Talking about incontinence can be rather embarrassing due to the stigma around it. However, with over 25 million Americans suffering some form of urinary incontinence (roughly 7.62% of the entire population), it’s a lot more common than you might think. However, due to the stigma around it, it’s a little difficult to talk about and a surprising number of people try to avoid the topic in general.
Unfortunately, it’s something that you need to learn to cope with, and speaking about it can be incredibly helpful if you want to find effective solutions around it. So in this post, we’re going to talk about how you can cope with urinary incontinence later in life.
Exercising can help
Exercising can help a lot when it comes to relieving pressure on your pelvic floor muscles. You should try to avoid any high-impact exercises such as sit-ups as they can put a lot of unnecessary pressure on your body. Replace these exercises with jogging, aerobics, and strengthening exercises to build your core muscles. Pilates is a great example of an exercise that can strengthen your body without putting too much pressure on it. This can be beneficial for stress incontinence. You should also avoid lifting and focus on losing excess weight to improve your symptoms.
Using incontinence products
There are a number of incontinence products such as urinary catheters, incontinence pads, and wipes that can help make it easier to deal with incontinence. While it can seem embarrassing to deal with it at first, incontinence is completely normal later in life, and being prepared for it can make situations much easier to cope with. Having a stock of quality incontinence-related products at home and some pocket-sized care items in your bag can make things much easier to cope with.
Drink enough water
While it might sound strange to suggest drinking more water when you’re facing urinary incontinence, it’s extremely important to drink enough fluids every day to prevent further issues such as constipation or even dehydration. Limiting your fluid intake can worsen incontinence since it reduces the capacity of your bladder, meaning you should continue drinking plenty of water. The only exception to this is if your doctor explicitly states that you should not drink more.
Maintain a healthy diet
Certain types of foods, such as spicy curries and citrus fruits, can irritate the bladder and worsen incontinence symptoms. Try to keep a food diary and make note of any food that gives you trouble. Once you’ve built a list of these foods, you can start to create a link between them and find out which foods you should be avoiding.
As mentioned before, the topic can be a little difficult to talk about, but it’s vital that you mention it to your physician so that they can help examine your body and ensure that it’s not being caused by a more troubling issue. Opening up about issues like this can often lead to a much more fulfilling and stress-free lifestyle, so try not to avoid the conversation.