We grew up hearing the about benefits of drinking a lot of water. Not only does it keep us hydrated, but it also keeps our bodily functions running smoothly. Water also flushes out the harmful toxins from the body via urination.

Urinating frequently is usually a good sign. It helps you keep away from the diseases, but the constant urge to urinate and frequent trips to the toilet can become annoying.

What is frequent urination?
Frequent urination is the urge to pass more urine than usual, more often than usual. Frequent urination can be an irritating interruption to your daily routine, your sleep quality, and can also be a sign of more serious medical problems.

Many people live with the problem of frequent urination. When someone urinates more than 3 liters in a day, it’s called polyuria.

How do you identify if you have an overactive bladder?
Your bladder can store up to 400-600 milliliters of urine. A healthy person visits the toilet between four to eight times in the day, and once at night.

But, if you have the urge to visit the toilet more often than mentioned, or are unable to hold back your urine, and experience leakage during urination, or if you are urinating several times during the night, then you should immediately consult a doctor to diagnose your condition.

How to stop frequent urination?
The nature of treatment for frequent urination depends upon two factors:

• If the diagnosis indicates that you may have diabetes mellitus, then the treatment would aim to regulate and control your high blood sugar levels.
• In case of a bacterial kidney infection, the treatment would include either painkiller therapy or antibiotics.
• However, if you’re suffering from an acute case of overactive bladder, then medication such as an anticholinergic might be recommended. These would ultimately stop the abnormal and involuntary bladder muscle contractions from happening.

Bladder exercises and treatments
Other types of treatments aim to tackle frequent urination itself instead of treating or taking care of the underlying medical issue.

Kegel exercises
Kegel exercises, performed daily, can strengthen the urethra and pelvic muscles, apart from providing support to the bladder. For good results, perform kegel exercises 10-20 times, at least three-four times a day, for a period of 4-8 weeks. Kegel exercises have also been found to benefit women during and after pregnancy

Biofeedback
Biofeedback is used side-by-side with Kegel exercises and helps patients become more aware of their bodily functions. This can help the patient understand and better tackle frequent urination.

Bladder training
Bladder training involves training your bladder to hold back urination for a longer duration. This training can last for a treatment cycle of about 2-3 months.

Monitoring your fluid intake
Monitoring your fluid intake is the most basic step you can take. It might indicate that drinking too much water or other fluids is responsible for your problems with frequent urination.

How to stop frequent urination with proper diet?
Eating a healthy, balanced diet and maintaining a healthy, stress-free lifestyle can help in moderating your frequency of urination as well.

This means keeping track of your caffeine and alcohol intake and ruling out foods that can result in the irritation of the bladder. Try to avoid foods that act as a diuretic as well, like chocolate, artificial sweeteners, and spicy food.

Consuming foods that are high in fiber can also prevent constipation. This could in turn, indirectly improve the flow of urine via the urethra. This is because the rectum is known to apply pressure to both the urethra and urinary bladder if you’re constipated. Include half a cup of pure cranberry juice in your daily diet. This helps prevent both urinary irritation and infection.

Water intake

• Keep a bottle of water with you at all times, or as far as possible.
• Keep drinking water in small quantities throughout the day, in case you feel the urge to urinate, use the toilet.
• Finish drinking water by 6.00 p.m at the latest, to lower your chances of urination in the night.
• The next day you will have to reduce the amount of water you drink by a quarter of your total intake from the previous day. The 25% reduction will lead to a great reduction in the frequency and urgency of urination, and stop frequent urination at night.
• Train your bladder to become stronger and better at holding urine in. See how long you can go without urinating, from the time the need to urinate arises, to when you are actually urinating. Try keeping a tab of these timeframes through the day.

While frequent urination might be caused by a number of factors like the Parkinson’s disease, weak pelvic muscles, there are many ways to stop frequent urination. Follow the treatment options and tips mentioned above to stop frequent urination and have a stress-free and smooth life.