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Anniki Sommerville

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Anniki Sommerville is a published author of 5 books including 3 non-fiction books - How to Be a Boss at Ageing, More Orgasms Please and The Big Quit. She regularly writes for Red magazine and Grazia on women's health, ageing and more.

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Glossary

For words you might want to know more

Key workers

A worker who fulfils a role regarded as vital for the community, especially in the health, education, security, and infrastructure sectors

Key occupations with hidden bladder issues: Are you at risk?

Incontinence and bladder weakness are difficult whatever your role at work involves. However for key workers like teachers, paramedics and postwomen bladder issues can be especially tough to navigate.

There are so many different people that we rely on in order for our everyday lives to function. However, one of the subjects that is rarely shared is the fact that so many key workers are unable to go to the toilet when they need to because of their demanding roles.

Teachers, postwomen and paramedics are all doing important work but because of the type of work they’re doing they rarely get the opportunity to go for a pee when they need to. 

This results in many key workers holding tension in their pelvic floors. In addition teachers may need to raise their voices in order to be heard in the classroom which can also contribute to leaks.

Let's look at these different jobs in more detail...

Teachers

So if we take the example of teachers they often can't leave the classroom between classes. So they have to pee at particular times which isn't helpful in terms of fully emptying the bladder when it is full. On top of this there is the pressure of having lots of pupils looking at them and being the centre of attention. If a leak occurs it can feel incredibly exposing and shaming (even if they are wearing a pad).

We spoke to some key workers (we changed their names because they wanted to remain anonymous,) about how leaks and bladder weakness impact on their working lives.

'I tend to restrict drinking too much tea or coffee when I'm teaching,' Hilary says. Hilary is a secondary school teacher at a busy school in West London, and regularly worries about leaking during lessons with her year 9 pupils, 'The thing is I know I need to drink or risk getting dehydrated but I just don't want to risk a leak.'

Hilary has found stress has amplified her worries so that sometimes her leaks get in the way of her performing her role: 'Nowadays post Covid, there is a lot to think about if you're a teacher. And the pupils are often distracted and sometimes find it hard to concentrate after months of home-schooling. So the leaks just mean I have one more thing to worry about!'

There is research which shows the self-reported negative impact of incontinence on 'my ability to concentrate at work,' ‘performing physical activities at work’, ‘my self-confidence at work’ and ‘my ability to complete tasks without interruptions at work’.

In the same research 45% of employed women with severe to very severe symptoms reported a negative impact on concentration, 64% on physical activities, 77% on self-confidence and 74% on completion of tasks.

So we can see that at a broader level incontinence has an impact on the how people perform at work and their ability to do their jobs well.

Postwomen & police women

Postwomen and police women share similar challenges when it comes to bladder weakness.

They are often 'on the go' for extended periods of time, often in the a car or van (so not close to a toilet and having to go for long periods without being able to empty their bladder) and during the Covid period of time many of these key workers were working for many hours without breaks.

Nurses

Nurses in particular may be working with particularly sick patient or on a medical emergency and unable to go to the toilet when they need to.

'The thing is you know you have to prioritise your patient,' Mimi, a young paramedic told us, 'But if you're dying for a wee then it's hard to concentrate. Plus with our uniforms and equipment it's not always easy to get undressed quickly. I sometimes experience headaches because I'm not drinking enough water so getting dehydrated. It seems ironic that I'm working to look after others but not really able to look after myself!'

In the same research study, 4% of employed women with incontinence said that urinary incontinence had affected personal decisions about employment with 2% changing the type of work they do, 0.9% decreasing the hours worked and 0.8% indicating that they no longer worked.

So it's clear that bladder weakness is an issue for key workers and more needs to be done to support them. At the end of the day we rely on these brilliant individuals to support and help us and the time has come when we need to come up with tangible ways they can be supported too.

Mimi reinforces this fact:

'I think just simple things like sharing resources on public toilets would help. Or being able to talk about it with other colleagues so you can share tips and information on how they handle it. Ultimately we just want to do a great job and get on with it!'

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