Skip to content
Cart
    • Shop
    • All Products
    • Happy Skin by Lisa Curry
    • Bundles
  • Clinic
  • Articles
  • Recipes
    • Get Started
    • Take the Assessment
    • Get Started
    • Resources
    • Rewards
    • Podcasts
    • Our Groups
    • The Team
    • Support
    • Our Vision
  • My Account
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • RSS
Change your site location
Currently shipping from our AUS site
Australia Stay on the Australian & NZ site Australia Go to the USA & Canada site
Contact My Account Log in
  • Shop expand
    • All Products
      All Products
    • Happy Skin by Lisa Curry
      Happy Skin by Lisa Curry
      Happy Skin by Lisa Curry
    • Bundles
      Bundles
  • Clinic
  • Articles
  • Recipes
  • Get Started expand
    • Take the Assessment
    • Get Started
    • Resources
    • Rewards
    • Podcasts
    • Our Groups
    • The Team
    • Support
    • Our Vision
How to Improve an Overactive Bladder

How to Improve an Overactive Bladder

Ever find yourself desperate for the loo, even though you’ve just been? Do you feel as though you are constantly rushing to the toilet all day long? Or waking up in the night? Does it feel as though it is interfering with your everyday life?

Many women (and men) experience an overactive bladder. It is a common condition that is defined as the frequent and/or urgent need to urinate. 

Sometimes when we have an overactive bladder it can be difficult to control. It can be a struggle to reach the loo in time, resulting in urinary incontinence. This is the involuntary loss of urine control. 

Having an overactive bladder can be an uncomfortable experience, and it can also make daily tasks more difficult. It can have a significant effect on the quality of life and affects 12-17% of the population. Its prevalence increases with age. 

But to know how to improve and treat an overactive bladder, it's important to understand what may be causing it. 

What Causes an Overactive Bladder?

Often, an overactive bladder is caused by ineffective urination. This is where the bladder cannot hold onto the 300ml capacity of urine because it has lost its muscular tonicity.

What can cause this?

  • Stress
  • Recurring urinary tract infections (UTIs)
  • Dehydration
  • Diabetes
  • Excess consumption of caffeine or alcohol
  • Side effects of medications
  • Underlying inflammatory conditions (i.e. acidity)
  • Hormonal changes during menopause in women
  • Detrusor muscle overactivity
  • Weak pelvic floor muscles

Take our Free Assessment

Connection Between the Kidneys and the Urinary System

Another possible cause of an overactive bladder could be attributed to a kidney deficiency. This is when the kidneys stop working as they should do and are no longer able to remove waste and extra water from the blood. 

How does this affect the bladder?

The bladder, urinary system and kidneys all have an influencing relationship with each other. In Chinese medicine, an overactive bladder can be attributed to weak kidney energy.

The kidney has many functions, including:

  • Regulating blood pressure
  • Reducing acidity (metabolic acidosis)
  • Disposing of waste material from the blood
  • Regulating water and fluid balance
  • Producing erythropoietin to build new red blood cells
  • Maintaining acid-alkaline balance

Healthy kidneys act as a filter to remove waste and fluids from the circulating blood. They also help keep the proper balance of salts and acids in the body and produce hormones. Yet when the kidneys are not working as they should do, it can result in an increased need to urinate. 

Likewise, if your bladder becomes too full and you do not go to the loo for too long, the pressure can cause damage to the kidneys. 

To keep your kidneys healthy it is important to exercise and keep active, control your blood sugar, and ensure that you are drinking plenty of fluids. 

How To Improve An Overactive Bladder

Having an overactive bladder can have a real impact on our lives. Getting up often in the night can lead to restless sleep and fatigue. Frequent urination in the day can be time-consuming and a weight on your mind. The urge to urinate can also be an uncomfortable experience. 

overactive bladder exercise

But it is important to remember that there are many things we can do, food we can eat, and exercises we can partake in to strengthen the bladder. Here are our recommendations for restoring bladder tone, supporting bladder health, and relieving urinary frequency. 

Diet Tips For Improving Bladder Health

Stay Hydrated

Slowly increase your water intake to the recommended 2 litres per day. This helps strengthen the integrity of the bladder and ensures that the body is eliminating adequate amounts of wastes. Increasing water intake also has a positive effect on bladder tone because metabolic waste can cause irritation which can contribute to an overactive bladder.

Herbal Tea

Herbal tea can help to optimise kidney function and filtration as they help to expel waste from the body. Dandelion Leaf and Green Tea are some good examples. 

Reduce Diuretics 

Examples include sugar, tea, alcohol, coffee and carbonated drinks. Diuretics place an extra burden on the kidneys’ filtration and cause the body to lose more water.

Reduce Alcohol Consumption

Alcohol can lead to dehydration and place a burden on the kidneys to remove the waste aldehyde from the system.

An Alkaline Diet

An alkaline diet involves eating foods such as fresh vegetables and fruits, lemon juice, water, brown rice, miso soup and vegetable juices. These foods help to cleanse and tone the kidneys and urinary system. Alternatively, an acidic diet includes inflammatory foods like sugar, wheat, dairy, red meat, oranges, alcohol, and preserved or processed food. To improve bladder health it is best to avoid an acidic diet. 

Vegetable Juice

Vegetable juices can encourage liver detoxification and kidney filtration. Some great options are freshly juiced beetroot, carrot, celery and ginger or watermelon, pineapple, green apple and mint. Aim for a juice each day. 

overactive bladder foods
Replace Table Salt With Sea Salt

Replace sodium (table salt) with sea salt or vegetable salt. Sodium is important for the health of the kidneys, but not in excessive amounts which can result in fluid retention. Sea salt is rich in many minerals without being refined and does not contain aluminium (used in table salt to keep the salt dry).

Vegetable Broth 

Vegetable broths are very rich in nutrients that are essential for the health of the kidneys as well. They’re also great for alkalising excess acidity levels to help take the burden off the kidneys’ filtration system. You can make a broth by boiling kidney beans and a mix of vegetables such as onions, celery, carrots, beetroot, spinach, sea salt, wakame (sea vegetables/ seaweed) and drinking a cup of the broth daily. This recipe is also very rich in minerals which again will help to fortify and nourish the kidneys while improving urinary system function.

Lifestyle Factors To Improve Bladder Health

Alongside dietary changes there are also other important ways to help support healthy bladder control.

Pelvic Floor Exercises

Practice your pelvic floor (Kegel) exercises daily as these exercises are aimed to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and, ideally, the bladder. The pelvic floor muscles go around the urethral opening, vagina, and rectum in women. Like all exercises, they require frequent practise to strengthen the muscles and keep them strong.

Address Underlying Causes

Address underlying causes of decreased kidney function and overactive bladder (OAC). These include stress, acidity, dehydration, inflammatory conditions and a history of urinary tract infections.

Explore Side Effects of Medication

Some pharmaceutical medications cause fluid retention and a decrease in kidney and bladder function. Speak to your GP about possible side effects from any medications you may be currently taking.

Try A Natural Supplement

Natural medicines can play a supportive role in managing symptoms due to their effectiveness and safety. Our product Happy Bladder can be taken daily with food as a natural, healthy, easy, and quick way to improve bladder control. Our formula has been clinically researched and found to help support healthy bladder function. 

 

Buy Happy Bladder

 

Research has shown that taking Happy Bladder, and supporting bladder health, can improve quality of life. This includes feeling less frustrated, being able to confidently take part in social activities, and being able to travel with reduced stress. Using natural medicines can be an effective and efficient way to help maintain bladder health. See best results with our dietary and lifestyle changes, too. 

 

Sally James

Sally James N.D is a Naturopathic lecturer, content health writer and naturopathic advisor, with 18 years experience working for herbal medicines companies in the areas of research, technical support and naturopathic advice. She has a special interest in women's health seeking to provide them with advice in natural health care through supporting, informing and educating women to empower themselves through better understanding of their bodies.

October 30, 2019
bladder Happy Bladder incontinence inflammation overactive bladder urinary

Featured Articles
  • The Optimal Skin Guide
    The Optimal Skin Guide
  • What is the Lymphatic System?
    What is the Lymphatic System?
  • What to Expect in an HHY Consultation
    What to Expect in an HHY Consultation
  • What happens when you take Happy Hormones?
    What happens when you take Happy Hormones?
  • How to Strengthen your Immunity Naturally
    How to Strengthen your Immunity Naturally
  • The Happy Hormones Cleansing Phase
    The Happy Hormones Cleansing Phase
Recent Articles
  • Watermelon Collagen Spritzer
  • 5 Skin Care Routine Steps to Aid Menopause Symptoms
  • Why You Need Collagen in Menopause
  • What are Collagen Peptides?
  • How Stress Affects Collagen Production
  • What Makes Happy Collagen So Special?
  • Strawberry Rhubarb Chia Jam
  • Asparagus Salmon Crust-Free Quiche
  • Lemon-Pepper Snow Peas
  • Mint Choco Chip HW Smoothie
  • Mood Swings and Anxiety
  • Are You Practicing Mindlessness or Mindfulness at Work?
  • Hormones & Your Cholesterol
  • Why am I always tired?
  • 5 Winter Skin Dryness Issues and How To Solve Them
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • RSS

Related Articles

What You Weren't Told After Your Cholecystectomy
Bedwetting: Causes and Treatment
Urinary Incontinence in Older Women

Recommended Products

Happy Hormones Capsules 240
Happy Hormones Capsules 240
1628 reviews
Regular price $99.95
Happy Bladder Bottle of 60 Capsules - Happy Healthy You
Happy Bladder 60
131 reviews
Regular price $49.95
Happy Greens 500ml
Happy Greens 500ml
365 reviews
Regular price $29.95

Invalid password
Enter

Join our Newsletter

Sign up to receive the latest news, updates & special offers.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Happy Shop
  • Happy Skin by Lisa Curry™
  • Happy Hormones
  • Happy Calm
  • Happy Collagen
  • Happy Liver
  • Happy Turmeric
  • Happy Greens
  • Happy Bladder
Happy You
  • Happy Weight
  • Happy Reset
  • Menopause
  • Bladder Bundle
  • Assessment
Happy Us
  • Contact
  • Clinic
  • Our Groups
  • Reviews
  • Shipping & Delivery
Happy Info
  • Podcasts
  • Resources
  • FAQs
  • Articles
  • Recipes
  • Affiliates

Always read the label. Follow the directions for use. If symptoms persist, talk to your healthcare professional.

© 2022 Happy Healthy You Design by Stead Lane
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Disclaimer
  • Refunds
  • Referral Terms
★ Reviews

Our Customer Reviews

10671 reviews
Write a review
94%
(10036)
3%
(336)
1%
(83)
1%
(55)
2%
(161)
J
Happy Healthy You
Jodie L. (Brisbane, AU)
Amazing

I have been taking HH for over a year and each time i think I can go without them I notice such a decrease in energy and mood. They have made a significant difference to my life and mood. I am a shift worker and I highly recommend for any women peri menopausal and low energy levels.

User picture
S
Happy Healthy You
Sheena H.H. (Sydney, AU)
I wish I'd tried HH sooner.

100 Happy Hormone tablets later and WHAT a difference. I cant imagine not taking this little supplement of sanity every day. If you are tossing up needs v's wants .... HH are a need, do this for yourself. I wish I had've ordered sooner.

User picture
S
Happy Healthy You
Suzanne F.F. (Millendon, AU)
Happy Hormones is my life saver

I started going through peri menopause and am having a period every 3-5 months. My biggest symptom beside insomnia is hot flushes. I was having one every 10 minutes and I became a very horrible person as I just couldn't stand them. Enter Happy Hormones, I was having 2 morning and night and it wasn't doing anything and then someone on the FB page suggested 3 morning and night and for that I am forever grateful as now I am not grumpy all the time and the hot flushes are like maybe 5 a day now. I am sure my husband and kids thanks you more :)

User picture
A
Happy Healthy You
Angela B. (Perth, AU)
Mother's Little Helper

My great friend Lori Woodhouse recommended I take Happy Hormones almost four years ago. It is the only supplement I have really noticed a significant improvement in my well being. I haven't gone without it since! I went from struggling to cope with being a working mum to enjoying parenting, and being able to balance life. I returned to uni whilst still working, finished my degree, and accepted a new job which is interesting, family friendly and challenging. I don't believe I could have managed all that in the past 4 years without my daily dose of Happy Hormones, and of course the support of my wonderful friend Lori Woodhouse. Lori also landed her dream job in that time, which combines her skills as a Registered Nurse with a passion for health at Happy Healthy You! This is us at my 50th Birthday Lunch just four weeks ago!

User picture
D
Happy Healthy You
Denise B. (Melbourne, AU)
Thank goodness for your products

I use both Happy hormones and happy liver, although I am 68 I still get hot flushes, my recent blood test my liver is great
And I am very happy to say my hot flushes are gone Tks to your wonderful products, they travel all over Australia with me and I have spread the word about them. Tks sooooo much

User picture
123
Powered by Judge.me