Incontinence is a physical health condition experienced by more than five million Australians or 1 in 4 people aged 15 years or over.
Further, an Australian and New Zealand study showed: “50% of women aged 45-59 years of age experienced some degree of mild, moderate or severe urinary incontinence.”
During World Continence Week (15-22 June 2020), I participated in many educational programs, encouraging Australians to invest in their continence.
I was surprised to learn how little time was necessary to build continence and maintain it through to old age. I was alarmed to think a loss of independence and ability to live life well is directly related to maintaining continence.
Five healthy habits to prevent incontinence
Continence Foundation of Australia is a great resource to learn more about continence, or you can call on 1800 33 00 66 for more tailored information.
It’s important to understand, talking to someone about your continence may be uncomfortable at first, but left untreated, and over time, incontinence limits the ability to live an active life.
Let’s look at ways to prevent incontinence, as advised by the Continence Foundation of Australia.
- Stay Active: Spend at least 30 minutes a day on physical activity. It can include exercise or daily activities such as gardening, cleaning, playing with grand-kids. Here is an interesting video about exercise called: How to exercise without wetting yourself.
- Eat Well: The message here is the importance of wholefood nutrition and eating plenty of unprocessed foods, such as veggies. Limiting processed foods, such as cakes, biscuits, cheese, and foods with little or no fibre content.
- Hydration: Drink 6-8 glasses of water per day, more if you are exercising. Increasing fibre means increasing water consumption to maintain digestive health and soften stools to be passed without strain. Drinks containing caffeine or alcohol may irritate the balder; therefore choose water as your go to drink.
- Pelvic Floor Muscles; These are the primary muscles used by the body to maintain continence. Exercising these muscles is essential. It is recommended to do 8-10 repetitions of pelvic floor lifts, 3 times per day. Here is a video on how to do the exercise from Pelvic Floor First.
- Toilet Habits. The main message is not to empty the bladder “just in case” as it may lead to a shrinking of its capacity to hold urine and over time lead to a need to urinate more frequently.
At Square Box Fitness, we are mindful of the pelvic floor and its role in maintaining continence. Our exercise program includes modifications to ensure exercise benefits the whole body inside and out.
Start exercising today with your FREE beginner 9 minute cardio, core and strength workout, the link is below.
Live well with Health and WELLth!
Recent Comments