If you have to get up during the nighttime for 3 or 4 times to urinate, you may have the problem of urine incontinence due to OAB i.e. overactive bladder at night. Doctors even call this problem as nocturia. Nocturia is somewhat different from the problem of bedwetting. In normal conditions, people sleep for 6 hours to 8 hours without any need to get up or getting up only ones or twice. However, if you have nocturia associated with urine incontinence, you wake up for more than ones during the night. This leads to disruption in your regular sleep cycle and causes various complications, including the problem of sleep loss.(1)
What Are The Ways To Prevent Nighttime Incontinence?
You may try many things to avoid problems related to nocturia and nighttime urine incontinence. These include the following-
Put A Limit On Liquid Intake Before Going To Bed
If you have the problem of overactive bladder, you should avoid having any liquid just before you sleep. Instead, you should opt for liquid intake before many hours of your bedtime. This small step helps you emptying your urinary bladder completely prior to hitting any sack.
Pee Before You Go To Sleep
One of the effective ways to deal with the problem of nocturia is to pee before going to sleep. Depending on your individual condition, your doctor may recommend you for double voiding. This means you should go to the bathroom initially and wait for a while. Later on, you should go to pee again. You may try this activity if your bladder fails to empty in your first visit to the bathroom.
Strictly Avoid Trigger Foods
A few of the food items and beverages may cause irritation in your urinary bladder and force you to pee many times, especially at night. In this situation, you must avoid having any trigger strictly. However, if you fail to identify the triggers, you should prepare a food diary. This step helps you track what you consume daily and identifies the items responsible to cause any irritation. In most of the cases, urologists recommend you avoid the following triggers-
- Tea, coffee and other similar types of caffeinated beverages
- Soda and soda related drinks
- Alcohol
- Spicy food items
- Milk, dark and brown chocolates
- Food items made of tomatoes
Take Suitable Actions To Retain Your Urinary Bladder
During the daytime itself, you must set a specific schedule to pee only during certain times. You should follow this rule strictly. By doing this for a long time, you will definitely notice your urinary bladder as holding the urine for more time. Gradually, you have to space your trips to the bathroom further apart, with time, you will find that you may easily wait for a maximum of 3 or 4 hours before you have to urinate. Only you have to wait for a while to get results.
Special Products To Manage Leaks
You should opt to use varieties of reusable and disposable underwear and other similar types of products available easily to manage leaks.
Ask Doctors about Certain Medications
Whenever you combine prescribed medicines with your behavioral and lifestyle changes, you will succeed to manage your overactive bladder problems easily. In this way, you will sleep properly during the night time.
Do Kegels Exercises
Kegels exercises help you in strengthening your pelvic muscles. Even they help in relaxing the urinary bladder whenever go to the bathroom. To perform this exercise, you have to squeeze your pelvic muscles or the muscles responsible to control the flow of urine. You should hold this for some time and later on release it. To get results, you have to wait for a few week’s time.(2)
Conclusion
To conclude, we should say that nocturia or overactive bladder associated with urine incontinence during nighttime is not a severe problem. Only you have to take certain preventive steps to manage your problems and get proper sleep.
Also Read:
- Nighttime Incontinence or Nighttime Bed Wetting: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, Alternative Treatment, Lifestyle Changes
- How To Diagnose Night-Time Incontinence & What Is The Best Medicine For It?
- What Are The First Symptoms Of Night-Time Incontinence & How Do You Test For It?
- What Is The Best Treatment For Night-Time Incontinence?
- What Leads To Night-Time Incontinence & Can It Be Cured?
- Can Night-Time Incontinence Go Away On Its Own & What Are It’s Natural Remedies?
- Is Nighttime Incontinence A Serious Condition & Can It Be Reversed?