Kegel exercises help you strengthen your pelvic muscles so that you can have better control over your bladder. Since the exercise does not require one to go to the gym and there is no instructor to guide you through, many people end getting stuck on how many kegels should you do when performing the exercise.
What are the benefits?
Kegels help you to rectify any complications that arise from having weak pelvic muscles. Doctors mainly recommend the exercises for women experiencing incontinence. This refers to losing some control over your bladder and hence every once in a while you might leak urine.
The exercise also helps to prevent uterine prolapse which is when the uterus sags due to a weak pelvic floor after giving birth.
Kegels also enhance your sexual life and that of your partner.
How to do Kegels
To perform Kegels, you should try to contract your muscles as though you are trying to stop urinating and preventing yourself from passing gas.
If you are unsure of your method, try inserting your index finger into your vagina while performing the exercise. If you are correctly doing the Kegels, you should feel the walls of your vagina squeezing against your finger.
To ensure that you are only engaging your pelvic muscles, you should make sure not to pull in your stomach or tighten your butt. Also, try and control your breathing and don’t hold your breath during the contractions.
If your main aim for doing Kegels is to stop incontinence, you should try and simultaneously perform the exercises when doing something that might cause you to leak such as when lifting heavy objects or sneezing.
It is important that you don’t perform the Kegel exercises while urinating since blocking the flow of urine might cause you to develop a urinary tract infection. The exercises are best done on an empty bladder.
How many Kegels should you do?
It is recommended that you perform the Kegel exercises at least twice daily. Each set of the exercise should include ten repetitions with about 8 to 12 seconds for each repetition. Half or the repetition time should be spent on the contraction while the other half should be for the relaxation phase. Try and space out the sets equally within your day.
Kegel exercises are also recommended for pregnant women since they help them control their pelvic muscles to prevent uterine prolapse. In this situation, the question changes to how many Kegels should you do when pregnant?
The answer to this is that there is no big change in the number of Kegels to do when pregnant and not pregnant. However, it is recommended that you don’t exceed six sets a day since it might cause you to strain when passing urine.
www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/science/08qna.html
