As people age, they begin to suffer from more health problems and chronic issues.
Unfortunately, urinary incontinence is a common health disorder that affects millions of women, with the most common type of incontinence being stress continence.
Stress incontinence is urine leaks during pressure exertion on the bladder, such as when sneezing, coughing, or laughing. Other forms of incontinence include urge, overflow, and functional.
Incontinence is not just a part of aging, and ignoring the issues when they arise can harm your overall well-being. Even though it’s not life-threatening, urinary incontinence impacts women’s quality of life.
Here are some of the risks within your lifestyle that urinary incontinence can cause, why bladder health is necessary, and what you can do right away to address and treat the problem.
Urinary Incontinence Impacts Your Life Physically
Changing your clothes and bedding or even going out of your way to clean things like chairs and couch cushions can be a side effect of urinary incontinence. It’s downright embarrassing to wear absorbent adult diapers for women, and it’s not the only way that urinary incontinence can impact your lifestyle.
Women who suffer from regular incontinence can also experience skin infections since there’s an over-exposure to moisture.
Diaper rash or incontinence dermatitis also happens more often, and you pose a risk of fungal or bacterial infections.
Your physical activity also decreases when you have incontinence. Women tend to avoid or stop exercising once they realize they could leak or have an accident during a workout, run, or other form of physical activity.
The problem is that when you avoid activity, you tend to have a more sedentary lifestyle, leading to further health problems like obesity, diabetes, and osteoporosis.
It is helpful to find exercise that can help you strengthen your pelvic floor and address your incontinence problem rather than give it up altogether.
Incontinence can also pose a greater risk of falls and fractures for older women.
Older adults focused on getting to the bathroom quickly when they have the urge to go may not be fully aware of hazards in their way that could lead to falling.
Urinary Incontinence Impacts Your Life Financially
Incontinence also can pose a significant financial burden on you and your family.
While products like absorbent bladder pads don’t cost much and can help you manage incontinence, your finances can become more strapped when you add frequent doctor visits, medications, or multiple loads of laundry.
And consider the financial impact when you have to take a day off due to incontinence or a doctor visit to deal with incontinence. Incontinence becomes worse as you age, too.
Women who are over the age of 65 tend to spend more than twice as much on incontinence than younger women, at 7.6 billion annually.
Urinary Incontinence Impacts Your Life Mentally
Women’s emotional health is also impacted when suffering from urinary incontinence. There’s a lot of embarrassment about bladder leakage, and it’s hard to admit in many cases.
It can affect how you deal with the problem by hiding it and spending less time with friends and family, even avoiding social situations or doing things you enjoy.
All of that isolation and feelings of shame can lead to feelings of depression and anxiety. Having depression is a direct correlation to a reduced quality of life.
You often feel sad, fearful, and hopeless. It can lead to irritability, angry outbursts, and a lot of frustration, causing a much more severe health problem overall.
Declining mental health due to incontinence affects many areas in your life – social connections, sexual relations and intimacy, and even your role in your immediate family.
What You Can Do to Reduce the Negative Impact of Urinary Incontinence
The burdens and impact on your quality of life from having incontinence should encourage you to seek help. The sooner you can address your bladder problems, the sooner you can start treatments and get the proper help.
You must not shy away from bringing this up to your doctor; openly communicate what is going on with your urinary health and see what you can start doing right away.
Some helpful things you can do right at home without the need for medication include the following:
- Stop smoking if you’re a smoker (the coughing puts strain on your bladder)
- Incorporate pelvic floor exercises into your daily routine
- Reduce caffeine and alcohol intake
- Eat a nutritional and healthy diet of foods
- Increase your water intake
Many people tend to avoid more fluid when they have incontinence, but it can do the opposite and reduce your bladder capacity.
Your best option is to talk to your doctor and go over your options to start combating incontinence before it has an opportunity to present any negative impact on your quality of life.