7 Tips to Ease Stress & Anxiety From Overactive Bladder

Having an overactive bladder can be difficult to manage. From needing to deal with sudden urges to urinate and potential incontinence, this condition can also impact both your emotional health and overall sense of wellbeing.

Stress and anxiety are two common problems you may experience alongside an overactive bladder. However, the two also have a bit of a catch-22 relationship.

If you already experience stress or anxiety, for example, you may notice these feelings worsen with an overactive bladder. While at the same time, having an overactive bladder could result in you feeling stressed or anxious. So, what can you do to help?

There are various ways you can support your mental wellbeing and reduce feelings of anxiety and stress, as we’ve outlined in this blog post. So keep on reading to discover our top tips.

Top tips for managing stress and anxiety with an overactive bladder

Stress and anxiety can really disrupt your daily life, so finding ways to soothe and improve them is important.

Here are some of the most effective ways you can find relief from the stress and anxiety that’s caused by having an overactive bladder.

1. Give pelvic floor exercises a try

Pelvic floor exercises are designed to strengthen your pelvic floor. A weakened pelvic floor can lead to increased symptoms of incontinence which can, in turn, increase feelings of anxiety and stress.

Pelvic floor exercises involve tightening, holding and releasing your pelvic floor muscles. Therefore, by reducing your incontinence symptoms, you can feel more confident and less worried about your overactive bladder as you’ll know you have more control.

2. Relax with yoga

When you’re feeling stressed, the last thing many people feel like doing is hard exercise. Instead, taking up something that helps you focus your mind and connect to your body can be much more helpful.

Yoga is all about improving your strength, flexibility and balance but, alongside that, it promotes a deeper sense of self, helping to support and reduce any feelings of anxiety or stress.

So why not try taking up a yoga class in your local area? Or, if you’re more comfortable at home, there are hundreds, if not thousands of videos from yoga instructors online that you can easily follow from your living room.

3. Minimise your caffeine intake

Although a nice hot cup of coffee is many people’s favourite way to start the day, it may be causing you more anxiety than it’s worth. The caffeine in coffee can give you a good burst of energy but it’s also notorious for causing an increased heart rate and jitters, both of which are common symptoms of anxiety.

As a stimulant, caffeine also causes your body to release adrenaline, which can lead to you feeling nervous instead of energised. It can also stimulate your bladder, causing you to urinate more and, if you already have an overactive bladder, this can be potentially troublesome.

Switching your cup of coffee to a decaffeinated option instead could help reduce any caffeine-based anxieties you have and allow you to get back to enjoying your mornings free of stress.

4. Build a strong support network

Feelings of stress and anxiety from an overactive bladder are much more common than you realise.

Some people with an overactive bladder may feel isolated as they don’t have anyone to talk to who truly understands. However, finding others who are going through the same thing can help with the emotional aspect of living with the condition.

Try finding local support groups or join online forums to create a strong support network that can be there for you when times get tough or provide you with someone to talk to at the end of a difficult day.

Talking through your emotions and the challenges of having an overactive bladder can be a great stress reliever and help you realise that you’re not alone in your condition.

5. Get enough sleep

Having an overactive bladder means you will most likely need to get up multiple times in the night to go to the bathroom. However, interrupted sleep (or a lack of sleep) can increase feelings of stress and anxiety.

To make sure you get enough sleep each night, try to prioritise a healthy bedtime routine. This should involve:

- Going to bed and getting up at the same time – even on the weekends

- Avoiding lots of fluids before going to bed

- Not using your phone or watch TV while in bed

- Partaking in relaxing activities before bed like yoga or reading

By getting a healthy night’s sleep each night, your emotional health should benefit and you should wake up feeling a lot more refreshed.

6. Aromatherapy and calming smells

Sometimes you can’t prevent feelings of stress or anxiety from occurring and it can make you feel worse when you don’t know how to stop them from taking over. However, one handy tip many people like to use is aromatherapy.

Certain scents, like lavender, chamomile and jasmine, can have a calming effect on your body and mind.

Carrying around your favourite calming essential oil can work wonders when you feel your levels of anxiety or stress building. Taking a few moments to inhale and exhale the aroma can relax your body and focus your mind, allowing any feelings of stress to fall by the wayside.

7. Enjoy the outdoors (even when it's not sunny)

When you feel anxious about an overactive bladder, going outside, far away from a toilet can be understandably triggering.

However, this again can lead to a bit of a catch-22. Not knowing when you’ll be able to get to a toilet if you need to go urgently can drastically increase your anxiety and stress levels, for example. But not going outside can have a detrimental effect on your emotional wellbeing.

Vitamin D is an important vitamin your body needs and studies have found that low levels of it can be linked to depression and anxiety. While our bodies can get vitamin D through certain foods, we also create it when exposed to direct sunlight, which is why getting outside whenever you can is important for keeping your levels topped up.

As well as vitamin D, just being outside and connected with nature has been shown to lower your levels of stress and anxiety.

Here are some ways you can get outside when living with an overactive bladder:

- Plan ahead and know where your closest bathroom is

- Let a loved one or trusted friend know about your condition so they can support you

- Find places easily accessible to you or close to home to keep your anxiety at bay

- Sit in your garden and enjoy a good book

- Practise yoga in your garden

Easing stress and anxiety on a day-to-day basis with Attends

Easing stress and anxiety can be a great way to help you deal with your overactive bladder daily. From helping you regain your confidence to creating a support system and getting sleep, there are lots of ways you can minimise feelings of stress and anxiety caused by an overactive bladder.

If you’re experiencing symptoms of an overactive bladder, be sure to get in touch with your doctor or local continence service for medical support and care.

At Attends, we understand the emotional and physical challenges having an overactive bladder can bring. That’s why we offer a wide range of incontinence products to suit a variety of needs.

With an additional layer of support and comfort, you can effectively reduce your feelings of stress and anxiety and get back to doing the things you love.