As people get older, they may experience urinary symptoms such as frequent need to pass urine and waking up at night to pass urine; men may also experience taking a long time to pass urine and dribbling of urine.
These symptoms may be due to prostate enlargement (in men) or overactive bladder.
If you suffer from these symptoms, do consult your doctor so that he can confirm your diagnosis and make sure these symptoms are not due to something more serious.
Your condition can be treated with medication, and sometimes with surgery. However if you do not have severe symptoms, you can also take the following steps which may help you cope with your problem.
- Reduce your fluid intake at night
The amount of urine that you produce is dependent on the amount of fluid that you consume. If you are disturbed by having to wake up frequently to pass urine, you could reduce the amount of fluids that you consume after dinner. This could help reduce the number of times that you need to wake up to pass urine. Do ensure that you consume enough fluid in the day time to make up for it.
- Avoid excessive consumption of caffeine and alcohol-containing beverages
Caffeine and alcohol both have diuretic effects ie. they increase the production of urine by the kidneys. . Reducing your consumption of caffeine and alcohol-containing beverages will help you to go to the toilet less often.
- Do regular pelvic floor exercises
The pelvic floor muscles help to support the organs of the pelvis such as the bladder and the rectum. Pelvic floor exercises (also known as Kegel exercises) can help to reduce bladder urgency and dribbling of urine. You can strengthen the pelvic floor by doing regular sets of exercise. In addition, if you have a sudden urge to pass urine, performing a few quick pelvic floor contractions may relieve the urge and allow you to delay going to the toilet.
