An over active bladder can be quite an embarrassment. You experience a strong urge to urinate even though your bladder contains hardly any urine. This medical condition is also known as incontinence. It can make your daily life quite miserable, making you wish that travel or attending a social function could be avoided somehow.
It may get difficult for you to contain the urine and result in small leakages every time you cough, laugh or stress yourself. This can affect people of any age, but is found more in women as after pregnancies and menopause. Proper diagnosis can only be done by a physician, but here are some home remedies that will help you deal with this condition to a great extent.
Best Home Remedies For An Over Active Bladder
Kegel Floor Exercises
Kegels are pelvic exercises that help strengthen your pelvic muscles. As you need to exercise all your body muscles in order to maintain good health, you need to pay attention to your pelvic muscles as well. They can be very effective against your over active bladder. Pelvic exercises involve tightening, holding and then relaxing the muscles that are used to start and stop the flow of urine.These are especially recommended for women as they lose control over these pelvic muscles after multiple pregnancies and find it difficult to retain urine for long. These weak muscles can be made stronger by performing kegel exercises regularly in order to regain control over your weak bladder.
Good Toilet Habits
To take control over that over active bladder, you need to regularize your toilet visits. Go to urinate only when your bladder is full. If you go frequently just to empty the bladder, you will lose control over the bladder muscles. Plan a schedule and empty your bladder at regular intervals as it sets your body clock to a pattern. Empty your bowels at regular timings everyday.
Give yourself sufficient time in the toilet and do not strain the muscles. Constipation can exert pressure on the bladder muscles and weaken them. Go whenever you feel the urge as trying to control can lead to constipation. Constipation also leads to weakening of pelvic muscles, hence avoid it by making proper toilet habits.
Adequate Fluid Intake
This may seem strange, but it is a fact that has to be believed. Having an adequate amount of fluids is crucial for bladder control. Having less fluids leads to constipation and dehydration and this results in more pressure on the bladder muscles.Lack of water irritates the bladder and can lead to infections. Drink plenty of fluids everyday and keeps your body well hydrated. Just ensure that you do not have too much water before bedtime as this will keep you awake all night with toilet visits.
Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin seeds contain essential fatty acids that help control an over active bladder effectively. They have been used over centuries to fight this irritating condition as they help soothe an irritable bladder. The pumpkin seeds extracts contain compounds that have a tissue building effect over the pelvic muscles and help in strengthening these muscles.You can soak some pumpkin seeds in hot water for a while, strain and have this solution regularly. This helps in keeping the urinary tract free of microbes and gives you good control over your pelvic muscles.
Cut Out On Tea And Coffee
Tea and coffee contain caffeine which is known to excite the brain. The frontal lobe of our brain controls the bladder and caffeine excites this part, resulting in loss of control over the bladder. Caffeine also has a dieuritic effect on our system and too much of its intake leads to frequent urge to urinate.Too much of caffeine intake also irritates the bladder nerves and leads to loss of control over the bladder muscles. Have very less amounts of tea and coffee, and as far as possible avoid them completely if you have an over active bladder.
Avoid Smoking
Smoking irritates the bladder as nicotine is an irritant to the nerves in our body. This leads to an over active bladder. Smokers tend to have more coughing spasms which stresses the bladder and leads to incontinence, causing incidents of leakage as you cough or laugh.Heavy smokers are more likely to suffer from the problem of an over active bladder. Therefore, quit smoking if you have an over active bladder. For best health reasons, its anyway good to quit smoking altogether!
Limit Alcohol Intake
If you have incontinence, alcohol aggravates this condition. Alcohol is a diuretic and causes more formation of urine. You get an urge to empty your over active bladder often.Alcohol can irritate the bladder, hence people with an over active bladder should either eliminate its consumption altogether or reduce its intake as much as possible. Having two to three glasses a week is safer. Limiting your alcohol intake will help keep the pelvic muscles irritation free.
Manage Your Body Weight
It is found that overweight and obese people suffer more from an over active bladder. Too much weight exerts pressure over the bladder muscles and lack of exercise weakens these muscles. This leads to problems of incontinence and you develop an urge to urinate even when a little pressure is exerted on the bladder. Take control of your weight issues by doing regular exercises such as walking briskly and cardio exercises.
Make it a habit to exercise every morning or evening. Even if you don’t get the time, you could take five to ten minute intervals break from work and do some light exercises. As you lose weight, you will find yourself more fit and energetic, and your over active bladder under control. Stay active and manage your health issues effectively. An over active bladder can be a cause of great worry as it gets worse with time.If it is due to some underlying medical condition like diabetes or an enlarged prostrate gland, you need to consult your doctor. Otherwise, these home remedies will help you take control of your over active bladder easily if you follow them diligently.
