How Healthy is Your Bladder?
It is estimated as adults we spend an hour and a half per week using the toilet. Over the course of a lifetime, that equates to almost 90 full days! How much of that time do you consciously think about what you are doing in the washroom?
For most of us, we don’t think about it at all. When everything is going just right, voiding is a function that we can do with almost zero thought. However, have you ever wondered whether your body is working normally? We take for granted whatever liquid we put into our system will efficiently and effortlessly be filtered. If we drink too much or too little, the bladder takes care of it for us. What if we have to hold it a really long time because the kids are finally asleep in the back of the car and we don’t dare let the vehicle stop before getting all the way back home? Thankfully, the bladder keeps on stretching to accommodate — at least to a point. Doing these “bad habits” once in a while isn’t a big deal, but if we routinely ask our bladder to accommodate to less than ideal circumstances, the voiding system changes to become abnormal or unhealthy. These changes can lead to issues such as an overactive, leaky, shy, or even painful bladder.
One of the best ways to avoid these symptoms is to equip ourselves with the knowledge of what is normal so we can be aware if a bad habit is creeping into our routine. In clinical practice we will often ask clients to fill out a bladder diary which tracks things such as:
- How often you void throughout 24 hours
