DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I play senior softball twice weekly. Though most of my skills have diminished and are forever lost, hitting a slow-pitch softball is relatively easy. Is there any exercise or routine you can suggest that will increase bat speed? – E.M.

ANSWER: You live in a warm climate, so maybe you can play baseball in the winter. If not, you can still practice this magical method I’m describing throughout the winter, and you’ll be a phenomenon by spring.

The method is visualization or imagery exercise. It can help you polish your diminished skills. They’re not forever lost. It can improve your bat swing and bat speed. It can sharpen all the elements of your game. Athletes in any sport can use it — basketball, hockey, swimming and on and on.

Get into a comfortable position, either sitting or lying down, and relax all your muscles. Close your eyes and imagine the pitcher throwing the ball to you. Watch everything closely: the pitcher’s windup, the ball release, the ball traveling to you at the plate, your preparation for the swing, and the swing itself. Get as many senses involved as you can. Listen to the background noise that goes on at every game and hear the impact of the ball on the bat as you swing it. You can vary the exercise by making yourself the coach and watching your form as you swing the bat. Criticize any mistakes and correct them. You cannot daydream during a visualization session. You have to stay alert but relaxed.

You think this is nonsense? The brain makes little distinction between actual body involvement and imagined action. You’re stimulating the brain’s input to muscles involved in the act you visualize.

You should see results if you practice this for at least one month. Each visualization session should last five to 10 minutes.

I’ll be on the sidelines cheering you on. Can you hear me?

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am 50 and in good health. However, I have a problem when jumping or running. I lose a lot of urine. Is this stress incontinence? – S.H.

ANSWER: It is stress incontinence. The bladder loses urine when stress is put on it by increased pressure in the abdomen and pelvis. Stress takes the form of laughing, coughing, sneezing, bending over, lifting or exercising, including jumping and running. The muscles and ligaments supporting your bladder and helping it hold urine have given way. Losing the support makes you lose urine.

Kegel exercises can restore vigor to those muscles and ligaments. While urinating, deliberately stop the flow of urine. The muscles you contract to do that are the muscles you contract during the Kegel exercises. You do the exercises when you’re not urinating, and you can do them standing or sitting.

Contract the muscles and hold the contraction for 10 seconds. Then relax the muscles for 10 seconds. Repeat for a total of 10 consecutive contractions. Throughout the day, repeat the entire exercise at least six times — more if you can.

In about six weeks, you ought to see improvement. If you don’t, you’ll have to visit your doctor for other approaches to the problem.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: The only time I have for exercise is the evening. I go to bed early because I have to get up very early. People tell me I should not exercise in the evening because it’s going to interfere with my sleep. I don’t have any trouble sleeping. Will I if I continue? – M.M.

ANSWER: A revered exercise maxim held that a person should not exercise in the four hours prior to going to bed. The stimulation of exercise was supposed to keep people from falling asleep.

Others say that is foolish. It’s perfectly allowable to exercise in the evening, and it doesn’t disrupt most people’s sleep. You’re an example. You should have no trouble in the future with insomnia if you’re not having any trouble now.

Stick with your schedule.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have come down with corns on one foot. Could there be any relationship between them and drinking apple juice? I hope so. – H.S.

ANSWER: I can assure you there is no relationship between corns and apple juice. Corns, like calluses, are a buildup of dead layers of skin that the body uses to cushion an area that’s subjected to pressure. Most corns are on the toes, and either the toe bones have a defect that’s making them jut against the shoe or an adjacent toe, or the shoe doesn’t fit and is pressing on the toe. Treatment consists of relieving the pressure.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.