For many people with urinary incontinence, the following self-help tips and lifestyle changes are enough to relieve symptoms.
Do daily pelvic floor exercises
Pelvic floor exercises can be effective at reducing leaks, but it’s important to do them properly. Find out how to do pelvic floor exercises.
You may have to do pelvic floor exercises for 3 months before you see any benefits.
Stop smoking
If you smoke, you put yourself at risk of incontinence, because coughing puts strain on your pelvic floor muscles.
Find out about NHS Smokefree support services, or call the Smokefree National Helpline to speak to a trained adviser on 0300 123 1044 from Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm and Saturday and Sunday 11am to 4pm.
Find out more about how to stop smoking.
Do the right exercises
High-impact exercise and sit-ups put pressure on your pelvic floor muscles and can increase leaks.
To strengthen your pelvic floor to relieve symptoms, replace high-impact exercise, such as jogging and aerobics, with strengthening exercise, such as pilates.
Pilates strengthens your core muscles, which is beneficial for stress incontinence.
Avoid lifting
Lifting puts strain on your pelvic floor muscles, so avoid it whenever you can.
When you do need to lift something, such as picking up children or shopping bags, tighten your pelvic floor muscles before and during the lift.
Lose excess weight
Being overweight can weaken your pelvic floor muscles and cause incontinence because of the pressure of fatty tissue on your bladder.
Your symptoms may improve, and could go away completely, if you lose any excess weight.
Use the healthy weight calculator to check you’re a healthy weight for your height.
Find out more about how to lose weight.
Treat constipation promptly
Straining to poo weakens your pelvic floor muscles and makes urinary incontinence worse.
Never ignore the urge to poo. If you have constipation, it may help to change your diet and lifestyle.
Eating more fibre and exercising more can help. It may also help if you change the way you sit and use your muscles to empty your bowels. A specialist physiotherapist can advise you on this.
Find out more about how to have a healthy diet.
Cut down on caffeine
Caffeine irritates the bladder and can make incontinence worse.
Coffee has the biggest effect, so stop drinking it or switch to decaffeinated coffee.
Fizzy drinks, tea, green tea, energy drinks and hot chocolate also contain caffeine, so cut down on these too and replace them with water and herbal or fruit teas.
Cut down on alcohol
Alcohol is a diuretic, which makes you urinate more often. Cutting down may help incontinence symptoms.
Find out more about how to cut down on alcohol.
Drink plenty of water
Drink 6 to 8 glasses of fluid a day (but no more) unless your doctor advises you otherwise.
Many people with urinary incontinence avoid drinking fluids, as they feel it causes more problems. However, limiting your fluid intake makes incontinence worse, because it reduces your bladder’s capacity.
Not drinking enough fluid can also cause constipation or make it worse.
Find out which are the healthiest drinks.
Eat the right foods
Avoid spicy and acidic foods, such as curries and citrus fruits, as they can irritate the bladder and make leaks and other incontinence symptoms worse.
Page last reviewed: 07 November 2019
Next review due: 07 November 2022
Kegel exercises: A how-to guide for women
Kegel exercises can prevent or control urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor problems. Here’s a step-by-step guide to doing Kegel exercises correctly.
By Mayo Clinic Staff
Kegel exercises strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, which support the uterus, bladder, small intestine and rectum. You can do Kegel exercises, also known as pelvic floor muscle training, just about anytime.
Start by understanding what Kegel exercises can do for you — then follow these instructions for contracting and relaxing your pelvic floor muscles.
Why Kegel exercises matter
Female pelvic floor muscles
Female pelvic floor muscles
A woman’s pelvic floor muscles work like a hammock to support the pelvic organs, including the uterus, bladder and rectum. Kegel exercises can help strengthen these muscles.
Many factors can weaken your pelvic floor muscles, including pregnancy, childbirth, surgery, aging, excessive straining from constipation or chronic coughing, and being overweight.
You might benefit from doing Kegel exercises if you:
- Leak a few drops of urine while sneezing, laughing or coughing (stress incontinence)
- Have a strong, sudden urge to urinate just before losing a large amount of urine (urinary urge incontinence)
- Leak stool (fecal incontinence)
Kegel exercises can also be done during pregnancy or after childbirth to try to improve your symptoms.
Kegel exercises are less helpful for women who have severe urine leakage when they sneeze, cough or laugh. Also, Kegel exercises aren’t helpful for women who unexpectedly leak small amounts of urine due to a full bladder (overflow incontinence).
How to do Kegel exercises
To get started:
- Find the right muscles. To identify your pelvic floor muscles, stop urination in midstream. Once you’ve identified your pelvic floor muscles you can do the exercises in any position, although you might find it easiest to do them lying down at first.
- Perfect your technique. To do Kegels, imagine you are sitting on a marble and tighten your pelvic muscles as if you’re lifting the marble. Try it for three seconds at a time, then relax for a count of three.
- Maintain your focus. For best results, focus on tightening only your pelvic floor muscles. Be careful not to flex the muscles in your abdomen, thighs or buttocks. Avoid holding your breath. Instead, breathe freely during the exercises.
- Repeat three times a day. Aim for at least three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions a day.
Don’t make a habit of using Kegel exercises to start and stop your urine stream. Doing Kegel exercises while emptying your bladder can actually lead to incomplete emptying of the bladder — which increases the risk of a urinary tract infection.
When to do your Kegels
Make Kegel exercises part of your daily routine. You can do Kegel exercises discreetly just about any time, whether you’re sitting at your desk or relaxing on the couch.
When you’re having trouble
If you’re having trouble doing Kegel exercises, don’t be embarrassed to ask for help. Your doctor or other health care provider can give you important feedback so that you learn to isolate and exercise the correct muscles.
In some cases, vaginal weighted cones or biofeedback might help. To use a vaginal cone, you insert it into your vagina and use pelvic muscle contractions to hold it in place during your daily activities. During a biofeedback session, your doctor or other health care provider inserts a pressure sensor into your vagina or rectum. As you relax and contract your pelvic floor muscles, a monitor will measure and display your pelvic floor activity.
When to expect results
If you do Kegel exercises regularly, you can expect results — such as less frequent urine leakage — within about a few weeks to a few months. For continued benefits, make Kegel exercises a permanent part of your daily routine.
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- Wein AJ, et al., eds. Conservative management of urinary incontinence: Behavioral and pelvic floor therapy and urethral and pelvic devices. In: Campbell-Walsh Urology. 11th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Elsevier; 2016. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Sept. 18, 2018.
- Ferri FF. Kegel exercises strengthening your pelvic floor muscles. In: Ferri’s Clinical Advisor 2019. Philadelphia, Pa.: Elsevier; 2019. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Sept. 18, 2019.
- Kegel exercises for your pelvic muscles. American Academy of Family Physicians. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Sept. 18, 2019.
- Kegel exercises. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/bladder-control-problems-women/kegel-exercises. Accessed April 4, 2018.
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