As women age, they begin to have problems with some sort of urine leakage, and the incidence of urinary leakage seems to increase with age. While at first glance it may seem ordinary that any physical problem gets worse with age, perhaps women should not just accept this statistic as their inevitable future.
Why does urinary incontinence increase in women as they age?
1. Trauma – A major factor that many women have to deal with is the trauma that their body has endured going through childbirth. While some urinary incontinence in women may be immediate, other times the damage takes a while to manifest itself. Not only childbirth, but the pull of gravity on a woman’s pelvic organs can cause the bladder, uterus or bowel to shift out of their correct position causing increased pressure on the pelvic floor muscles, which can lead to urinary incontinence. Also as tissues weaken with age more problems begin.
2. Hormones – As women age their estrogen levels drop, and after menopause the levels begin declining even faster. Lower estrogen levels cause connective tissues to weaken. These connective tissues are a prominent part of the pelvic floor muscles, and as they weaken, they take the strength of the pelvic floor with them. The pelvic floor muscles offer support to a woman’s internal organs and help to control urine flow, so with weakened muscles comes urinary incontinence in women.
3. Exercise – Frequently as women age, they naturally become less active. With the decrease in activity, muscles become flabby, and the pelvic floor muscles are no exception. Exercise can help stave off many problems as women age, like urinary incontinence, if women make some lifestyle changes before it is too late.
While nature seems to be against women as they age, if they take care to maintain a healthy lifestyle including a well rounded diet and adequate exercise, they can actually hold their ground against Mother Nature. Though there may be times that illness or injury cause problems that women simply have to accept, it is nice to know that for the affects of simple aging women can paint their own bright future by heeding some simple and practical advice, eat well and exercise.
Incontinence pads can allow any woman who is suffering from urinary incontinence the security to live their lives free of worry. The pads come in a great variety of shapes, sizes, and absorbencies to deal with mild to severe incontinence, and they afford the wearer comfort and protection from skin irritation while protecting furniture and clothing. DryForLife supplies a complete line of incontinence pads allowing persons who have incontinence the freedom to live their lives fully.
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