Women who perform pelvic floor exercises on a regular basis tend to be less likely to experience stress urinary incontinence and gain better control over their bladder, it has been claimed.

Writing in the Daily Mirror, writer and medic Dr Miriam Stoppard has provided some useful pointers for women who are unsure of the technique.

She claimed: "The beauty of pelvic floor exercises is that once you've mastered how to do them, you can do them pretty much anywhere, any time."

According to Dr Stoppard, women should start by identifying the relevant group of muscles - this can be done by stopping the flow of urine several times while urinating.

They should then practice tightening these muscles for five seconds, relaxing them for five seconds, then tensing them again.

Dr Stoppard noted: "You may not be able to hold the tension for the full five seconds at first, but you are likely to develop this ability as your pelvic floor muscles grow stronger."

The muscles should then be tightened and relaxed ten times as quickly as possible, before contracting them for longer "in a more controlled fashion".

"After about six weeks of these exercises, you should find stopping the flow much easier," the expert claimed.

Stress incontinence is one of the most common forms of female incontinence and may be caused by nerve damage during childbirth, pregnancy or a lack of oestrogen.