Today’s informational blog is republished from our friends at PaleoHacks.

Add these strengthening pelvic floor exercises to your workout routine to improve your sex life and reduce your risk of incontinence.

The pelvic floor is often overlooked, but they’re an important set of muscles to exercise! A strong pelvic floor is responsible for control and pleasure during sex, and they also control the bladder and bowel movements.

What is The Pelvic Floor?

So what exactly is the pelvic floor? These supportive muscles, tendons, and ligaments form a hammock at the base of the pelvis, helping the bladder, uterus, vagina, and rectum to function correctly. (1) They are the foundation for the core, providing stability and support to the organs of the lower abdominal cavity.

Common causes of pelvic floor issues include pregnancy or childbirth, hysterectomy, certain sports, aging, or inactivity of the pelvic floor muscles, just to name a few. Once the pelvic floor has been compromised, problems such as incontinence, diminished sex drive, or even pelvic organ prolapse – when pelvic organs protrude into or outside of the vagina – can arise. The most common sign of a weak pelvic floor – which affects up to 25% of women – is involuntary urine leakage (incontinence).

Luckily, pelvic exercises can help to restore strength and reverse some of these negative effects. These exercises, also known as Kegels, involve squeezing and relaxing muscles in the genital region in order to isometrically train the pelvic floor muscles.

How to Locate Your Pelvic Floor

Before beginning the following exercises, you must first be able to locate your pelvic floor muscles. Here’s how to do it:

1. Begin lying down with your knees bent and your feet on the floor.
2. Squeeze and lift the rectal and vaginal areas as if you were trying to stop yourself from urinating. Hold for 5-10 seconds and then release.
3. You should feel a closing feeling in your genital area when you squeeze. Imagine yourself drawing energy from the base of the pelvic bowl all the way up your body and through the crown of your head.
4. Repeat for 5 reps.
5. Use this Kegel sensation throughout the following 7 exercises.

7 Exercises That Strengthen Pelvic Floor

Bridge | 3 reps

This pelvic exercise helps to strengthen the pelvic floor, core, and hamstrings.

1. Start by lying down with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Place your arms down alongside your body with your palms facing down.
2. Engage your pelvic floor. Then, inhale to lift your hips up towards the ceiling. Hold for 20 seconds and then exhale to slowly release your hips back down.
3. Repeat for 3 reps.

Shifting Plank | 15 reps

This exercise strengthens your pelvic floor and the other surrounding core muscles.

1. Start lying on the floor on your belly. Prop yourself up onto your forearms, straighten your legs and tuck your toes under, coming into a forearm plank.
2. Draw your navel up and in and engage your pelvic floor. Your shoulders should be stacked over your elbows and your hips should be in line with your shoulders.
3. Staying in your plank shape, inhale to shift your shoulders in front of your elbows, coming high onto the balls of your feet.
4. Exhale to shift your shoulders back over your elbows, pressing your heels back.
5. Repeat for 15 reps.

Wall Sit | 60 sec

This exercise helps to strengthen the pelvic floor, core, and legs.

1. Stand facing away from a wall.
2. Place your back against the wall and then walk your feet out in front of you so that the wall is supporting you.
3. Bend your knees until they are at 90-degree angles and engage your pelvic floor. Keep your navel drawing up and in towards your spine so that your lower back is pressing into the wall.
4. Reach your arms straight out in front of you hold for 60 seconds, then release.

Split Tabletop | 15 reps

This exercise strengthens the pelvic floor and core muscles.

1. Start by lying down with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Place your arms down alongside your body with your palms facing down.
2. Engage your pelvic floor and lift your feet off the ground. Parallel your shins to the ground so that your knees are at a 90-degree angle.
3. Keeping your knees at 90-degree angles, inhale to separate your thighs into a straddle.
4. Exhale to squeeze your thighs back together and contract your pelvic floor.
5. Repeat for 15 reps.

Tabletop Pelvic Tilts | 15 reps

These pelvic tilts help you to strengthen the pelvic floor.

1. Begin on your hands and knees in a tabletop position, with your shoulders stacked over your wrists and your hips over your knees.
2. Inhale to round your lower back, tilting your tailbone down. Tuck your chin, draw your navel up and in, and contract your pelvic floor muscles.
3. Exhale to come back to center.
4. Repeat for 15 reps.

Bird Dog | 12 reps per side

This exercise strengthens the pelvic floor and the rest of the core muscles, improving balance and coordination.

1. Start in a tabletop position on your hands and knees. Engage your pelvic floor.
2. Shift your weight onto your left hand and your right knee. Then, inhale to reach your right arm forward and your left leg back.
3. Pause for a moment to balance, then exhale to place your right hand and your left knee back down to the starting position.
4. Shift your weight onto your right hand and your left knee. Then, inhale to reach your left arm forward and your right leg back.
5. Pause for a moment, then exhale to place your left hand and right knee back down.
6. Continue alternating for 12 reps.

Dead Bugs Crunch | 15 reps

This exercise strengthens the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles.

1. Start by lying down with your knees bent and your heels on the floor. Extend your arms back behind your head and engage your pelvic floor.
2. On an exhale, draw your knees into your chest and crunch your shoulders up off the ground. Reach towards your toes as you contract your pelvic floor.
3. Inhale to lower your arms and heels back to the starting position.
4. Repeat for 15 reps.

Add these strengthening pelvic floor exercises to your workout routine to improve your sex life and reduce your risk of incontinence.

Easy bladder trick to end pee accidents (do this tonight)

Are you always running to the bathroom?

Do you have trouble holding your pee for too long?

Constantly have that “got-to-go” feeling?

Embarrassed about adult diapers and ready to get out of them?

You can actually STRENGTHEN your bladder to “hold back the tides”.

It’s about INFLATING a little-known muscle that seals the bladder shut!

Finally say goodbye to the urges… the accidents… the leaks… the stress…

This 30-second trick you can try tonight puts you back in control!

Can’t hold your pee for long? Check this out NOW!

Original article can be found here:

The post 7 Exercises That Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.

Today’s blog is republished from my friends at TheAlternativeDaily, a leading publisher of daily alternative health tips that I personally read every day…

If you suffer from frequent urination at night — also called nocturia — chances are you’re probably not getting enough restful sleep, leaving you cranky and frustrated with your body. Here’s how to get your overactive bladder under control, naturally.

What is nocturia?

If you find yourself getting up more than once during the six to eight hour period when you should be sleeping, you’re not alone. Approximately one in three adults over the age of 30 have nocturia (an excessive need to urinate at night), says the Urology Care Foundation. It could be the case that your body is making too much urine, your bladder can’t hold it for long periods of time or it’s a bit of both.

According to researchers, nocturia has a significant impact on people’s overall health and wellbeing. It contributes to fatigue, memory issues, depression and anxiety, higher risk of heart disease, gastrointestinal distress and increased risk of falls. Sleep is tied to everything — and without it, our bodies suffer.

What causes nocturia?

There are several lifestyle choices, health conditions and medications that affect the presence of nocturia. One of the most common is aging. That’s because the older we get, the less our bodies produce the hormone that tells our kidneys to take it easy while we’re resting. In addition, with age, the bladder becomes less elastic, so it can’t hold onto as much urine as it used to be able to. The result? Frequent trips to the restroom in the middle of the night.

In older men, an enlarged prostate could be the culprit behind nocturia. This occurs because the bladder is unable to empty out completely, leading to more trips to the toilet round-the-clock. In women, those who have had children may have weaker muscles if they haven’t worked on their pelvic floor muscles. Additionally, women who have gone through menopause experience reduced estrogen production, which can impact the urinary tract.

More causes for nocturia

If you think you might have a serious medical condition, make an appointment with your doctor today. Here are some other common reasons for frequent urination at night:

• Heart issues
• Diabetes
• Liver failure
• Alzheimer’s
• Parkinson’s
• Overactive bladder
• Prostate tumor
• Interstitial cystitis
• Pregnancy
• Obesity

Keep a diary by your bed and record how often you’re going to the restroom, so you can report back to your doctor. You can also use the BladderTrakHer web app and log every trip to the toilet. In the meantime, here are some ways to handle nocturia:

Drink less before bed

Are you having several cups of tea before bed? Drinking a few too many glasses of wine in your PJs? Before anything else, try modifying the amount of liquid you drink before bedtime to see if this can effectively reduce nighttime urination. You may find immediate relief! Also make sure to avoid caffeine in the afternoon or alcohol in the late evening, since both interfere with your natural urination cycle.

With all of that said, it’s important not to reduce your overall fluid intake too much. It may seem like this is an easy way to stop peeing at night, but it could have adverse health effects, like a urinary tract infection. Speaking of which…

Check in with your urinary tract

When you have the early symptoms of a urinary tract infection (UTI), you may feel the urge to “go” more often than normal, especially at night. Before a full-blown infection strikes, stay hydrated every day, adjust your diet to include probiotics and always pee after sex. You might have an infection if your nighttime urination is paired with pain in your stomach, a fever and blood in your urine. If this is the case, see a doctor right away to confirm your diagnosis.

Talk to your doctor about your meds

Many medications have nocturia as a side effect. For example, if you suffer from heart failure, your doctor may have prescribed you a diuretic to get rid of the edema (fluid buildup) in your lower extremities. Unfortunately, you may feel the need to pee more often at night. Talk to your doctor about changing the medication or see if you can take it earlier in the day.

Soothe your sleep disorder

It may not actually be the urge to pee that’s waking you up, but a different problem altogether. Do you have chronic pain? Sleep apnea? Are you feeling anxious or depressed lately? All of these things can interrupt your normal sleep pattern, leaving you awake at strange hours of the night. Talk to a physician you trust about to fix your sleep disorder, naturally. You may find that your peeing problem goes away too.

Eat a handful of raisins

The evidence on this is purely anecdotal, but many nocturia sufferers have reported positive effects from eating a handful of raisins just before bed. To see if this works for you, eat 1/4 cup of raisins (about 30) before you head off to sleep. Try this for several nights in a row to see if it makes a difference. Even if it’s only the placebo effect, at least it works for some people!

Avoid ‘irritating’ foods and drinks

There are several foods and beverages that are known to make bladder irritation even worse. If you’re eating or drinking any of these, stop and see if your nocturia gets better:

• Alcohol
• Chocolate
• Coffee and tea
• Processed foods
• Tomatoes, tomato sauce, salsa
• Hot sauce, chili peppers, wasabi or anything else that’s spicy
• Acidic fruit juices, like orange and grapefruit

Make sure to scan the complete list of foods to avoid from the Cleveland Clinic.

Strengthen your pelvic floor

It’s always a good idea to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, which support a woman’s uterus, bladder, small intestine and rectum. For a man, strong pelvic floor muscles support the bladder and urethra, helping to combat incontinence and other problems down the line.

So what’s the solution for both men and women? Kegel exercises! Studies have shown that performing kegel exercises on a daily basis can significantly strengthen pelvic floor muscles, which helps to address many of the biggest problems associated with urinary issues.

First, identify the muscle group by interrupting the flow of urine. Hold for five seconds, then resume peeing. Once you’re familiar with the right muscles, lie down on your back in a comfortable spot. Tighten the pelvic floor muscles, holding the contraction for five seconds, then relax for five seconds. Do the exercise four to five times in a row, a few times a week. Be careful not to overextend your bladder and cause further irritation. Within a few weeks, you should have a stronger pelvic floor, especially if you try out this next tip…

Roll out your yoga mat

Among yoga’s numerous benefits are exercises that strengthen the pelvic floor. Get on down to your nearest yoga studio or search for “yoga and pelvic floor” exercises on YouTube. Some of the best asanas for your pelvis are:

• Squat
• Locust pose
• Warrior II pose
• Bridge pose
• Chair pose
• Child’s pose

(The original article source is here)
Hilary Lebow

Before you go, I have another important message for both men and women…

Attention Women: Stop ‘pee leaks’ with this upper body stretch

If you want to stop bladder leakage and tighten your pelvic floor, you’re supposed to do kegels, right? Well…

That’s wrong, but there is an UPPER body stretch that strengthens your pelvic floor and stops ‘pee leaks’…

>> This strange upper body stretch STOPS bladder leakage

Attention Men: try THIS if you have an enlarged SWOLLEN prostate:

Just a handful of doctors knew this until recently:

Every man over 40 suffering from prostate problems has this hidden toxin “leaking” inside their bodies…

And not only does it swell the prostate, giving you the nagging sensation that you have to pee immediately…

But could also lead to other incurable complications!

How to avoid the dangerous “prostate toxin”.

The post Peeing Too Much At Night? Here’s How To Stop appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.