Avoid going with these tips
Stay cozy in your warm bed at night
Nothing is more annoying than having to get out of bed to pee at night. We’ve all experienced it: you’re sleeping beautifully in your warm bed, but you wake up because you have to go to the bathroom. It’s extremely annoying, but you can do something about it! There are a few things that cause this problem. You might already be trying out everything you can to avoid peeing at night, like not drinking much in the evening. Not working for you? Then you can try using some of the following tips.
Overactive bladder - You normally produce around 1 to 2 liters of urine per day, and only 25% of that being during the night. So you should be able to make it through the whole night without having to pee. Do you find yourself getting up multiple times a night to go to the bathroom? Then you probably have an overactive bladder, also referred to as nocturia. This means you have an increased urine production at night. This disorder is seen more often in women than men, and age also plays a role.
If you’ve noticed you experience this as well, you’re probably curious to find out what the cause could be. An increased urine production could have numerous causes, and some are less harmless than others. Possible causes are:
- Eating or drinking too much before bed
- Disruption of the antidiuretic hormone (ADH), the hormone that ensures you produce less urine at night
- Impaired kidney function
- Bladder disorders
- For men: prostate problems
- Edema formation, better known as fluid accumulation
- Certain medication
- Underlying illness
To the doctor’s office or not? When exactly should you go to the doctor? You should go if the issue of peeing at night is disrupting your sleep and night’s rest. If you only occasionally have to go to the restroom at night, you shouldn’t get too worried. Only a visit to the doctor can shed light on the problem at hand. He or she can therefore do something about it. Your doctor can examine: eating and drinking habits, hormone disorders, bladder- or prostate problems, urinary tract infections, kidney problems, and heart issues.
Before heading off to the doctor, there are few things you can try to keep from having to pee at night. Try out the following tips:
- Don’t drink anything after 8pm. If you’ve had a liter and a half of water throughout the day, this shouldn’t be an issue.
- Limit your caffeine and alcohol consumption. These drinks have a moisture-repelling effect.
- Do you suffer from swollen legs during the day? Sleep with a pillow under your legs to keep them elevated or use compression stockings.
- Watch what you eat before bed. Digestion stimulates urine production.
- And finally (with your doctor’s approval) you can take a diuretic (water-expeller) or a desmopressin in the late afternoon.
How Normal Is Peeing In The Middle Of The Night?
If you are peeing more than once during the night, it might be because of one of these reasons
If your bladder acts as a middle-of-the-night alarm clock, you might be curious whether it’s a cause for concern. Turns out you’re in good company if you’re wondering. “Is it normal to pee in the middle of the night?” is one of the most common questions that Marcelino Rivera, a urologist with Indiana University Health, said he gets asked in his practice.
In general, if you are waking up to pee once during the night, it’s likely that is normal for you, Rivera said. The kidneys’ main function is to filter out toxins from the bloodstream and concentrate those toxins into urine. According to Rivera, this is done continuously ― “during the day we are typically [going] every two to four hours depending on hydration status and fluid consumption” ― but at night, the body releases hormones to concentrate the urine more than during the daytime. Hence why we don’t typically wake up as much at night to urinate.
But if you are peeing more than once during the night or running to the bathroom is disrupting your sleep, you might need to examine other areas of your waking life. Here are a few of the most common reasons you may be getting up to pee, whether they’re considered normal and expert advice on what to do about them:
You’re drinking too much H2O, especially close to bedtime
- It could be your medication
- You’ve had some alcohol or caffeine
- You’re dealing with a sleep disorder
- You’re pregnant
- Aging could be a factor
- You have swollen legs
- You have a UTI or prostate issue
- You have another medical disorder
Nocturia: Excessive Urination at Night
Nocturia is a condition that causes you to wake up during the night to pee. This condition is also called nocturnal urinary frequency — having to pee more often at night. Nocturia becomes more common as people age (usually older than 60) and occurs in all genders and sexes, sometimes for different reasons. It can be common for people to wake up once during the night to pee, but peeing more frequently may be a sign of an underlying condition or problem.
When a person pees too much during the daytime, but can limit the amount of trips to the bathroom at night, it’s referred to as frequent urination. Nocturia is strictly using the bathroom multiple times after bedtime and before you wake up in the morning. Whether it’s happening due to an underlying medical condition or something else, it can leave you feeling tired because your regular sleep cycle is disrupted.
How common is nocturia? Nocturia is a common condition affecting more than 50% of adults after age 50. It’s more common in men and people assigned male at birth (AMAB) after age 50. Before 50, nocturia is more common in women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB). It affects up to 1 in 3 people over the age of 30.
Why you keep waking up in the middle of the night
The importance of sleep has been proven time and time again by the scientific community. There is no substitute for a good night's sleep, so if our sleep is disturbed, we should look into it and try to fix it. One common occurrence is waking up in the middle of the night. This can happen for a number of reasons, including an urge to pee or feeling restless, among others.
In this gallery, we look at the many possibilities as to why you keep waking up in the middle of the night:
- You’re stressed out or feeling anxious
- It might be your gut bacteria
- Your blood sugar levels might be to blame
- Drinking
- Smoking
- Good ol’ caffeine
- It might be due to a nutrient deficiency
- Your hormones might be to blame
- You might suffer from sleep apnea
- The reason might be nocturia
- Prediabetes might be to blame
- Your liver function might be off
- Your thyroid might be the culprit
- A change to your circadian rhythm
