Urinary tract infections are always unpleasant experiences. While certain natural factors can predispose one to urinary tract infections, there are also other practices and things which can predispose one to urinary tract infections and increase the frequency of their occurrences. While women are naturally predisposed to urinary tract infections because of their shorter urethras, the following practices will increase the frequency of occurrence of a urinary tract infection.
Thin underwears and beachwear
Thin underwears have become more appealing to women over the years because of how they are built. However, beach and underwears that are mostly made up of strips especially at the back provide an easy route for organisms that can cause UTIs. The anus, urethra and vagina lie closely to one another and strips of thin beach and underwears pass through the three openings providing a route for organisms that can cause UTIs from one opening to another. Organisms from the anus can thus get to the urethra faster through the strips of a thin underwear or beachwear.
Wrong wiping pattern
Organisms from the anus such as gastrointestinal tract organisms like E . coli are some of the causes of urinary tract infections. Wiping after using the toilet in the wrong direction can send the organisms from the anus to the urethra faster. The correct wiping pattern is from the front to the back. Wiping from the back to the front, that is from the anus towards the urethra, simply sends the organisms from the anus to the urethra.
Because a lot of the infections of the urinary tract are caused by gastrointestinal tract microorganisms, wiping the right way reduces one’s risk of contracting urinary tract infections significantly. Wiping the wrong way applies majorly to women because of the peculiarity of their anatomy.
Partial emptying of the bladder
The act of holding one’s pee is one of those which almost everyone gets to learn at a point. Because one may not be able to go when they need to all the time, holding one’s pee is a necessity, a necessary evil at that because of the higher risk of urinary tract infection associated with it. Also, incomplete emptying of one’s bladder is linked to cystitis which is the inflammation of the bladder.
Holding one’s pee and incomplete emptying of the bladder leaves a residue of urine behind in the bladder which cash serve as a great medium for the active growth of microorganisms implicated in urinary tract infections.
Use of certain drugs
When the bladder is emptied incompletely, microorganisms convert the residual urine into a home and proliferate in it leading to infection of the bladder. The use of certain drugs inhibits one’s ability to completely empty their bladder as proven by research. Thus, the use of such drugs indirectly contributes to urinary tract infections. The drugs that can inhibit a person’s ability to empty their bladder completely include antipsychotic drugs and antihistamines.
Urinary tract infections are preventable, and it is important to take deliberate steps towards reducing the risk factors to UTIs.
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