Man and woman walking through forest.

Is an Enlarged Prostate Impacting Your Lifestyle?

Do you often wake up at night to pee? Do you sometimes feel an urgent need to go, but have a weak stream when you try?

It’s possible that you may be experiencing symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or an enlarged prostate: a common condition that can affect 50% of men by the age of 60. While you may be delaying addressing your symptoms or consider them not to be bothersome, it is important to acknowledge that they may have an impact on your quality of life.1,2

All BPH Articles / Understanding BPH / Is an Enlarged Prostate Impacting Your Lifestyle?

How Can BPH Symptoms Affect Your Lifestyle?

When you have a persistent need to pee or are fearful of leaving embarrassing wet marks, you may find yourself making repeated trips to the bathroom. This issue can leave you feeling anxious and even begin affecting your personal and social life.

Does any of this sound like you?

  • You have to suddenly leave a movie to find a bathroom, disturbing people around you and missing parts of the movie yourself 
  • You wake up many times at night to pee, disrupting your and your partner’s sleep, leaving both of you feeling fatigued the next day 
  • You leave the dinner table during a family meal or social gathering to relieve yourself and miss out on conversations 
  • You make up excuses for leaving a conversation to urgently find a restroom 
  • You take several breaks during your favorite activity, for example, spending most of a golf game walking back and forth from a bathroom 
  • You avoid long road trips because of the fear of not finding a bathroom in time 
  • In general, you’re preoccupied with finding the closest restroom

Over time, BPH symptoms can affect your mental health and overall quality of life – for example, frequently waking up at night to pee may have an impact on your sleep. And, as you may already know, these issues can start to affect the people around you, too.2-4  

You may also see the impact that BPH can have on your lifestyle. That’s why this is a reason it’s important to take care of your overall health. 

Healthy Habits for Overall Well-being 

Our world has changed quite significantly recently, and it may be possible that you have fallen into unhealthy habits such as binge eating, drinking or watching a lot of television. You may have also avoided seeking treatment whether for your BPH or other concerns, and you simply lost track of continuing to lead a healthy lifestyle. It can happen to the best of us!   

The good news is that while you wait to visit a doctor, there are some things you can do to get healthier such as:5

  • Exercising regularly 
  • Cutting back on caffeine and alcohol 
  • Eating a well-balanced healthy diet 
  • Getting enough sleep  

Practicing self-care is important for both physical and mental health. By following a good self-care routine, you may also be able to help improve your BPH symptoms.5    

What Can You Do?

If you’re experiencing persistent BPH symptoms and lifestyle changes aren’t enough, talk to your doctor about your treatment options. When you talk to your doctor, this guide may be a helpful starting point.   

Ask your doctor about the non-surgical BPH treatment Rezūm Water Vapor Therapy. Rezūm Therapy is a minimally invasive treatment that treats the cause of BPH by reducing the size of your prostate. Hear from patients who have experienced lifestyle improvements after treatment with Rezūm Therapy. 

Do you have BPH?

Take our BPH quiz to gain insight into the severity of your symptoms and help kick-start the conversation about BPH with a doctor.

Take the Quiz

I Want to Learn More

Sign up to receive information and learn how Rezūm Water Vapor Therapy helps patients with their BPH.

Request Information

Find a Doctor

Use our Doctor Finder to get in direct contact with urologists who specialize in using Rezūm Water Vapor Therapy to treat BPH. 

Find a Doctor

References:

  1. Barry M, Roehrborn C. Management of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Ann Rev Med. 1997 Feb;48:177-89. 
  2. Pinto JD, He HC, Chan SW, et. al. Health-related quality of life and psychological well-being in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. J Clin Nurs. 2015 Feb;24(3-4):511-22. 
  3. Scott AJ, Webb TL, Rowse G. Does improving sleep lead to better mental health? A protocol for a meta-analytic review of randomised controlled trials. BMJ Open. 2017 Sep;7(9):e016873. 
  4. Freeman D, Sheaves B, Goodwin G, et. al. The effects of improving sleep on mental health (OASIS): a randomised controlled trial with mediation analysis. Lancet Psychiatry. 2017 Oct;4(10):749-58.  
  5. Enlarged Prostate: Does Diet Play a Role? Mayo Clinic.https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/benign-prostatic-hyperplasia/expert-answers/enlarged-prostate-and-diet/faq-20322773. Last accessed July 16, 2021.   

Caution: U.S. Federal law restricts this device to sale by or on the order of a physician. 
Content on this web page is for Informational Purposes only and does not constitute medical advice and should not be used for medical diagnoses. Boston Scientific strongly recommends that you consult with your physician on all matters pertaining to your health or to address any clinical/medical questions. 
All images are the property of Boston Scientific. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 
Rezum.com is a website sponsored by Boston Scientific. 

Find a Doctor