Almost every fifth woman aged 40-60 suffers from a form of incontinence that affects the quality of life. But you can change the situation with a few tricks.
You may have tried it. You are standing with your colleagues, and while you are talking, you suddenly have to sneeze. But hey. There was more than just a sneeze. For you can feel that there were some drips in your panties. However, you are not alone if you have involuntarily peed in your pants. Almost every fifth woman suffers from some form of incontinence. If you ignore the disorder, you have a greater risk of getting cystitis, isolating yourself socially and being less physically active.
The cause of incontinence can typically be due to sunken uterus, bladder spasms or loose pelvic floor. The good news is, you can do something about it.
A summary research study from 2018 shows that training the pelvic floor in the form of squeezing exercises can reduce or completely eliminate urinary incontinence in women. The study included 1,817 women with various forms of incontinence. 35 percent of the women who trained the pelvic floor completely got rid of the urinary incontinence
Two types of incontinence
But first you need to find out what urinary incontinence you are bothered by. Because there are two types of incontinence – stress incontinence and urge incontinence.
If you become leaky when you sneeze, laugh or are physically active, then there is stress incontinence.
This is due to a weakness in the support under the urethra. One solution to remedy the problem is pelvic floor exercises. Another solution may be surgery, and hormone pills for the vagina if you are in post menopause.
On the other hand, if you experience a strong urge to go to the toilet, and do not always get there in time to urinate, there is urge incontinence.
You may also have experienced being up several times during the night to pee. In case of urge incontinence, the bladder contracts involuntarily. If you change your drinking habits and exercise your bladder, you may experience an improvement in your urge incontinence. If it does not help, you can try bladder relaxants, electrical stimulation and hormone suppositories if you are in post menopause.
According to the study, 35 percent of the women who trained the pelvic floor completely got rid of the urinary incontinence, while this was only the case for six percent of the women in the control group. The results were clearer for the women with stress incontinence, where more than half of them became completely symptom-free.
Read more about the research study here: