Stop Peeing “Just In Case” with Expert Advice

Urinary incontinence, or a loss of bladder control, is a common (if still under-discussed) issue, affecting anywhere between 10 and 36% of adults — especially those over 60 and especially women.

There are various forms incontinence can take, such as stress incontinence (when urine leaks in response to pressure on your bladder, like when you cough, sneeze, or lift something heavy) or urge incontinence (when you feel a sudden urge to pee, followed by an involuntary loss of urine). 

If you’re grappling with those forms of incontinence, or if you’re having frequent UTIs or feeling like you can’t fully void, it is important to reach out to your primary care physician or a urologist, Rivera said. They can help get at the root cause and tailor a treatment that can help.

And that definitely might include behavioral changes, like scheduled toilet trips and targeted bladder training. For some people, the “just in case” pee might be an important part of their routine. But again, an expert can really help you figure out what’s best.

“There are techniques that help strengthen the muscles around the urethra to help prevent leakage of urine,” Rivera said. 

“There are also techniques that involves squeezing the sphincter muscle … when you’ve got the urge to go, and there is a reflex in the bladder that tells it to kind of quiet down until you’re ready to go to the bathroom,” he explained. “Those are techniques that we do train patients to do, and they’re actually quite effective to help patients maintain their urinary control.”

For everyone else, common sense really wins. When possible, just pee when you feel like you have to. 

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.