U-M School of Nursing professor discusses women’s bladder health

If your bladder leaks when you cough, sneeze or laugh, or every time you come home–-even if you left 10 minutes ago––you’re not alone.

It’s thought that 30%-50% of women will experience some sort of bladder issue by middle age. This problem worsens with age, but many women still hate talking about incontinence, even with their health care provider. Janis Miller, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing and Medical School, has spent a career studying women’s bladder health.

Her research suggests that for many women, a simple change in thinking can dramatically improve bladder control by retraining the bladder to respond differently to common urge triggers. For other women, simple, well-timed pelvic floor contractions (not the hundreds of daily Kegels you’ve likely been told to do) performed when the urge to urinate strikes can reduce or even solve the problem of poor bladder control.

To that end, Miller has developed a fun-to-watch, 15-minute web tutorial called My Confident Bladder that women can watch at home. The tutorial introduces skills and self-assessment tools that can help women develop healthy bladder control habits.

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