8 Easy Hacks For a Healthier, Happier Bladder

From a glass of wine to a delicious tomato-based pasta dish, it can feel like everything is a bladder trigger. But don't fear - we have some great workarounds, tips and hacks to help you embrace a life free from bladder triggers and do the things you love without worrying about leaks.

Here's our 8 bladder hacks to improve bladder health and manage symptoms of urgency, overflow, and leaks.

1. Filter Your Water

Why It Helps: For some women, they find drinking hard water a trigger for their bladder. Hard water contains high levels of calcium and magnesium, and as a result can irritate the bladder and exacerbate bladder issues.

Jude's Hack: Use a water filter if you live in a hard water area. Filtering your water can hep reduce the mineral content, making it gentler on your bladder. You can buy a filter easily in most supermarkets to suit all budgets - Brita is a Jude favourite!

2. Add baking soda to tomatoes (really)

Why It Helps: Tomatoes are a big trigger for many people who experience urgency, and this is because they are highly acidic so trigger overactive bladder symptoms and urge incontinence - if you have either of these you'll likely be familiar with that sudden dash to the loo after eating tomatoes either in a sauce, or fresh in salads.

Jude's Hack: This one is from our community! Add baking soda to your tomato-based dishes. A pinch of baking soda can neutralise the acidity in tomatoes, making them less likely to irritate your bladder. It won't alter the taste significantly when cooking and allows you to enjoy your favourite dishes without the discomfort of constantly needing the loo too.

3. Love a fizzy drink? Try kombucha

Why It Helps: If you love a cool can of coke, you might need to ditch the habit. That's because fizzy, carbonated drinks can irritate the bladder and lead to increased urgency and leaks.

Hack: Try kombucha as an alternative. Kombucha is a fermented tea that is lightly fizzy but generally easier on the bladder. It's also a great probiotic, which helps improve the urobiome and maintain healthy bacteria in your urinary system. It's widely available in many UK supermarkets and health stores, in a variety of flavours too (and some alcohol alternatives, too!) offering a tasty, less irritating option to keep your bladder AND tastebuds happy.

4. Avoid dehydration with a flake of sea salt

Why It Helps: When we are feeling a bit dehydrated, we are more at risk of UTIs as a result of concentration of urine in the urinary system. Maintaining your hydration levels is important.

Jude's Hack: Hydration is super important for our whole health, and if you are feeling a little dehydrated a quick way to improve things is to add a flake of sea salt to your water, or under your tongue as you sip. Sea salt (not table salt!) contains minerals and electrolytes, which helps with better water absorption and preventing dehydration.

Do be careful if you have urge incontinence or overactive bladder, as sodium can be a trigger, and avoid this hack if you've been told to reduce your sodium intake by your GP.

5. Adopt the 'elbows on knees' position when you pee

Why It Helps: Proper posture during urination can help fully empty the bladder, reducing the risk of leaks and urgency - and those annoying 'return' visits to the loo.

Jude's Hack: When you go to the loo, sit with your feet flat on the floor (not raised) and place your elbows on your knees. This position will help to tilt the pelvis, allowing for a more complete bladder emptying. You might want to rock gently too as you finish to allow last dribbles out! It’s a small adjustment that can make a big difference.

6. Pee Before and After Sex

Why It Helps: For many of us, sex can unfortunately cause a condition referred to as 'honeymoon cystitis'. This is when bacteria is introduced into the urinary tract during sexual activity and causes an infection.

Hack: Always, always make a habit to pee before and after sex. This practice helps flush out bacteria and reduces the risk of urinary tract infections, keeping your bladder healthier and ensuring you can focus on pleasure, not the risk of pain!

7. Swap tomato for red pepper in sauces

Why It Helps: It's only when you start to eliminate foods that we realise how many of our favourite meals it affects! If you are fan of tomato based curries or pasta sauces, or even soups, swapping tomatoes for red peppers will give you that delicious base for your meal, but without the acidity.

Jude's Hack: Use red pepper in recipes where you would otherwise use tomatoes. Roast in oven, peel and blitz into a smooth paste to use in sauces or soups, and even as a replacement for ketchup with your chips!

8. Cheat your diet with supplementation

Why It Helps: We're busy women, right? Maintaining a diet that is consistently full of nutrients, vitamins and minerals for our bladder can feel restrictive and limit plans. Supplementation can help you to 'hack' your diet and target specific areas of your health, such as your bladder, easily and with little interruption to your life.

Jude's Hack: Jude's Bladder Strength Supplement is made with a powerful botanical blend of pumpkin seed and soy germ extract. These work to improve the strength and tone of your pelvic floor muscles, supporting your pelvic floor exercises and reducing leaks and that 'need-to-go' urgency. Pumpkin seed is a powerhouse for our whole health, but especially effective for the bladder and urinary system.

Jude’s clinically proven supplements give you better bladder and pelvic floor control, helping you sleep through the night and regain the freedom to live life on your own terms. With just one capsule morning and night, you'll have relief from need-to-go urgency in just 12 weeks.