Latest news with #bladderhealth
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Doctor reveals how you are PEEING wrong with common harmful habit
To pee or not to pee - either way, you may be doing it wrong. Dr. Sara Reardon, a pelvic floor physical therapist, recently revealed what you shouldn't be doing when you pee as she issued a stark warning about how urinating incorrectly can cause poor bladder issues and even UTI s. Dr. Reardon appeared on Girls' actress Allison Williams' new podcast, Landlines, which she hosts with two of her childhood friends, Hope Kremer and Jaymie Oppenheim. On the episode, Dr. Reardon - also known as the Vagina Whisperer - shared why holding it in, or forcing yourself to pee, can lead to health issues. 'Don't push when you pee,' she told the podcast hosts. 'You need to sit and chill and just let it flow, and only go when you have the urge to go,' she explained. 'Your bladder is a muscle that pushes the pee out for you, you can just sit and chill.' 'So try not to 'just in case pee' or anxious pee or pee every time you cross a bathroom,' she continued. 'Because it causes your bladder to shrink and then you'll have to pee all the time.' She added it is normal to urinate every 'two to four hours' during the day, and up to twice a night. She said that you should be able to hold your pee for at least two hours and it should be almost clear. The PT added she's not a big fan of hovering over the toilet, recommending that people sit down when possible to urinate. Dr. Reardon, who has been working in the field for 17 years, said forcing yourself to urinate can damage the bladder and also lead to urinary tract infections. According to the National Associate for Continence, there is a best way to empty your bladder. 'Take a deep belly breath, fully relax, and be present during the process,' the website reads. Sitting in the right position is also vital to bladder health. The NAC recommends sitting up properly on the toilet, no hovering, with your knees above your hips and your palms on your knees. 'This helps to relax the pelvic floor making the process easier,' the site noted. Dr. Reardon (left) appeared on Girls' actress Allison Williams' (right) new podcast, Landlines, which she hosts with two of her childhood friends They added that sitting on a stool can help keep this position, and being relaxed will ensure you fully empty the bladder. 'You can wait on the toilet an extra minute after you've already urinated then relax and try again,' they wrote. 'Or you can get up, walk around for a bit, then sit down and try again. The most important thing is to not strain during the process.' The site also warned that forcing yourself to urinate can cause muscle confusion, as every time you go and don't allow urination to happen naturally, it retrains the muscles. 'They'll think that each time you pee, you should be activating the pelvic floor vs. relaxing it, creating more problems down the road,' the site noted. Other issues outlines were hypertonic pelvic floor issues, which could aggravate the muscles even more and lead to other conditions, like pain or overactive bladder.
CNA
12-07-2025
- Health
- CNA
Is going to the bathroom 'just in case' bad for you?
As children, many of us were encouraged to pee before we left the house or whenever a bathroom was nearby. There was a good reason: Using the bathroom 'just in case' can help prevent accidents among children prone to 'holding it.' Urologists call this practice 'convenience' or 'proactive' voiding, and people of all ages do it, often before heading out the door or going to sleep. An occasional 'just in case' bathroom break won't do much harm, said Dr Ariana Smith, a professor of urology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. But doing it several times a day, she said, can increase the likelihood of bladder issues by disrupting the natural feedback loop between your bladder and your brain. HOW DOES PEEING "JUST IN CASE" AFFECT BLADDER HEALTH? To understand why proactive voiding can be harmful, it helps to know how the bladder works. As your kidneys filter blood to remove waste, they produce urine, which is carried to your bladder. Women can typically hold up to 500 ml of urine, or around two cups, in their bladders; men can store 700 ml, or nearly three cups. We generally feel the urge to use the bathroom well before we hit that limit, when our bladder contains between 150 and 250 ml of liquid. As the bladder fills up, it sends nerve signals to the brain, letting us know it's time to go. The experts we spoke with said that when you pee 'just in case,' your bladder starts alerting your brain too early, before having the standard amount of urine. This disruption can reduce 'the volume your bladder can hold over time,' said Siobhan Sutcliffe, an epidemiologist and professor of surgery at Washington University. As a result, you might experience discomfort when you are in a situation where you can't use the bathroom right away, Dr Smith said. Urinating before the need arises also makes you more likely to strain. Doing so puts extra pressure on the pelvic floor muscles – a muscle group that supports the bladder and other organs – and can potentially weaken them, said Kathryn Burgio, a behavioural psychologist and professor emerita of gerontology, geriatrics and palliative care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. For these reasons, 'just in case' peeing may lead people to develop an overactive bladder, a condition marked by a strong and frequent urge to urinate, Dr Sutcliffe said. IS IT POSSIBLE TO BREAK THE HABIT? The short answer is yes. Researchers have found that the brain has more control than we might think, or as Dr Alayne Markland, chief of geriatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine, likes to tell her patients: 'Mind over bladder.' If you want to reduce preventative bathroom breaks, try deep breathing, distraction or self-statements like 'I'm in control,' Dr Burgio said. A few small studies suggest that mindfulness techniques can reduce sudden, intense urges to pee. More research is needed, but experts believe that methods like these could help you retrain your bladder to send signals only when more liquid has accumulated. If you're already experiencing conditions like an overactive bladder or urinary incontinence, however, there are other things you can try: Work with a pelvic floor therapist. There's a growing body of research to suggest that physical therapy for pelvic floor muscles can help people have more control over when they pee, Dr Sutcliffe said. By working with a physical therapist, patients can learn to engage and strengthen those muscles to control the bladder. 'We teach people to wait, take a deep breath and contract the pelvic floor muscles repeatedly,' Dr Burgio said. That will 'help calm the bladder, so the urge goes away.' Monitor what you drink. Experts emphasised that lifestyle modifications like fluid management can also help. Caffeine, alcohol, drinks with high acidity and even some artificial ingredients, such as sweeteners, can irritate the bladder's lining and cause more frequent urges. Cutting back on caffeine, Dr Smith said, 'is something we've universally seen as helpful,' as doing so can decrease urges and leakage. Get checked out for other health conditions. Talk with a doctor about your overall health, as conditions like diabetes or sleep apnoea can cause more frequent urges. Other interventions, such as medication, may be options in cases like these. The goal is to tame the 'vicious cycle between the brain and the bladder,' said Dr Smith, who is optimistic that, in most cases, the effects of 'just in case' peeing can be remedied. 'Healthy bladders are resilient,' she said.
The Sun
08-07-2025
- Health
- The Sun
The exact amount of time it should take to pee – and when it signals a serious health problem
ALTHOUGH it's often a hush-hush topic, going to pee is something we all need to do. After all, what we guzzle down, must come out. But the stream doesn't always run so smoothly down there and knowing what's normal and what's not, can help you work out when there is an issues. It turns out spending too much time, or too little can be dangerous and a sign of hidden underlying health conditions, experts have warned. It should only take you an around 21 seconds to completely empty your bladder, according to US researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology. And if you're spending much longer peeing, you could be holding in urine for too long, which can lead to your bladder expanding too much. This is because the average bladder holds between 400ml and 600ml, roughly one pint, and people typically need to pass urine four to eight times a day. However, experts have warned that waiting until you're bursting before going to the loo puts you at a higher risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs), which can lead to life-threatening kidney infections. On the other hand, frequent short visits to the toilet may point to an overactive bladder, where the body feels an urgent need to urinate even when it is not full. The 21-second rule, which researchers described as the 'Law of Urination,' applies to all mammals weighing over 3kg. The scientists behind the finding received an IG Nobel Prize in 2015, a satirical award that honours unusual or humorous scientific achievements, after analysing footage of various animals peeing. But the health risks of ignoring the urge to go are anything but amusing. I haven't peed in SIX YEARS and never will again - I live in constant agony and it could kill me Chris Blick, a consultant urological surgeon at the Princess Grace Hospital, said: "Generally speaking you shouldn't force yourself to wait until you are desperate to urinate. "Occasionally, this technique may be used as part of bladder retraining to support patients with overactive bladders." He told MailOnline: "Holding on too much can be painful and, if you have a urine infection, can make you feel unwell. "If you regularly hold in your urine, over time this can cause your bladder to stretch." Peeing too often, he said, will "potentially train your bladder to empty when it doesn't need to, and can create a habit leading to unwanted frequency of urination."
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Peeing For Longer Than This Exact Amount Of Time Could Reveal Health Issues
We've written before at HuffPost UK about how the colour of your pee can reveal a lot about your health. And according to experts, how long your wee lasts can reveal potential bladder issues too. Speaking to The Washington Post, Stephen Freedland, a professor of urology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, advised that an average pee shouldn't last longer than half a minute. 'Once you get going and it takes you a minute to empty your bladder, that's a problem. That's not normal,' he added. Meanwhile, Dr. Janis Miller, nurse practitioner behind the bladder-based website puts it at an even stingier 20 seconds, per Well + Good. Funnily enough, most mammals ― regardless of size, so long as they're over 3 kilos ― spend more or less exactly 21 seconds urinating, due to gravity and a phenomenon called Pascal's Barrel. Regularly taking a lot longer than that to pee may mean you're drinking too much water, that you're not giving yourself enough wee breaks, or even that you're overstretching your bladder, Dr. Miller suggests. If, for instance, you get too used to holding in your urine, a condition that's sometimes called 'nurse's bladder' or 'teacher's bladder' can happen, urologist Nicole Eisenbrown, MD, told Well + Good. At this point, your brain becomes less able to pick up fullness cues from your bladder, leading you to empty it less often than you should. 'Your bladder just gets slightly bigger, then slightly bigger, and slightly bigger,' she explained. In the short term, that can make your urination sessions lengthy ― and over time that makes your bladder weaker. Unusual peeing habits can also sometimes reveal other conditions, including diabetes, neurological disorders or prostate issues, The Washington Post revealed. The odd extra-long pee likely isn't too much to worry about. But if you're regularly spending a lot of time on the loo and aren't sure why, if it's interfering with your daily life, and if you have other issues that worry you with your urine, it could be a good idea to chat to your GP. The Mayo Clinic adds that you should seek medical help immediately if you notice any of the following; Blood in your urine. Red or dark brown urine. Pain when you pass urine. Pain in your side, lower belly or groin. Trouble passing urine or emptying your bladder. A strong urge to pass urine. Loss of bladder control. Fever. If Your Urine Is This Colour, It's Probably Time To See A Doctor Here's When A Urine Bug Could Be A Sign Of Something More Serious Could This Urine Test For Prostate Cancer Be A Lifesaver For Men?
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
This is why so many women are suffering from chronic UTIs, the factors that make them worse and the startling link to sepsis: CHRISTA D'SOUZA
Most women will know the pattern. The tell-tale pressing on the bladder. The ache in your kidney. The vain hope it's in your head, then the frantic drinking of water to see if the infection you suspect is lurking can be flushed out. But it can't. Then come the endless sleepless nights because of the need to wee every half hour. (Often just a few measly drops – but the urge is so pressing you think you might burst if you ignore it.)
