1. Get a medical diagnosis. Your doctor can order tests to find out what is causing your bladder leakage. It may be a problem that can be corrected by surgery. Find out how serious your problem is, the long-term prognosis, and any options that may exist with respect to having surgery. Also, ask about possible surgical and anesthesia-related risks.

2. Better yet, you may be able to improve your bladder’s ability to retain fluid by practicing Kegel exercises that strengthen the bladder walls and pelvic floor. Many people, especially women, report success from practicing these exercises. Even if your bladder improvement is just temporary, you can do the Kegel exercises again later if the condition should return.

3. Some people may be eligible to take medication to improve bladder control. This works well with younger patients for those with few additional health problems. Find out if you are eligible to try it by asking your doctor.

4. Stop drinking fluids after 6 p.m. Those who drink less fluid in the evening may experience less leakage overnight. The same holds true for the daytime; if you plan to go out, don’t drink as much before leaving the house so you won’t have as great a need to void or experience fluid leaking while running errands or driving your car. When you plan to get most of your fluid intake, try to be at home around those times to avoid possible schedule disruptions or unpleasant surprises.

5. Wear special padding as needed. Incontinence pads and products are available from drugstores, pharmacies, and supermarkets. Wear a pad anytime that you feel prone to leakage, whether at home or in public.

Ask your doctor what you can do to improve your bladder’s condition. Some foods may be helpful in helping to eliminate excess fluid or strengthening the bladder walls. Shedding extra pounds will take some of the pressure off your bladder, and you may need to change the way you exercise to put less stress on this vital organ, and thereby relieve some of the pressure that causes leaking.

Browse websites dedicated to this topic to learn more about how to keep your bladder healthy and which products are best able to help you do that. Your doctor will be able to provide guidance toward good sources of information and appropriate medical support. Don’t suffer in silence anymore. Get the help you need to regain your confidence and composure.

Because physically active women are more likely to be engaged in these high-impact activities, they are more likely to experience these leaks, and they need stronger pelvic floor muscles than the average woman to withstand the effects of their exercise programs.

Women are frequently tempted to give up jogging, and similar activities, in order to avoid these embarrassing leaks. But the problem with simply avoiding high impact activities is that avoidance doesn’t fix the underlying problem that is causing the urine leakage. Over time, leaks can become more frequent and occur even during low impact activities.

Fortunately there is an answer. For the great majority of women, stress incontinence responds extremely well to pelvic floor exercises. Building pelvic floor muscle strength has been identified as a successful approach by countless researchers, and is recommended internationally as the first line of therapy. If you are already an active woman with a lifestyle that includes regular exercise, it’s just a question of incorporating some additional exercises into your existing program.

If your pelvic floor muscles are already badly weakened, you may need the advice of a health professional before embarking on a pelvic floor exercise program. But if you only experience occasional leaks, you may prefer to try a simple exercise regime for yourself initially. You may also find that easy-to-use and affordable exercise aids can help you to develop correct exercise technique, and provide feedback on your increasing muscle strength. Exercise aids are also useful if you are one of the 50% of women who find pelvic floor exercises too difficult to do from verbal or written instructions.

Start exercising your pelvic floor muscles by trying two simple exercises.

Firstly, tighten the muscles around your back passage, vagina and front passage and lift up inside as if trying to stop passing wind and urine at the same time. It is very easy to bring other, irrelevant muscles into play, so try to isolate your pelvic floor muscles as much as possible by not pulling in your tummy, not squeezing your legs together, not tightening your buttocks and not holding your breath.

The effort should be coming from the pelvic floor muscles themselves.

Hold the contraction for as long as you can, building up to a maximum of 10 seconds. Rest for 4 seconds and then repeat the contraction as many times as you can up to a maximum of 10 contractions.

Try to do these exercises in a slow and controlled way with a rest of 4 seconds between each muscle contraction. Practise your maximum number of held contractions (up to 10) about six times each day.

The second exercise uses the same muscles but works them quickly to help them react to sudden stresses. Practise some quick contractions, drawing in the pelvic floor and holding for just one second before releasing the muscles. Do these steadily, aiming for a strong muscle tightening with each contraction up to a maximum of 10 times.

Try to do one set of slow contractions, followed by one set of quick contractions, six times each day.

Do these exercises regularly and you will see results within 3 to 6 months, but you should continue them for life to keep your pelvic floor muscles as fit as possible.