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5 tips for coping with adult night time incontinence
Incontinence is a condition faced by people of all ages and walks of life. In this blogpost, we’re going to take you through our 5 top tips for dealing with incontinence at night.
Wetting the bed at night is usually associated with infants and young children. However, it’s a misconception to think that it can’t affect adults as well: incontinence is a condition faced by people of all ages and walks of life. In this blogpost, we’re going to take you through our 5 top tips for dealing with incontinence at night.
Tip 1: Get familiar with the terminology
The medical term for bedwetting is nocturnal enuresis. ‘Nocturnal’ refers to the night time part, and ‘enuresis’ (pronounced en-yuh-REE-sis) means involuntary urination. If someone has wet the bed since they were born, they are said to have primary nocturnal enuresis. For most adults, the condition develops at a later stage – in this case, the condition is called secondary enuresis. Together, these two conditions fall under the umbrella of ‘urinary incontinence’, a global health issue affecting millions of people.
Tip 2: Create a night time routine
The importance of sleep has been well recognised by the health and wellbeing community for some time now. At WFIPP, we certainly feel better after getting a good 7-8 hours of shut eye at night. Turning your bedroom into a relaxing haven of calm can help you feel less anxious about night time incontinence – and it only takes a few simple steps! Firstly, it’s a good idea to remove electronic devices and stick to reading a book or magazine before actually going to sleep. Secondly, a lovely scented candle or a pillow spray can help reduce stress and create a sleepy atmosphere. Finally, try not to eat or drink anything for a couple of hours before you go to bed, so that your body has time to digest and prepare for rest.
Tip 3: Check out the latest technology
Bedwetting alarms can be an effective way to treat adult nocturnal enuresis. With these alarms, a bell or buzzer goes when a person begins to wet the bed. You can then quickly turn the alarm off, go to the toilet, and go back to sleep without wetting the bed too much. After a few weeks, you’ll hopefully find that your body has adjusted to this new routine, and that you actually wake up before the alarm sounds.
Tip 4: Keep a bladder diary
There are many people who can help adults with night time incontinence, including your family doctor, physiotherapists and specially trained nurses. To help them understand your symptoms and particular condition, it can be useful to keep a bladder diary for 3 days before the appointment. Using this template, you can record how much liquid you drink, how often your urinate and how frequently you experience urinary incontinence symptoms. It will be worth the effort if it helps you to get a proper diagnosis.
Tip 5: Learn to ‘live better’ with night time incontinence
If you share a bed with someone, then you might be especially concerned about nocturnal enuresis. It can be embarrassing to wake up and find that you have wet the bed, plus it can create a barrier to having a healthy and happy sex life. There are tips on how to deal with this on our platform, so do take a look if this is also a concern for you. The important thing is not to blame yourself, and to not withdraw from your partner as a result. We know that’s easier said than done, but the experiences of our incontinence community suggest that these tips can prove very useful and help improve your quality of life.
Thanks for reading and here’s to a restful night’s sleep!
WFIPP
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