Benefits of Doing Kegel Exercises
Kegel exercises are definitely recommended for the women of all the ages. This is not only suitable for women but men can also take huge benefits from the kegel exercises.
Kegel exercises are generally called as the pelvic floor exercises that are consist of repeating action of relaxing and contracting the pelvic floor muscles to increase their strength and to make them stronger. These muscles are supposed to be control the flow of urination and also play a vital role in sexual responses during the time of intercourse.
Pelvic floor muscles can be weaken due to some usual factors over the time such as pregnancy, surgery, childbirth, excessive constipation, chronic coughing and being an overweight. Kegel exercises, in this way will help your pelvic floor muscles to get strengthening in many ways.
How to do Kegel Exercises?
Do not be sure about your age, you can start kegel exercises always whenever you want, it will help your muscles getting strong when the exercises are done appropriately.
Kegel exercises have easy steps and can be done anywhere without any equipment or someone else. You can easily do it while sitting at your desk, waiting at a red light or getting relaxed on the loveseat. All you need to do is make sure you do not miss the kegel exercises in those situations.
1. As you can do these exercises anywhere and anytime so when you are at your home, find a silent place or private corner to sit or you can lay your body down.
2. Localize your kegel muscles. kegel muscles are those muscles that are used to stop the urine flow while urinating.
3. After when you have located the muscles, contract these muscles for just 5 seconds, make sure you are taking breathe normally.
4. Now relax the muscles for 5 seconds and repeat the process again. Remember that your back, sides, stomach and thigh muscles are not getting tight during this time.
5. Repeat approximately for 20 times per session.
6. Do kegel exercises for at least 3 times a day.
Here you will find some of the good benefits of kegel exercises:
1. Provide Support to Several Organs
Kegel exercises targets the pelvic floor muscles that specifically provide strength to the digestive organs for which they function properly. It basically holds every organ right there in place like small intestine, stomach, gall bladder, rectum and even the uterus. On the other way you can realize that these muscles serve like a hammock for those organs.
Once your kegel muscles have become strong, you will notice the good body posture, reduced pain and preventing injury.
2. Prevent or Control Urinary Incontinence
Pelvic floor exercises are tend to be beneficial for the problem of urinary incontinence which is the involuntary leakage of urine or loss of bladder control. This is pretty embarrassing as it accidentally causes wetting yourself.
Kegel exercises are beneficial for this purpose to make your gall bladder strengthen so it may control the urine leakage in both men and women. It would be better if you do the exercises after urinating as it will stop the drops afterwards.
According to the study in 2014 in Advances in nursing reports that kegel exercises are helpful for those women who are getting through such an uneasy condition of stress urinary incontinence.
A 2015 study was published in Global Journal of Health Science found that pelvic muscle exercises were a steady mechanism for those women who have this incontinency so that these exercises provided and improving the quality of self-confidence.
3. Facilitate Normal Vaginal Delivery
Kegel exercises are very much beneficial in throughout pregnancy period and prepare your body for a normal delivery.
Strong pelvic muscles help the labor pain so that women do not get so much strain during labor and the delivery is done at the short period of time and there would also a less tearing of the birth canal. Kegel exercises actually strengthen the muscles and support the bladder, vagina and back passage.
On the other hand, kegel exercises also improve the blood flow around the vaginal area that is also very important role in smoothing and strain-free delivery. It also provides perineal healing after giving birth to a baby. So by all means, kegel exercises are proved to be amazing pre and post birth in the same way. It regains the vaginal tightness and prevents it from the urinary incontinence.
4. Restore Erectile Function
In men, kegel exercises are beneficial in restoring the erectile dysfunction and ejaculation problem in men. There is a specific and one of the important pelvic floor muscles called bulbocavernosus muscle that allow the penis to engorge with blood during erection thus help in ejaculation.
According to the 2004 study, it has been estimated in The British Journal of General Practice that pelvic floor muscle exercises and biofeedback can be helpful in treating the process of ejaculation and erectile dysfunction in men.
Though kegel exercises are meant to do contraction and relaxation of the pelvic floor muscles, it will benefit the erectile dysfunction that is caused due to the over-tightening of the muscles, due to stress or some heavy athletic training. In adds the increasing blood flow to the penis.
5. Ease Prostate Problems
In men, prostate is a common problem so the kegel exercises are there to help overcome prostate problems by providing the strength to the prostate gland. These exercises also prevent the prostate-related diseases that can be a risk due to malfunctioning of the prostate gland.
Kegel exercises thus strengthen the pelvic floor muscles; in this way it would become easy to reduce the discomforts of an enlarged prostate. Those men who have already removed the prostate gland surgically are highly suggested to do kegel exercises in order to get strength to the back muscles of the pelvic floor and reducing the side effects of surgery as well.
6. Improve Sex Health
Kegel exercises also help to treat the vaginal muscles and making them strong and relaxed. It increases the lubrication, improves an ability of a woman to reach orgasm. In addition, it also improves the circulation of the blood inside the vagina.
A 2005 study published in the Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research reports that about eight weeks of pelvic floor exercises helps in increasing the sexual activity and efficiency in women after giving birth for the first time.
7. Ease Menopausal Symptoms
Kegel exercises when done regularly helps preparing the women body for menopause. After reaching to the menopause, pelvic floor muscles become weaken, since then estrogen hormone is required to maintain the overall health of the pelvic muscles.
By doing such exercises, you will be able to gain the strong pelvic muscles and vaginal tightness. They also help in easy menopausal symptoms like vaginal dryness, vaginal loosening and a decrease in sex drive.
Important Points
- Make sure that before you start the exercises, your bladder is empty.
- Never do the kegel exercises during urination because it can actually weaken the muscles over the time and surely increase the chances of urinary tract infection.
- During the kegel exercises, do not try to move your leg, abdomen, and buttocks.
- While exercising, if you feel pain in the abdomen, back or vaginal area, that means you are not doing it properly.