In my line of work as a movement therapist, I work a lot with peri- and post-menopausal women, helping them to strengthen their bodies - and especially pelvic floor and core areas.
I know from experience that issues like incontinence get worse when we come under stress. I have come across some recent stats from 2022 (research conducted by Deloitte) that show that 53% of working women are more stressed than a year ago, and almost half feel burned out. That’s a huge cause for concern generally for employers, of course, but is there more to it than that?
Yes. We should look at the health consequences of stress and anxiety for women in general - not just working women.
One of the consequences of stress, anxiety and depression for women is the impact to their pelvic floor - to their continence. 2021 reseach has demonstrated that the relationship between mental health and incontinence is bi-directional - issues with urinary frequency, urgency, and pelvic pain cause anxiety.
But it also works the other way round - anxiety causes problems with continence.
In fact, one past research paper shows that 56% of women experience anxiety before urge incontinence.
And as around 50% of adult women experience urinary incontinence at some stage in their lives, that is a lot of women across the world who can be feeling much less confident in their bodies than they should. For whom stress is a contributing factor to this problem.
I personally know the effects of core and pelvic floor weakness which, in my life, led to thoughts of depression and being broken - something I have successfully addressed through my own skills as a holistic movement therapist.
I have now dedicated my life to helping other everyday women to rebuild their core and pelvic floor strength and I am passionate about my mission.
I offer a free 3-part series of classes that helps people address back discomfort, strengthen their core and start restoring pelvic floor function whilst releasing tense emotions. This is available through my website
Please do sign up, watch these and let me know any feedback. I hope you find them helpful and beneficial.
To your health,
Kaye