Five Ways You Can Manage Your Overactive Bladder Naturally And Effectively

Jun 15, 2018 by apost team

Overactive bladder is over 33 million Americans report experiencing each year, and they are not just pregnant and elderly folks. Seeing a doctor out of embarrassment. Often the causative factor involved in an overactive bladder is unknown or not treatable, but there are ways to manage your overactive bladder. 

Overactive bladder, also called OAB, isn’t a disease or illness. It’s actually a group of urinary symptoms caused by your bladder muscles involuntarily contracting. What causes that? 

These contractions are often caused by unknown conditions. In some cases, the cause can be a side effect of existing disease, illness, or injury, such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, prostate disease, bladder and kidney infections, menopause, stroke, and so on. 

While most people urinate an average of six or seven times per day, those with overactive bladder feel the need to go much more frequently. While most people can hold their urine during the night, those with overactive bladder may wake up multiple times during sleeping hours to urinate or have bed-wetting accidents. While most people feel the need to urinate and can hold it for some time until they can reach a bathroom, those with overactive bladder experience an urgency that makes it hard to impossible to hold for very long. 

If you experience any of these symptoms of overactive bladder, you should consult your primary care physician immediately to determine the possible cause. 

Managing The Symptoms Of OAB 

You can improve OAB and lessen its impact on your life with these five management tips: 

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Control your sources of hydration. Coffee and tea are natural diuretics, meaning they make you pee more frequently. That isn’t something you need. They, along with alcohol and carbonated beverages, also but more strain on kidneys and bladder by being sugary. 

Have a bedtime for your fluid intake that’s a few hours before your actual bedtime to avoid waking up to urinate. 

Drink only to stay hydrated. You’ve heard the rule of eights when it comes to fluid intake per day, but nutritionists actually advise to flush that advice down the toilet. 

Based on age, weight, health, and fitness, different people require different amounts of fluids to stay hydrated. Look at your urine to judge hydration levels. Pale yellow urine is the goal. Amber colored urine is indicative of dehydration and clearer, paler urine is indicative of too much hydration. 

Circumvent your bladder muscles involuntary contracting by training your bladder. 

Schedule routine bathroom breaks to help you avoid urgency and bathroom emergencies. Begin by keeping a journal of when and how often you urinate. If you monitor your fluid intake as you journal, you’ll likely see a pattern in your bathroom trips. Now, you can schedule routine bathroom breaks by adding around 15 minutes to your average frequency. Take these trips even if you don’t feel the need to void. Try, and you’ll likely urinate to ease the tension building in your bladder. 

Begin to slowly delay these bathroom breaks in 15-minute increments until you’ve worked your way up to urinating every four hours. 

During bathroom breaks, try to double void. Urinate, wait half a minute or so, and then lean forward and try to urinate again. 

Obesity and extra pounds can irritate bladder issues like OAB and stress incontinence because it adds extra weight and pressure on the bladder walls. It’s a similar situation as to what pregnant women experience as the fetus presses in on the bladder. 

Stress and tension releases in the bladder area have been proven through some studies involving OAB sufferers and acupuncture applied to their lower back. 

The bladder muscles can be strengthened and conditioned so that spasms will occur less frequently, harshly, or cease all together. 

Your first step is to identify the muscles involving the bladder. Sit down to urinate. Now squeeze your pelvis to stop the flow of urine. You feel the muscles you used? Those are your pelvic floor muscles that support the bladder, and they’re the ones we want to strengthen. 

Kegel exercises work fantastic and are easy for almost anyone to complete. Begin on your back, knees bent, and feet on the floor. Push your hips off the floor as you inhale and tighten your pelvic muscles. Hold for a count of 10 before lowering your hips, exhaling, and relaxing. Repeat the exercise 10-15 times. 

Dead bug crunches are another great exercise for pelvic floor muscles. Lie on your back. Raise your legs off the ground and bend your knees in to align directly over your hips. Your arms should reach up toward the ceiling. As you inhale and tighten your pelvic muscles, extend your right leg and arm forward. Hold for a 10 count before returning to the start position and repeating using the opposite arm and leg. Repeat the exercise 10-15 times. 

Wall squats work the pelvic muscles and still provide back support and stability for those that need it. Simply stand with your back to a wall. Tighten your pelvic muscles and inhale as you lower your buttocks toward the floor as if you’re about to sit down. Hold for a count of 10 before returning to start. Repeat 10-15 times. 

Which management methods for overactive bladder will you/ have you tried? We would love to know so let us know in the comments and don't forget to pass this useful article on to your friends and loved ones!