The bladder is an organ that stores the urine that flows from the kidney prior to bodily discharge. The bladder slowly fills up and once it’s full or near full, the nerves signal the brain that it should unload. Normally we’re able to control the discharge of urine because of the elastic nature of the bladder and the sphincter muscle.
The sphincter muscle is located at the opening of the bladder and blocks the urine by contracting. If all the parts are functioning properly bladder control in men is fairly easy to execute. But if even one of the essential parts of the system is having problems, then partial or total involuntary loss of urine can occur causing an overactive bladder men.
Incontinence or involuntary loss of urine is the surest sign of problematic bladder control in men. This does not necessarily have to be total loss of control and in some cases it will only be a mild types of incontinence in men. Here are some symptoms of the loss of bladder control:
• Frequent need to urinate (once every hour or two)
• Difficulty in urinating
• Feeling a burning sensation known as dysuria when urinating
• Waking up from sleep because of the need to urinate
• Inability to urinate despite “feeling” the need to do so
There are many ways to improve bladder control in men and the most common ones only require discipline and a couple of exercises to perform.
Kegel exercises for men – Kegel exercises strengthen the pubococcygeus muscle, also known as the PC muscle. This bladder control exercise is normally done to improve a person’s sex life but it can also be very effective in improving bladder control in men. The PC muscle helps prevent incontinence because contracting it will stop the flow of urine. So the better control you have over this muscle, the easier it will be to prevent involuntary loss.
Another way to improve bladder control problems in men is through behavioral training. There are three main ways that this is done and diligently performing a particular routine will result in better long term control.
• Bladder training is a type of behavioral training where the patient is asked to try to hold the urine in as long as possible until a set time is reached. The periods between each discharge is increased as the patient becomes better at controlling his bladder.
• Timed voiding is similar to bladder training because a schedule is likewise created for when to urinate. This is based on personal habit however and the periods between each voiding is not increased.
• Prompted voiding is a behavioral training method that is used for people who are unable to sense the urgency to urinate. They are “prompted” to urinate at certain intervals in order to decrease the chance of an accidental/involuntary loss occurring. This is more commonly prescribed for people with dementia.
Other ways to improve one’s bladder control is through surgery, injections and medication. These are prescribed for the more severe cases however.
The easiest way to ensure that you always have proper control of your bladder is by living a healthy lifestyle. Going back to how our bladder works, each organ involved in the urination process has to be able to function properly otherwise involuntary loss can happen. So the sphincter, PC muscles, bladder, nerves and even the brain have to be in good shape all the time. This can only happen if you are eating well and living a healthy lifestyle which can also protect mens prostate from prostate cancer.