Taking Back Control of Your Bladder: Useful Habits from a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist

Urinary incontinence, urgency and frequency are bladder related issues that affect many people through all walks of life. If you’ve ever had the thought or said out loud:

• “I pee every time I sneeze.”
• “I constantly feel like I have to pee even though I just went.”
• “I can’t think of anything but the restroom as soon as I get an urge.”

These are experiences many others have too. While these experiences are prevalent it doesn’t mean that it’s something you have to just deal with.

Even when you’ve recognized a problem, life can get away from us. It’s understandable to feel like you don’t have the time, understanding or resources to do anything about your bladder/urinary challenges.

So, whether you’re a mom of 2 or a busy professional, here are 3 questions and a few suggestions to help you improve your bladder issues using everyday habits.

What to Know About Your Pelvic Floor

Your pelvic floor is an important part of your body affected by your muscles, organs, nervous system, ligaments, bones and habits. The relationship between all these factors affect pelvic floor function which include reproductive function, pelvic organ support, and control of bowel/bladder function.

You don’t need a deep pelvic floor knowledge to start making changes that can improve your bladder function. A closer look at your daily habits can be more powerful than you think! A little bit can go a long way, especially when paired with working with a trusted pelvic floor physical therapist.

3 Questions for Your Bladder Habits

Now let’s look at 3 questions to help you better understand how your bladder and pelvic floor communicate.

1. What’s my urination schedule like?

Maybe you work from home and going to the restroom is very convenient so next thing you know your day started at 9 AM and you’ve already been to the restroom 5 times by lunchtime. Or maybe you work in a busy office with back to back meetings and deadlines to hit so going to the restroom is the furthest thing from your mind.

How often are you using the restroom daily?

Normal voiding frequency is every 2-4 hours. This gives the bladder time to fill and stretch to a point that it signals to your brain it’s time to go. Going too often or too little can contribute to bladder issues because that natural relationship gets overpowered or silenced. Finding time to go to the restroom throughout the day is important.

If you feel like you might not be on schedule, setting timers on your phone can be a helpful reminder to make sure you’re in the normal voiding frequency window. It’s easy to get lost in a busy day, but having a little reminder to get up and take a bathroom break is an easy way to get on the right track. Timers also help hold you accountable to not going to the bathroom too often if you experience urinary frequency.

2. What am I drinking?

For many, a cup of coffee to start your day is probably second nature, but if you experience sudden, uncontrollable urgency or leaking then it may be time to change up your beverage habits.

This is where knowledge of bladder irritants helps.

Bladder irritants are food and beverages that can irritate your bladder lining and make urinary urgency, frequency, and incontinence worse. Common bladder irritants are drinks that contain caffeine, carbonation, alcohol and citrus.

If you’ve identified a connection between what you’re drinking and your bladder, you don’t have to automatically give up your favorite drink. Try drinking water while consuming your favorite drink. This can provide a dilution effect which can make your bladder less sensitive.

Simple modifications—like diet and working with a pelvic floor physical therapist—can help you keep control of your bladder function without completely changing your routine.

3. How’s my form?

Form is not only relevant to exercise. Many people hover over toilets when it’s time to go, usually due to hygiene concerns.

When it’s time to go, your pelvic floor muscles are supposed to relax to signal to the bladder that it’s time to contract its muscle, the detrusor, to empty. Hovering over the toilet, think mini-squat, keeps hip and pelvic floor muscles engaged which can cause confusion between your muscles, bladder and brain. While it may seem like an innocent habit, these mixed signals can also contribute to bladder issues.

Since this article isn’t about the cleanliness of restrooms, here’s a modification that can help your bladder function better. Try creating a barrier with toilet paper on the toilet seat as a quick way to get more comfortable with fully sitting down while protecting your pelvic floor health.

Save the squats for your workout and let your pelvic floor muscles relax.

Conclusion

With bladder problems, figuring out where to begin can be overwhelming. A quick reflection of your habits and small changes can be a great first step in controlling these issues on your own.

However, if you feel like you need to dive deeper into addressing bladder related issues, I (and other pelvic floor physical therapists) am here to help you get to the root of the problems!

Working with a skilled pelvic floor physical therapist can help you more quickly identify how your pelvic floor muscles, bones, ligaments, nervous system and habits contribute to your issues. From there, we work with you to create a plan catered to you and your needs.

References

1. Leslie SW, Tran LN, Puckett Y. Urinary Incontinence. [Updated 2024 Aug 11]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559095/
2. Grimes WR, Stratton M. Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. 2023 Jun 26. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan–. PMID: 32644672.
3. Reynolds WS, Kowalik C, Kaufman MR, Dmochowski RR, Fowke JH. Women’s Perceptions of Public Restrooms and the Relationships with Toileting Behaviors and Bladder Symptoms: A Cross-Sectional Study. J Urol. 2020 Aug;204(2):310-315. doi: 10.1097/JU.0000000000000812. Epub 2020 Feb 25. PMID: 32096679; PMCID: PMC7354199.