Do you go to the bathroom “just in case” before you leave the house? A local doctor says that might not be a good idea for your health.

August is Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Awareness Month, which aims to bring awareness to how you can take steps to keep your muscles strong.

“When we force the process by pushing or straining, it disrupts this natural cycle,” said Dr. Nwamaka Fadahunsi, a urologist at Kaiser Permanente in Maryland. “It can lead to long-term coordination issues between the brain, the bladder and the pelvic floor.”

The pelvic floor is the muscle that holds up a system of organs, including the bladder and sexual organs, she said.

She said if you hover over the toilet, go to the bathroom just in case or wait too long to urinate, you can put unnecessary strain on your pelvic floor muscles, which play crucial roles in supporting and controlling bodily functions.

“Over time, these behaviors can lead to difficulty emptying the bladder or bowels, it can lead to incontinence, which is when you leak urine without having any control over it, lead to sexual discomfort, and it can even lead to pelvic organ prolapse,” Fadahunsi said.

“You can think about (the pelvic floor) as a hammock that is actually holding these organs in place,” she said.

Fadahunsi said age is a factor in weakness of the pelvic floor muscles.

“It certainly tends to happen in women after menopause, or postmenopausal women, and it actually also happens in men,” she said.

Some practical steps she recommends to help keep the pelvic floor muscles strong include sitting and relaxing on the toilet and not pushing to get urine out faster.

WTOP’s Neal Augenstein contributed to this report.