What is Double Voiding?

Sometimes, if you’re in a rush, it’s easy to not give your body enough time to pee. This means some urine gets left inside the bladder – which can lead to leaks. That’s where double voiding can be handy.

Double voiding means staying on the toilet for longer to try and completely empty your bladder, making the effort to pee more than once while you’re there. And, best of all, it’s really easy to do.

Double Voiding Technique

We’re not reinventing the wheel here – it’s just about staying on the toilet that little bit longer, and relaxing your muscles to let every drop of pee out.

Here’s some bladder emptying techniques to help you double void effectively:

• Step 1: Don’t rush! Make sure you sit fully on the toilet, leaning slightly forward at the waist. No hovering above the seat – make yourself comfortable.
• Step 2: Relax as you pee to let your bladder empty fully. Don’t try to stop the stream.
• Step 3: When you think you’re done peeing, stay on the toilet for another 30-60 seconds and try to pee again. To help release any remaining urine, you can move side to side, lean forward and then sit up straight, or stand up and move around before you sit down again.
• Step 4: At the end, push your belly out and hold for a few seconds to release any last drops.

Remember, this is about waiting, gentle movements and a couple of slight pushes. Don’t strain or try to force your muscles to pee, as this can cause a pelvic prolapse.

Importance of Bladder Emptying

Double voiding is an easy, effective way of making sure your bladder is completely empty after your trips to the bathroom – which is really important for the long-term health of your bladder. As well as meaning you’ll need to pee more often, not emptying your bladder properly can negatively impact your health in a couple of ways, including:

• Overstretching your bladder: Not emptying your bladder fully can cause it to become stretched over time, so it won’t snap back as effectively – which can make it harder to void completely in the future.
• Increasing your risk of a UTI: When pee stays in your bladder for too long, bacteria can start to build up – which means you’re more likely to contract urinary tract infections (UTIs). And nobody wants that!

Stress Incontinence and Double Voiding

Along with keeping your bladder health in check, double voiding could potentially help reduce those unexpected leaks when you cough, laugh, sneeze or exercise. 1 in 3 women suffer from Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI), and there is something that you can do to fix the problem, instead of masking it with pads and liners.

It’s important to remember that double voiding isn’t a long-term solution for frequent urination and leaks. To truly eliminate stress incontinence, you’ll also need to work on strengthening those pelvic floor muscles – and that’s where INNOVO comes in.

Take Control of Leaks

Although double voiding can help you avoid leaks, the only way to truly tackle stress incontinence is to develop a strong pelvic floor. For that, you’ll need to do some Kegel exercises.

You’ve probably heard of Kegel exercises before – they’re those really important movements of tightening your pelvic floor muscles, as if you’re trying to pick up a blueberry. But not all women get them right – and some forget to do them at all. And 50% of women cannot do a Kegel correctly.

Luckily, INNOVO can help with that. FDA-cleared INNOVO guarantees that you are doing your Kegel exercises correctly - the smart shorts do them for you, giving you 180 perfect Kegels in just 30 minutes. All you need to do is slip them on for 30 minutes a day, five days a week – and that’s it! 87% of women who use INNOVO are leak-free in 12 weeks or less and 90% of women share that INNOVO has significantly improved their quality of life.

Want to try them out for yourself? Find out more about how INNOVO works here.