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Why you're more likely to get cystitis in summer

Photo credit: Getty
Photo credit: Getty

From Cosmopolitan UK

It would be an understatement to say that cystitis is annoying; at the first sign of the UTI you find yourself glued to the toilet as tiny, burning drops of hardly anything emerge, despite the fact you've consumed about four pints of cranberry juice.

And it always seems to crop up at the most inconvenient times, like during the summer, when you'd rather be outside in the sunshine a million times over than locked in a toilet cubicle staring at a sign reminding you not to flush your sanitary pads down the loo.

Photo credit: Simon Verrall / Getty
Photo credit: Simon Verrall / Getty

But it turns out there are some real, scientific reasons UTIs like cystitis are so much more common in the summer months, so we asked Claire Barnes, a nutritional therapist at Bio-Kult, to break them down for us. She points to four key reasons why this could be:

1. Dehydration

It doesn't take a genius to work out that you're more likely to be dehydrated in summer when it's warm outside and we lose fluid through sweat, than in the winter months. But because many people fail to up their intake of water in line with the amount they lose, "they reduce the amount of harmful bacteria that's released from the bladder," explains Barnes.

"Drinking two litres of water each day which will help to keep the urine at an appropriate pH as well as encouraging the bladder to flush out any harmful bacteria regularly," she adds. But if you don't do this, and harmful bacteria grows or your urine reaches an unbalanced pH, cystitis can occur. "Reducing alcohol, caffeine and sugar from the diet can also help to maintain a healthy bladder, as these can be possible cystitis triggers for some," notes the nutritional therapist.

Photo credit: Giphy
Photo credit: Giphy

2. Increased sexual activity

For many people, sexual activity increases during the warmer weather with people being more relaxed on their holidays and you know what. But in women, "this increased activity may encourage the movement of bacteria from the rectum to the vagina and bladder due to their close proximity, resulting in a UTI," says Barnes.

3. A damp swimsuit

It's natural that people swim more in the summer season, especially when on holiday. But the increase in temperature can apparently "encourage the growth of bacteria around the genital region, especially if we're sitting around in damp swimsuits". This, explains Barnes, "may develop a warm and damp environment which could be particularly suitable to E-coli growth, which is responsible for more than 80% of UTI cases."

Photo credit: Getty
Photo credit: Getty

4. Sweating down there

It might feel a bit gross, but it's not abnormal to sweat around your groin area in the summer when it's warm outside. This, however, can create a moist, warm environment for bacteria such as E-coli to grow and survive. Hello, cystitis.

Here's how Barnes puts it: "In the summer months, when the external temperature increases, our bodies produce sweat to enable our internal environment to stay cool. This increase in sweat and warmth could encourage E-coli growth and movement to the vagina or bladder resulting in cystitis."

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