Your bladder is an organ that helps keep your urinary system healthy and, in turn, keeps your entire body healthy.
Read these 20 surprising facts about your bladder and find out how to keep it healthy.
20 Bladder Facts
1. Your bladder walls are made of wrinkly skin called rugae which allow your bladder to expand and fill with urine.
2. Your bladder keeps your pee sterile, but as soon as you void your bladder, the urethra and air fill the pee with bacteria.
3. Your bladder stores urine and can hold around 3 to 20 ounces.
4. Loss of bladder control and experiencing leakage is called urinary incontinence (UI).
5. If you pee more than 8 times in 24 hours, you may have an overactive bladder (OAB).
6. It’s considered normal to go to the bathroom up to 8 times daily.
7. Your pee can be different colors, but healthy pee is shades of light yellow. Other colors of urine indicate health issues.
8. The female urethra is shorter than the male urethra (extending from the vagina to the bladder), meaning that females get more urinary tract infections (UTIs) than males.
9. Holding in your urine can lead to UTIs.
10. Certain things are bladder irritants and can cause frequent urination and bladder spasms.
Bladder irritants include:
- Tobacco smoke.
- Spicy foods.
- Synthetic food coloring.
- Caffeine
- Alcohol
- Acidic foods, like citrus fruits.
11. Sometimes, your bladder may leak urine when you pee, cough, sneeze, or laugh. This is a bladder issue called stress urinary incontinence.
12. Hydration keeps your bladder healthy because water helps filter toxins and waste.
13. Constipation can cause bladder problems. When you can’t make a bowel movement, the hard stool pushes on your bladder, causing it to feel fuller faster.
14. Your kidneys make urine filling your bladder every 10 to 15 seconds.
15. An empty bladder is the size of a pear.
16. Your pelvic floor holds up your bladder.
17. Peeing incorrectly can cause bladder problems.
18. Incontinence can be reversed and is preventable!
19. Bladder cancer is highly prevalent among smokers.
20. Kegel exercises and other physical activities, like yoga, can strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and prevent incontinence.
How to Keep the Bladder Healthy
You can do numerous things to keep your bladder and urinary system healthy. Here are our top 3 tips.
1. Listen to your body!
When you feel like you have to pee, head for the toilet! Holding in pee can cause bladder issues and UTIs. And stop going, “Just in case!” This can lead to a myriad of bladder problems!
2. Use bladder control products to manage leaks.
Using toilet paper to soak up leaks or ignoring the problem will only exacerbate it and make your days uncomfortable. While it may be hard to transition into using bladder control products, you can find discreet high-quality items so no one has to know you use them.
Bladder control pads and adult protective underwear are the best in these situations (but it all depends on your level of leakage).
Aeroflow Urology may be able to supply you with free incontinence products every month and deliver them straight to your door for free!
All you need to do is check if you or a loved one qualifies with our easy, 2-step Eligibility Form.
After filling it out, one of our dedicated Continence Care Experts will reach out to you after they obtain a prescription from your healthcare provider.
3. Identify which type of incontinence you have.
Be aware of the symptoms of UI, such as:
- Peeing more than 8 times a day.
- Peeing multiple times during the night.
- Dribbling urine after peeing.
- Leaking urine when you laugh, cough, sneeze, or exercise.
If you already have UI, specific lifestyle changes can help you regain your quality of life.
Try:
- Avoiding foods that irritate the bladder and maintaining a healthy diet full of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
- Exercising daily and doing Kegel exercises.
- Maintaining a healthy weight.
- Staying hydrated.
- Seeing a healthcare provider who is a urology expert.
- Using bladder control products.
Remember: Urinary incontinence is prevalent in males and females, but it’s not normal and can be prevented and reversed!
Information provided on the Aeroflow Urology website is not intended as a substitute for medical advice or care from a healthcare professional. Aeroflow recommends consulting your healthcare provider if you are experiencing medical issues relating to incontinence.
