As society becomes more open and people have sex at a younger age, the rate of urinary incontinence due to urethritis in young women is on the rise. Female incontinence specialists say that over the past two to three years, there has been an increase of about 10 to 20 percent in the number of young women seeking treatment for urinary bladder overactivity due to inflammation of the urethra caused by sexual intercourse. Overactive bladder means that the bladder is completely out of control, resulting in frequent and nocturnal urination, with patients sometimes feeling the urge to urinate even just a little and needing to go to the bathroom. Private women’s incontinence specialists say that while most patients suffer from overactive bladder due to prolonged urination and bladder inhibition, the inflammation of the urethra caused by sexual intercourse can also cause inflammation of the bladder lining, which can lead to incontinence. Doctors say that when they encounter such patients, doctors usually treat them with antibiotics to solve the inflammation problem. “Patients also have to drink the right amount of water every day, preferably every two to three hours, seven to eight glasses a day, to get the bacteria out of the body and help reduce inflammation. Patients also need to do some pelvic exercises to improve bladder mobility.” The doctor also said that many people believe that they do not need to urinate before intercourse, but only afterwards to remove any bacteria that may have been transmitted during intercourse. He advises women to urinate before intercourse and to drink as much water as possible in the days following to reduce the chance of urethral inflammation and to avoid affecting the bladder. About 13 percent of women suffer from urinary incontinence problems. In addition to overactive bladder, the other most common type of incontinence problem is stress incontinence. The majority of women with urinary incontinence are over the age of 50. However, there are an increasing number of younger women who also face this problem. A Danish survey conducted in early 2004 showed that half (51.9%) of 291 young female athletes faced incontinence problems, 43% of which were unable to control the flow of urine during exercise, and 42% faced the problem in their daily lives. The average age of this group of women was only 22.8 years.