3 Ways Stress Can Impact Urologic Health
Role of Stress in Urologic Health
There is certainly no shortage of stress these days, and that nagging anxiety can affect us in multiple ways, including physically. At some point in your life you will be forced to deal with it, so along with heart disease, high blood pressure, and kidney stones, here are 3 ways stress can impact urologic health.

Urinary Tract Infections
Commonly known as UTI, urinary tract infections can be induced by stress. Feeling highly stressed is not the direct cause, but it leads to high levels of cortisol, which reduce the effect on the immune system. Stress can also distract someone from paying enough attention to other important factors that can trigger a UTI, like poor hygiene habits leading to infection.
Other typical causes of a UTI include wearing tight undergarments and consuming lots of sugary drinks. 
Incontinence
Man stressed while working on laptop
Research has shown there is a strong correlation between stress, anxiety, and the bladder. When you’re nervous, do you find yourself going to the bathroom more often?
A clinical study discovered that those adults with anxiety had more frequent urinary patterns than those who did not.
At the same time, when you have urinary incontinence, you become even more stressed that you may not be able to make it to the bathroom in time. As a result, that anxiety makes your bladder even more reactive, and you become stuck in this “vicious cycle.”
Interstitial Cystitis
IC is a chronic condition causing bladder pressure, pain, and sometimes pelvic pain.
Stress is not the cause of IC, but it can trigger a flare-up. When you stress at a flare, it only prolongs it and increases the intensity of the pain.
Endometriosis 
Endometriosis is a disease affecting reproductive-age women and is characterized by ectopic endometrial tissue outside the uterus, dysmenorrhea, and infertility. Recent research indicates that the severity of endometriosis is directly correlated to elevated serum cortisol and prolactin levels