If that occurs occasionally, your pelvic flooring can deal with the burden. But it surely’s all too simple for this tendency to get ingrained in your each day life. “If each time you’re selecting up a laundry basket or standing up out of a chair, you maintain your breath, that’s once more placing stress in your pelvic flooring,” Dr. Jeffrey-Thomas factors out. Earlier than you understand it, you can find yourself overworking—and in flip, weakening—these muscle groups in a method that leaves you extra prone to leakage, she says.

What to do as an alternative: As Dr. Jeffrey-Thomas tells her purchasers: “When doubtful, breathe out”—or extra particularly, exhale on exertion, or on the hardest level of any motion. So whenever you’re developing from a squat or deadlift, or selecting up a heavy object, be sure to’re letting the air whoosh out out of your nostril or mouth to “create a little bit of an automated help on your pelvic flooring,” Dr. Jeffrey-Thomas says. (Searching for extra particular intel? Pop over to our full information on breathe throughout any kind of exercise for the very best consequence.)

5. You grin and bear it by painful intercourse.

Enduring painful intercourse actually sucks…if for no different motive than the truth that intercourse shouldn’t damage (until you need it to). The concept that even good intercourse ought to be considerably painful is an unlucky, persistent false impression that retains loads of individuals from the pleasure they deserve. However to make issues worse, powering by uncomfortable—or downright agonizing—intercourse may trigger pelvic flooring points down the road, Dr. Preil says.

What occurs is, with every extra disagreeable expertise, your physique begins to affiliate intercourse with ache, to the purpose the place your pelvic flooring can subconsciously tense up in anticipation of intercourse, Dr. Preil says. It’s a protecting mechanism, she explains: These muscle groups are bracing for affect. However the preemptive gripping simply winds up making intercourse (significantly penetration) even extra painful, she says. And the extra ingrained this tendency turns into over the course of months or years of uncomfortable intercourse, the tougher it’s to drop. (For this identical motive, previous sexual abuse or trauma may make intercourse a painful expertise; if that is related to you, go to RAINN for assist discovering sources, counseling, and help.)

What to do as an alternative: Be sincere with your self and your companion about precisely which sorts of intercourse acts damage and when, and think about if there may be sure workarounds that would assist. For example, are you able to slather on some lube to alleviate that rub-and-tug feeling, go for a place that entails much less thrusting, or bypass penetration altogether?

In the end, you additionally owe it to your self to see a doc if ache throughout or after intercourse is your norm. Your ob-gyn will help rule out sure well being situations that could be on the root of it, like endometriosis or uterine fibroids. They might additionally refer you to a pelvic flooring bodily therapist, who will help you undo the pelvic pressure you could have developed by enduring painful intercourse and retrain these muscle groups in order that they’re much less more likely to tighten on reflex.

6. You continually do Kegels.

I assumed Kegels have been good on your pelvic flooring?! I can virtually hear you considering. And sure, that’s true for loads of individuals in a wide range of circumstances. However they’ve gotten a lot optimistic press up to now few years that they’ve mistakenly come to be generally known as the end-all, be-all of a wholesome pelvic flooring—when actually, a Kegel is rather like some other train, Dr. Jeffrey-Thomas says: The quantity and the context is essential. (And so is your type, FWIW; in the event you want a refresher, right here’s our information to doing Kegels appropriately.)