Two thirds of women experience bladder leaks in the UK - here's how to help prevent them
Two thirds of women experience bladder leaks in their lifetimes, yet many of us don’t know the simple exercises that can be done to help.
Always Discreet conducted research into our understanding of bladder leaks and found that 85% of women know that certain exercises do help.
Armed with this information, over third of women still don’t do anything to strengthen their pelvic floor.
Bladder leaks are commonly associated with older women, but research has found that 64% of women aged 18-24 have also experienced them.
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Given the association to older women and women who have had children, it’s unsurprising that 54% of 18-24 year olds have never tried pelvic floor exercises.
Half of women also thought that as long as you lived a fit and healthy lifestyle, you’d be immune to any unexpected leaks with many people also believing that a strong core will keep the problem at bay.
The NHS recommends speaking to a professional if you’re suffering from any type of incontinence.
Bladder leaks as a result of a weak pelvic floor are described as “stress incontinence”.
The NHS describe this as: “Stress incontinence is usually the result of the weakening of or damage to the muscles used to prevent urination, such as the pelvic floor muscles and the urethral sphincter.”
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Health and fitness blogger and personal trainer, Carly Rowena says: “Your pelvic floor is a muscle just like any other and you really do need to use it or lose it.
“With the use of weights rising in women, too often I’m finding clients as young as 18 struggling with Pelvic Floor Disfunction which can be an embarrassing situation, especially mid exercise class or run.
“Luckily there’s lots of things you can do but primarily I always tell my clients to work on their breathing during exercise.
“Remember to exhale on the difficult bit, when you hold your breath you force pressure through your pelvic floor which can make it worse, if you exhale you allow your body to internally work correctly and reduce the pressure on your pelvic floor.”
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Carly Rowena also explains that there are plenty of ways to learn more - as well as find out about exactly where your pelvic floor is.
“If you’re not sure how to find your pelvic floor don’t worry, there are lots of free apps out there and if you’ve got the money, I 100% recommend investing in an Elvie Trainer, I use mine at least 3 times a week and managed to get my pelvic floor back on track just 3 weeks after having my little girl.”
