow naturally.
Step 6. Focus on contracting only the pelvic muscles
You may be inclined to work on the abdominal, thigh or buttock muscles as well, but you need to focus the exercise only on the pelvic floor muscles, in this way you strengthen them to the maximum.
Step 7. Do Kegel exercises three times a day
Try to maintain this routine to effectively strengthen muscles and reduce incontinence episodes.
Do at least 3 sets of 10 reps every day
Step 8. Observe the strengthening of the pelvic floor
If you are able to perform these exercises regularly, you should begin to notice, within a few months, that your pelvic muscles are being strengthened; you should also find that the frequency of urination decreases.
Part 2 of 2: Adopting Behavioral Techniques to Control Urination
Step 1. Exercise your bladder
It is a behavioral technique that consists in delaying the need to go to the toilet and helps to dilate the time between one urination and another.
- Start exercising your bladder by holding back the urge to urinate for 5-10 minutes from when you feel the urge.
- Your goal is to increase the time between "visits" to the bathroom by 2-4 hours.
Step 2. Try the double bladder emptying technique
This technique involves urinating twice in a short time. This is a method that helps to completely empty the bladder and prevent what is called overflow, or extra flow, incontinence.
The best way to do this is to empty your bladder, wait a few minutes, and try to urinate again
Step 3. Schedule the times you go to the bathroom
If you wait too long before urinating, it can aggravate or cause incontinence. On the other hand, by regularly scheduling times to go to the bathroom rather than waiting for an emergency, you can strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and control involuntary urine loss.
Schedule your urination at 2-4 hour intervals, based on your normal frequency or how much you drink. The greater the fluid intake, the greater the need to urinate
Step 4. Drink less fluids
It is important to get enough water to stay hydrated and for overall health. But drinking too much water is not good because it can cause you to urinate too often.
- Men should consume about 13 240ml glasses (about 3 liters) of fluid per day, while women should have about 9 glasses equivalent to about 2.2 liters.
- A good way to tell if you are hydrating is to check the color of your urine, which should be pale yellow.
Step 5. Limit the consumption of foods and drinks that can irritate the bladder
Certain foods and drinks may actually cause urinary tract irritation or stimulate urination. So it is good to reduce the amount of alcohol, caffeine and acidic foods to keep incontinence under control.
- Reduce your consumption of coffee, tea, soda, and milk.
- Try to eat fewer acidic foods like tomatoes, citrus fruits, and nuts.
- An excess of salty foods causes you to drink more and therefore you will have to urinate more often.
- Also try to cut down on foods that are too high in protein, because they force the body to produce certain substances in the urine, increasing the frequency of the urge to urinate.
Step 6. Don't take diuretics
They would make you urinate more because they reduce the amount of fluid in your blood vessels. If you don't take them you can have more control over incontinence, but be sure to talk to your doctor before stopping this type of drug therapy. Diuretics are sometimes taken by those with diabetes insipidus, which is diabetes caused by frequent urination.
Always consult your doctor before you stop taking any prescribed medication
Step 7. Recognize unusual urination
Most people usually urinate every 3 to 4 hours throughout the day. If you find that you go to the bathroom more often than normal, visit your urologist.
- Frequent urination refers to the need to go to the bathroom more often than you usually go.
- You may have to go to the bathroom often, both day and night.
- Frequent urination can affect overall health, physical well-being, as well as the ability to work and sleep.
Step 8. See your doctor
If you suffer from frequent urination very often, you need to go to the doctor. He may check for other conditions, such as a urinary tract infection or bladder stones.
- See your doctor if you urinate frequently and / or suffer from incontinence for no apparent reason, such as drinking lots of fluids, alcohol or caffeine.
- You should see your doctor even if you notice any of the symptoms described here: blood in urine, red or dark brown urine, pain when urinating, pain in your hips, difficulty urinating or emptying your bladder, urgent need to go to the toilet and loss of bladder control.
- Count how many times you go to the bathroom. An accurate diary of how many times you urinate shouldn't take long, but it can help your doctor better understand the problem.
