Everything You Need To Know About Staying Healthy and Happy Down Below

If you pee when you run/jump/cough/laugh/ sneeze, we’re talking to you. Read on to discover how to avoid bulky pads and (yikes!) adult diapers.

- Jenessa Connor, CPT

Ladies, who pees a little when they laugh?” a celebrity spokeswoman asks a stage full of backup dancers. At least half the women shrug and raise their hands. “Uh-huh, ya see?” the woman says to the camera before launching into a sales pitch for her favorite urinary incontinence pads — aka adult diapers.

This commercial is just the latest to claim that incontinence happens to everyone — no big deal — in order to sell products designed for an issue that, according to the Urology Care Foundation, affects about one in three women. But pelvic floor expert Dr. Julie Sarton, DPT, WCS, says that this kind of thinking, which is intended to be destigmatizing — empowering, even — is actually counterproductive. “Urinary incontinence is common, not normal,” she asserts.

Pelvic Floor 101 Found in both men and women, the pelvic floor is what Sarton refers to as a group of “forgotten” muscles, and no one talks about them until there’s a problem. “These muscles stretch across the bottom of the pelvis, like a taut, flexible trampoline,” she says. “They anchor at the pubic bone in the front, wrap around the vaginal and rectal openings, and attach to the base of the spine.”

Working together, the muscles of the pelvic floor perform four distinct functions. First, they play a supportive role by holding up the organs like the bladder, uterus and rectum. Second, they work in concert with the abdominal wall muscles to stabilize the core, which is crucial to everything from standing to walking and lifting weights. Third, they play a sexual role, allowing for intercourse and contributing to orgasm in women and men. And last, they keep us continent by acting as a sphincter, contracting to control urine and feces.