Relief from Bladder Issues: A Team Approach
NOV 11, 2024Working with a Urologist to fully evaluate the function of your bladder and pelvic floor can help to determine the cause of your symptoms and bladder issues.
Read MoreWe’ve enjoyed a beautiful autumn here in the Midwest. The air has been cool and dry and the skies clear and sunny. My patients who exercise outdoors repeatedly tell me how much they enjoy going for walks on pleasant afternoons and catching nine holes on the golf course. As I talk to them about their exercise habits (a conversation I try to incorporate frequently) I’ve begun asking them what sort of plans they have for exercise during the less hospitable winter months.
I learned my lesson last year. Those of you living in the Midwest will recall that we had one of the most challenging winters on record with freezing temperatures and snow that seemed to signal a return to the ice age. When spring finally arrived I found that most of my patients had gained weight, were more short of breath than ever, and felt lousy. There seemed to be a common thread among most of them: “I was doing fine with my exercise until winter came along and then everything pretty much shut down.”
I can sympathize with them. I love being outdoors and take every opportunity I can to take a run, hop on my bike, or just go for a walk. If I weren’t a doctor I’d probably be a park ranger somewhere in the mountains out west just so I could spend every day making tracks among the rocks and trees. Running has always been a form of therapy for me and I relish the cool autumn weather that’s perfect for outdoor recreation. Every day that winter creeps a little closer I get more anxious anticipating the bad weather that’s ahead. I savor each sunny day out on the road as if it will be my last for months and months.
I’ve been a runner since I was a college student in Utah. The winter months never posed much of a challenge for me even though I had to bundle up from head to toe to get out early every morning. I found that the dry air and the relative lack of wind served as a pretty good combination for outdoor exercise even when the temperature dropped well below freezing. I remember once claiming that I’d gotten so good at running in the cold that I could go for a run on the dark side of the moon.
That was before I came to Nebraska. I now know that Nebraska winters are colder, windier, and all around more miserable than any other place I’ve ever lived. Sure, the dark side of the moon gets no sunshine, but at least you won’t find any 6-foot snow drifts there. And what are a few lunar craters compared to the potholes you have to dodge on Omaha streets when running in January? Last winter was so bad that I half expected to find the remains of a woolly mammoth on my front lawn after the permafrost finally melted. What other city in the world has a zoo where they have to bring the polar bears inside for the winter? Needless to say I didn’t spend much time pounding the pavement (or black ice, as was the case).
After years of faithfully running on the darkest, coldest winter mornings I finally admitted defeat and retreated to the comfort of my warm home. I’ve outfitted my basement with a treadmill machine and television, along with a library of movies and TV shows to keep me occupied as the virtual miles click by.
But no matter how hard I work to optimize my exercise experience the fact remains that I absolutely despise running indoors. I’ve got no data from the world of physics to back me up on this, but I maintain that time ticks by more slowly when one is running on a treadmill. Miles are longer, my legs seem weaker, and I never get into the comfortable, brisk pace I’m accustomed to when running outside.
I’m telling you all this in order to emphasize the fact that I completely sympathize with my patients who spend the dark months of winter curled up on the couch watching Dancing with the Stars reruns. The problem with this is, of course, obvious: giving in to the triad of holiday eating, winter blues, and lack of regular exercise will doom you to gain pounds over the winter and lose whatever level of fitness you gained the summer before.
So what do you do?
The weather may still be nice now but Jack Frost is just around the corner. Make a plan now, stick to it, and in spring you’ll be fit and ready for more pleasant times out in the warm sun.
As for me, I’m going to give the dark side of the moon a try this year—can’t be worse than Nebraska.
Working with a Urologist to fully evaluate the function of your bladder and pelvic floor can help to determine the cause of your symptoms and bladder issues.
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