Are you always the first person during a car trip in need of a pee break? Do you find it hard to sleep through the night without waking up for a visit to the loo? Urinary requirements and urinary habits are both indicative of your overall bladder health and below is a list of 4 common urinary behaviors and bladder health issues that they may signify.
1. You Urinate “Too” Often
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The average person (drinking approximately 2 liters of liquid daily) has to urinate 6 to 7 times per day, however a person with perfect bladder health may urinate as little as 4, or as many as 10 times per day. Although urinating up to 10 times per day can be normal, especially if you consume a lot of liquid, frequent urination can also be a sign of numerous bladder health issues. Some of the most common health problems associated with frequent urination include: chronic anxiety, alcoholism, an enlarged prostate, prostate infection, interstitial cystitis, vaginitis, overactive bladder syndrome, cancer and/or tumor growth.
RELATED READING: How to Avoid Embarrassing Bladder Issues
2. You Experience Frequent Urinary Urgency
If you often feel a sudden and urgent need to urinate, your bladder health may be compromised. Most people can hold approximately 2 cups of water in their bladder comfortably for 2 to 5 hours and inability to do so may be caused by the same health problems that can cause increased urinary frequency. Although a frequent sense of urgency is not always a problem, and it may simply indicate a small or a sensitive bladder, you should see your health care provider if any of the following apply to you:
- Your sense of urinary urgency is something that is new and you are neither pregnant, nor drinking excessive amounts of fluid
- You are experiencing incontinence
- You have been forced to alter your lifestyle in order to accommodate your urinary urgency
- Your urine is cloudy or bloody
- You notice an unusual discharge
3. You Urinate in the Middle of the Night
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Waking up to urinate occasionally is no big deal, however if you need to visit the toilet on a nightly basis it may be indicative of a bladder health or other type of health issue. Some of the most common health issues that are associated with nighttime urination include: benign prostatic hyperplasia, chronic yeast infections, chronic renal failure, cystitis, diabetes, sleep disorders, congestive heart failure, and excessively high blood levels of certain vitamins and minerals such as vitamin D and calcium.
4. Your Ignore “the Urge”
Maybe you are too busy or stressing to meet a deadline, or maybe you are tending to young children – whatever the reason, if you are the type who frequently ignores the urge to urinate it can compromise your bladder health in many ways. Ignoring the urge can cause a bladder and/or urinary tract infection, it can change the contractility of your urinary muscles, it can make it difficult to fully empty your bladder, it can result in chronic urinary leakage issues, and in extreme cases it can even cause permanent bladder and kidney damage.
