01 Aug Having Fun This Summer, but Where Is the Bathroom?
Many secretly ask that question of themselves not only in the summer, but anytime they are attending concerts, going to holiday gatherings, or on vacation. Why does this annoying tendency to have to go to the bathroom more often occur when you should be having fun? When you go every 20 minutes, it might even seem as if you are having a partial void.
It can get very confusing to find out why. You might read that it’s not healthy to eat a big steak on one website, and that it’s okay to eat red meat on a different health blog. The same goes for alcohol, along with other foods and beverages which are an integral part of everyday life. Faced with all this competing information, it makes it hard to make decisions that could improve your health and even save your life.
Causes of frequent urination, partial voiding, and an enlarged prostate
The prostate is a gland found right underneath the bladder and above the penis. The urethra–which is the channel that urine flows through–goes through the prostate, as do the seminal vesicles. The seminal vesicles transport sperm from the gonads. Think of the prostate as gateway for all the activity down there. Another function of the prostate is as an additional valve to control urination.
As some people get older, they are genetically programmed to produce a form of testosterone called dihydrotestosterone of DHT as a percentage of overall testosterone production. DHT causes the smooth muscle cells in our prostate gland to get larger in size. This is called BPH or Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy. When you get BPH, the increase in size causes the urethra to be constricted so urine has a harder time flowing. This causes an increase in pressure in the bladder which makes the bladder overactive. Finally, the prostate loses it’s ability to control urine flow when it gets larger and it becomes more responsive to inflammation, which only makes matters worse. That’s where lifestyle choices come in.
Prevention and care
As discussed earlier, you can find conflicting advice on the internet about any health subject. This is because of competing interests on the internet. I rely on my clinical experience as a doctor for over 20 years–plus my own experience as a male over 50–to make decisions for myself and patients. Nothing can replace clinical experience in making medical decisions.
So how can you have fun this summer while decreasing urinary frequency and prostate inflammation? It has been my clinical experience that consuming alcohol in any form irritates the prostate, and this in turn causes your bladder to become oversensitive, which results in urinary frequency and urging. If you have urinary frequency or urges, then try abstaining from alcohol for ten days and see if things get better. It also helps to take a supplement that will remove inflammation from your prostate during this time. HP8, a natural health supplement by American BioSciences, is an excellent choice for this.
Anything that can cause inflammation in the prostate can make urinary frequency and urging worse. Eliminating foods such as red meat, fried foods, and complex sugars can decrease inflammation in the prostate. It sounds daunting, but you do not have to do this for the rest of your life. You can do this for 10-14 days, along with abstaining from alcohol, until you get a clinical response (or not). After that, you can consume these foods and beverages within reason until you know what levels cause a return of symptoms. You can have fun this summer, just don’t let having fun turn on you in a way that will ruin it.