Do you remember the first time you were laughing at a joke and then all of a sudden you noticed you had peed just a little bit? There may have immediately been a wave of surprise and embarrassment. The moment where you wonder, “Is this normal?!” We’re here to tell you that you’re not alone. In fact, 66% of women experience bladder leakage, whether that's peeing when laughing, exercising, coughing, or any number of other instances.
When people normally imagine who experiences bladder leakage, they imagine it’s a little old lady problem. The reality is that it impacts people of all ages. On average, 20% of 20 year olds, 30% of 30 year olds, 40% of 40 year olds, and so on experience bladder leakage. That’s why we wanted to answer the question that so many women have, which is “Why do I pee when I laugh?”
Why Do I Pee When I Laugh? 5 Potential Reasons
We’re here to tell you that you’re not alone in experiencing bladder leakage, but that you also don’t have to live with it. For so long, society has provided bandaids for women’s bladder leakage problems as opposed to providing solutions to address the root cause.
What causes someone to pee when they laugh? This occurrence is called stress urinary incontinence. This is because there is stress put on the pelvic floor muscles, which support the bladder and a number of other organs and functions. The pelvic floor muscles aren’t able to support the bladder enough during the burst of pressure caused from laughing, running, coughing or other activities, and as a result urine escapes the bladder. This can also occur with fecal or gas incontinence.
What’s important to understand is that stress urinary incontinence is primarily a result of weak pelvic floor muscles. So what causes weak pelvic floor muscles? It can be a number of things including:
- High impact exercises
- Dancing or gymnastics
- Giving birth
- Aging
- Lack of pelvic floor strengthening
How to Not Pee When You Laugh
So know that you know why you pee when you laugh, you’re probably curious how to stop peeing when laughing. Luckily, there are some methods you can try to reduce urinary incontinence.
Kegels
Kegels are a proven method of treating and preventing weak pelvic floor muscles. Kegels are a series of contractions followed by release of the pelvic floor muscles. This isometric squeeze strengthens the muscles so that they can perform their functions properly. Doctors recommend that people do 100 minutes of traditions a week to maintain their pelvic floor muscles to prevent incontinence and other symptoms of muscle weakness.
Avoid Spicy & Acidic Foods
Spicy food, citric juices, and other items like that can irritate the bladder and exacerbate existing problems. For people experiencing stress urinary incontinence, it’s important to avoid foods or liquids that may make matters worse. Opt for hydrating with water and high-fiber foods instead until you’re back on track with your pelvic floor muscle strength.
Kegelbell
As we mentioned, kegels are a proven method of treating and preventing weak pelvic floor muscles. Unfortunately, kegels are limited to just the isometric squeeze. What Kegelbell has done is taken the natural kegel movement and added external weight to it to produce better results faster. This means that people can stop worrying about incontinence and get back to the things they love.
Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy
For those who feel that their stress incontinence is impacting their quality of life, it may be time to see a physical therapist. This is one of the more intensive routes to address serious pelvic floor dysfunction. We recommend looking for a PT who specializes in pelvic floor health. This tends to be more invasive and expensive, so we recommend consulting a PT first before starting on an independent exercise program.
Bladder Retraining
For those wondering, “Why do I pee when I laugh?”, it may be important to evaluate your current bathroom schedule and if that’s impacting your stress urinary incontinence. People experiencing incontinence may end up going to the bathroom more often resulting in a vicious cycle of an overactive bladder. Bladder retraining means keeping track of when and how often you go to the bathroom with the intention of increasing the time between visits.
Lose Excess Weight
Another cause of incontinence is carrying excess weight. For those who are overweight, the body, including the pelvic floor muscles, has to work harder to support the organs and natural functions of the body. By losing excess weight, the muscles are freed up to focus on supporting you as opposed to overworking.
Take Back Control of Your Body With Kegelbell
One of the main things that women share when they talk about the feelings that come along with incontinence is a loss of confidence and feeling of control over their body. They can no longer do the things they love without worrying their body may betray them.
Fortunately, at Kegelbell, we’re on a mission to help women take back control of their body. Kegelbell is the first externally weighted pelvic floor training device. It’s FDA Registered and made out of medical grade silicone because we know that when it comes to your body, you deserve only the best.
Our customers who are building muscle use Kegelbell for just five minutes, three times a week or once a week once you’ve reached your goal strength. The best part is that while many women start using Kegelbell to address leakage and other symptoms of pelvic floor weakness, they keep using it for all the other incredible benefits.
Learn more about Kegelbell and get started on your pelvic floor strengthening journey today!
