Choose to have a healthy diet and exercise regularly to help minimize your bladder weakness.

Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water each day. Don’t reduce your intake of fluids to try and reduce the leakage. Adequate intake of water helps to keep your urine from becoming concentrated, which can irritate the bladder.

Limit your caffeine and alcohol intake, since they act as diuretics that increase your urinary output and may irritate your bladder.

Eat plenty of fruits, and vegetables and other high-fiber foods, to keep you regular and avoid stool build-up that can cause bladder weakness.

Keep moving – try to be physically active at least 3 times a week. Make exercise a top priority on your list. Regular activity will help to keep your body functioning properly and prevent constipation which is irritating to the bladder. Be realistic with your goals and remember that is never too late to start.

Strengthen the muscles of your pelvic floor / build your bladder strength – Kegel exercises and bladder retraining are designed to strengthen your pelvic muscles and help you avoid bladder leakage. It is never too late to start. Start slowly with an exercise program and build the muscles slowly so you don’t stress them.

Selecting an appropriate leakage product to allow you the freedom to continue the lifestyle of your choice and protect your bladder from urinary tract infections. There are many well-designed products that go completely unnoticed by anyone but you.

See your doctor for an initial evaluation and to come up with a treatment plan. Treatment options vary, depending on the cause and type of incontinence you have.

Other measures include:

• Quit smoking to reduce coughing and bladder irritation. Smoking also increases your risk of bladder cancer.
• Lose weight if you need to; the extra weight puts a strain on the bladder.
• Avoid foods and drinks that may irritate your bladder like spicy foods, carbonated beverages, and citrus fruits and juices.
• Keep blood sugars under good control if you have diabetes.

Begin by sitting down and relaxing in a quiet place. Next, try to squeeze the muscles that prevent you from passing rectal gas. Try not to tighten your abdominal and buttocks muscles, and don't hold your breath. Once you get used to these exercises, you can do them while lying down, sitting, or standing.

To do one Kegel exercise:

• Squeeze your pelvic muscles.
• Hold and count slowly … 1 and 2 and 3.
• Relax for … 1 and 2 and 3.
  
• Repeat the following 4 steps 10 times:
1. Ten exercises are called one set. Do one set 2-3 times a day.
2. It takes at least 8 weeks to see some improvement, so don't give up too soon.
3. As you get better at the exercises, you can count to 5 and then relax for a 5 count.
4. You can do Kegel exercises any time, any place.

To find the pelvic muscles when you first start Kegel exercises, stop your urine flow midstream. The muscles needed to do this are your pelvic floor muscles. DO NOT contract your abdominal, thigh, or buttocks muscles. And DO NOT overdo the exercises. This may tire the muscles out and actually worsen incontinence.

This involves urinating on a schedule, whether you feel a need to go or not. In between those times, you try to wait until the next scheduled time. At first, you may need to schedule as often as 1 hour intervals. Gradually, you can increase by 1/2 hour intervals until you are only urinating every 3-4 hours without leakage.

Fecal incontinence poses some unique health maintenance issues. Alone it can cause skin irritation and diaper rash, and the combination of feces and urine is more caustic to the skin than either one alone. Daily maintenance is needed to combat these effects.

The most important preventative measure for this is prompt changing of soiled diapers and fastidious cleansing of the soiled area. Disposable washcloths with soothing ointments and alcohol-free solutions can aid the active person in maintaining a normal life while maintaining the body. For the immobile patient, fecal collectors are a good alternative to diapers. For either case, ointments can provide extra protection.

Topical ointments come in three types: moisture barriers, soothing ointments, and a combined product. Moisture barriers are usually petrolatum products and block harmful fluids from irritating the skin – they are meant as a preventative measure. Soothing ointments usually contain healing oils such as aloe vera or lanolin and help to combat existing rashes. Moisture barriers should be used regularly and soothing ointments as needed.