Bladder Health

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a condition where you have a sudden, desperate need to urinate that’s difficult to stop.

This happens when the muscles around the bladder contract more often than they should, even when the bladder isn’t full. This can cause a frequent, urgent need to urinate, more regular trips to the toilet and in some cases, urine leaks before you can get there in time.

Symptoms of an overactive bladder include:

• A sudden, intense need to urinate
• Needing to urinate often
• Waking up more than twice overnight to urinate – this is called nocturia
• Leaking urine because you don’t make it to the toilet in time

Symptoms of a weak bladder include:

• Leaking urine when coughing, laughing, sneezing or exercising
• Straining to empty your bladder
• The feeling your bladder hasn’t completely emptied
• Difficulty getting your urine flow started or a urine flow that stops and starts
• Leaking or dribbling urine after you believe you’ve emptied your bladder

Bladder health can be managed through a combination of lifestyle changes, bladder training including pelvic floor exercises, and bladder health supplements, such as Jude Bladder Health, Jude Pelvic Floor and Jude Night Bladder.

Common bladder problems usually stem from holding or emptying urine. Treatment may include lifestyle changes, supplements, medications or specialist care, depending on the cause.

Common conditions include:

• Urinary tract infections (UTIs/cystitis): Often caused by bacteria, UTIs can cause burning when urinating, cloudy urine, pelvic discomfort and a frequent need to urinate. Find out more about the signs of UTIs and how to treat them.
• Urinary incontinence: Loss of bladder control and accidental urine leaks, which includes:
• Stress incontinence: Leaks triggered by pressure on the bladder, such as coughing, sneezing, laughing or exercise.
• Urge incontinence (overactive bladder): A intense urge to urinate that may lead to leaks.
• Urinary retention: Difficulty emptying the bladder, which may cause a weak urine stream, straining or needing to pass small amounts of urine frequently.
• Interstitial cystitis (painful bladder syndrome): A long-term bladder condition that can cause pelvic pain, bladder discomfort and a frequent need to urinate.
• Bladder stones or tumours: Hard deposits or abnormal growths in the bladder that can cause pain, blood in the urine or difficulty urinating.

To support bladder health and help reduce the risk of incontinence, it’s important to keep your pelvic floor muscles strong, stay hydrated and maintain healthy lifestyle habits.

A healthy bladder routine may include:

• Pelvic floor exercises: Strengthen the muscles that support the bladder and improve bladder control.
• Staying hydrated: Drinking enough water helps keep urine diluted and may reduce bladder irritation.
• Limiting bladder irritants: Caffeine, alcohol and fizzy drinks can worsen urgency and leakage.
• Preventing constipation: A fibre-rich diet can help reduce pressure on the bladder.
• Stopping smoking: Regular coughing can weaken the pelvic floor muscles over time.
• Maintaining a healthy weight: Excess weight can increase pressure on the bladder and pelvic floor muscles.
• Using bladder health supplements: Supplements like Jude Bladder Health are designed to support bladder function and comfort.

While simple changes can help improve bladder control, you may choose supplements for bladder control alongside pelvic floor exercises and bladder training.

There are different bladder health treatment options depending on your specific diagnosis.

Lifestyle and diet changes

You may find that making some small changes to your lifestyle and diet make a big difference to your bladder health. These changes may include:

• Cutting down on caffeine: Caffeine is a diuretic and a stimulant that increases the need to urinate.
• Limiting alcohol: Alcohol is also a diuretic, plus alcoholic drinks high in acid, such as wine, can irritate the bladder.
• Stopping smoking: Nicotine is a bladder stimulant.
• Restricting fizzy and citrus drinks: Carbonated and citrus drinks can aggravate the bladder.
• Drinking enough water: Consume 1.5–2 litres of water a day. Concentrated urine can further irritate the bladder lining.
• Preventing constipation: Eat foods rich in vegetables, wholegrains and oats to keep your bowl habits healthy and regular.
• Eating bladder friendly foods: Including lean protein and non-acidic fruits and vegetables.
• Maintaining a healthy weight: Excess body weight will put physical pressure on your bladder.
• Practicing pelvic floor exercises: Pelvic floor exercises can significantly strengthen the muscles that support your bladder.

Medications

If lifestyle and behavioural changes don’t provide sufficient relief, you may be recommended medication to help manage symptoms. Your treatment may involve prescription tablets for overactive bladder or other forms of bladder control medicine.

Common options include:

Anticholinergics: These medicines help reduce involuntary bladder contractions by blocking the nerve signals that trigger them. Examples include oxybutynin and solifenacin.

Beta-3 Agonists: These medications relax the bladder muscle, allowing the bladder to hold more urine and reducing the frequency of urination. An example is mirabegron.

Vaginal Oestrogen Therapy: For postmenopausal women, low-dose vaginal oestrogen can help improve the health and strength of tissues in the urethra and vaginal area, which may help alleviate urinary symptoms.

Bladder health supplements

Bladder health supplements may be useful to help support and maintain a healthy bladder³.

• Pumpkin seed extract helps relax the bladder, reduces spontaneous contractions and aids pelvic floor strength.
• Soy germ extract supports bladder muscle tone and tissues.
• Magnesium is known for muscle relaxation and can help with bladder muscle spasms.
• Vitamin D is essential for normal muscle function.

Bladder health supplements from Jude use natural ingredients, including pumpkin seed extract to improve the health of your bladder.

The urge to urinate comes from a full bladder signal to the brain. If you urinate when your bladder isn’t full, your brain thinks this is the new maximum capacity. This may make you feel you need to go more often than you actually do and turns into a vicious cycle.

If you think this is what’s happening to you, you could try retraining your bladder and brain. You can do this by:

• Setting a timer and trying to wait when you feel the urge to go
• Regularly doing pelvic floor exercises or pilates to help strengthen the muscles that support your bladder
• Drink enough water – you should drink around 1.5–2 litres of water a day and your urine should be a pale yellow colour. If it’s darker, you may be dehydrated and need to drink more water