Hey everyone and welcome back to another many episode of Ask Dr. Hazel in the short 5-minute

episodes I answer questions submitted by you. Just a quick disclaimer that the information

provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice

or replaced at a very usual healthcare provider. Now without further ado, let's hear from

this week's listener.

Hi Hazel, my question is about light bladder leakage and if it's normal for a young woman,

especially someone who hasn't had kids and also what can I do about it?

Thank you so much for your question. I'm so glad that you brought this topic up because

I know it affects a lot of people and it's not spoken about enough.

Now urinary incontinence or accidental bladder leakage is very common in women especially

after childbirth and with aiding as you quite rightly alluded to, but women who have not

had children or a vaginal delivery can also experience it. That said, well I really want

to normalize talking about it, it's not normal and it's not an inevitable part of being

a woman and there are things we can do to help.

So there are a few types of incontinence but the most common types are stress incontinence

and urgent incontinence, but it's also possible to have a mixture of both.

Now stress incontinence is often due to a weakened pelvic floor and it occurs when urine

leaks when there's an increased downward pressure. For example during coughing and laughing

or sneezing and also in certain forms of exercise are typically running and skipping.

Often this might be just little small amounts of urine but it can be large amounts to and

it can massively affect people's quality of life.

No single thing causes it but the biggest risk factor is age followed by pregnancy and

...