I have to pee — all the time!
Do you feel like you have to pee all the time?
Before I got into pelvic floor work, I had to pee all the time. My friends and family did not enjoy roadtrips with me when we had to take restroom breaks every hour.
Recently, several new patients have come in with similar issues. They were tired of needing to pee while hiking, skiing, or shopping. One of our patients was avoiding flying because they didn’t want to have to use the bathroom on the airplane.
Guess what?!
It doesn’t need to be this way. Someone came in to her follow up appointment this week and said she was able to go on a 2 hour hike without needing to sneak into the woods to pop a squat. Another person came in saying that he was able to drink a beer, watch a full car race with his buddies and get into the car to go home without needing to pee. Another women said that she was able to fly home without needing to use the airplane bathroom.
What contributes to having to pee all the time?
The bladder is a muscle and just like other muscles, it needs to be well hydrated and trained to do its “job”. It can expand, it can contract and it needs to have a healthy connection to the brain.
These are the most common conversations we have about bladder health:
The first thing is, what are you drinking? The bladder is a muscle so it is important that it is well hydrated. Contrary to common belief, drinking more water (half of your body weight in ounces of water) will help to decrease your urgency. If the majority of what you drink is sugary (or fake sugary) drinks, carbonated beverages, caffeinated beverages, then your bladder can become irritated and spasm which causes more urgency.
The second thing is, how are your pelvic floor muscles? If they are too tight, they can send a signal to your bladder that you need to pee, when in reality, you actually don’t have a full bladder. Working on relaxing your pelvic floor can be very beneficial in these instances. Try the video below on diaphragmatic breathing to help your pelvic floor muscles relax.
The third thing is, what is going on with your back, hips, and abdomen? They can all contribute to feeling like you need to pee all the time. Having good back, hip, and abdomen mobility and stability is important.
The fourth thing is, how is the connection between your bladder and your brain? If you bladder is not used to filling up all the way, then it might send a strong signal to the brain saying that you need to pee now, when in reality, it isn’t actually full. If you are drinking half of our body weight in ounces, it is normal and healthy to be peeing about every 2-4 hours.
A fun trick
One thing you can try to decrease the urge to pee, is calf raises. The nerve that goes to your bladder comes out of your spine in the same place the nerve to your calves comes out, so doing 6-10 calf raises can help decrease the urge to pee. By doing calf raises you are indirectly effecting the nerve to the bladder which makes your brain reassess whether your bladder is actually full. Watch the video below for how to do calf raises to decrease urgency.
Are you peeing more than every 2 hours?
If this is the case, click on the button below to see if one of our therapists can help you. Don’t let needing a bathroom often limit your activities!
