You wake up in the middle of the night with the question “to pee or not to pee”. You are comfortable and you are tired. But your bladder sure won’t stop bothering you. So you stand up and figure it out. You repeat this process. Almost everyone wakes up in the middle of the night to pee. But sometimes, frequent urination can be a sign of a health problem.
Frequent nocturnal urination, or nocturia, is generally defined as getting up at least once a night to urinate.
Nocturia is often caused by one of three possible causes: the bladder has difficulty holding urine, producing more urine than usual during the day, or producing more urine at night.
“It’s normal to pee about once a night,” says Kelly Casperson, MD, a urologist and podcast host in Bellingham, Washington. you are not broken. “If you are 65 or older, two per night is allowed, as you may produce more urine at night as you age.”
Sometimes nighttime urination is just a result of aging, says Matthew Rutman, MD, associate professor of urology at Columbia University Medical Center. But if it continues to happen more than once a night or interferes with your ability to function the next day, the problem goes beyond normal aging. There may be an underlying cause that can and should be addressed. Sometimes, by treating the underlying problem, the urge to urinate at night disappears. Technically, getting up even once a night could be considered nocturia.It is generally thought that when you go to the bathroom two or more times a night, it will be more troublesome for your quality of life, depending on Urology Review.
If you occasionally wake up at night to urinate (which is common), then this isn’t a big deal. But if it happens every night and bothers you, it’s worth mentioning it to your doctor. However, how much it bothers you is subjective. Frequent urination at night can become a problem when you’re tired from disrupted sleep during the day, Dr. Rutman says.
related: 9 reasons why you feel like you have to pee all the time
It’s worth exploring some of the common reasons why nocturia may be waking you up at night, and especially to understand how to deal with it.
People who get up at least once a night to go to the bathroom are 40% more likely to develop high blood pressure, according to a study presented at the Japanese Circulation Society’s annual scientific meeting in 2019. Those who woke up several times a night had a higher chance.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that going to the bathroom every night is a sure sign that you have high blood pressure. But if you’re not sure whether your blood pressure is normal, you should get it checked out. Especially if you are at risk for high blood pressure. Many factors may put you at risk; a short list includes having diabetes, eating too much sodium and too little potassium, being inactive, being overweight, smoking, having a family history of high blood pressure, and drinking too much alcohol.
If you’re at risk for high blood pressure and wake up multiple times each night to urinate, it’s worth discussing it with your doctor.
The more often you wake up, the more likely you are to realize that you need to urinate and empty your bladder. So it might not actually be the urge to pee that wakes you up, Dr. Rutman says. Anyway, you probably just woke up.
One possible reason? Sleep apnea is a condition in which breathing stops while sleeping, which can wake you up throughout the night. For example, a recent study found that treating sleep apnea can also treat nocturia. If you’re dealing with other sleep problems, addressing them may help stop urination or thoughts that you need to urinate.
Alcohol is a diuretic and increases urine production, so drinking later in the day may cause excessive urination at night. Drinking too much fluid at night, of any type, can also lead to nocturia.
Jason M. Phillips, MD, urologist north coast urologyrecommends abstaining from all liquids two to four hours before bed and avoiding alcohol at night to avoid nighttime bathroom trips if nighttime urination bothers you.
Dr. Phillips says some common medications used to treat bloating and high blood pressure, such as Lasix and hydrochlorothiazide, are also diuretics. If you are taking any of these medications, take them six hours or more before bed.
Other medications may also be the culprit, so ask your doctor if nocturia is a side effect of any medications you are taking.
Dr. Phillips says that when you have diabetes, excess glucose, or blood sugar, rushes into your kidneys, causing water to enter the kidneys as well. Therefore, you may find that your bladder fills up faster than usual.
If you continue to urinate throughout the day and night, and you urinate a lot, Dr. Phillips says, you may need a urine test to get a proper diagnosis. This can measure various substances in urine, including glucose.
As men age, a problem called benign prostatic hyperplasia, or walnut-shaped enlargement of the prostate, may develop. This may be due to changes in hormone levels, including reduced testosterone production or accumulation of dihydrotestosterone.
An enlarged prostate can put pressure on the bladder, making you think it needs to be emptied more often than it actually is, says Dr. Phillips. A larger-than-usual prostate can also cause other urinary symptoms, such as difficulty starting or stopping the flow of urine, a weak urine flow, or a feeling after urination that the bladder has not been completely empty.
Prostate enlargement can be treated with medications such as Flomax, Myrbetriq, or anticholinergic drugs that relax the bladder muscles, as well as the UroLift procedure.
related:Here we tell you how often you should have a bowel movement
Have you ever run to the bathroom thinking you need to pee but nothing comes out? Dr. Phillips says irritants like spicy foods, alcohol, and urinary tract infections can trick your bladder into thinking it’s full. Bladder problems may also manifest as frequent urination during the day, not just at night.
Another challenge with the bladder may be a bladder or urinary tract infection. Yes, men can get infections too, especially if they have an enlarged prostate, kidney stones, or have a narrowed urethra due to a sexually transmitted infection or injury. Other symptoms of a bladder infection include a burning or stinging sensation, fever, and blood or cloudy urine.
If you’ve been eating a lot of salty food lately, this may be the reason for your nocturia habit. If you find that nocturia is a problem, reducing your salt intake may be a way to relieve it, according to a 2019 study.
How often you urinate is affected by many factors, such as fluid intake, so there’s no need to naturally panic if you have to get up at night to pee. Lifestyle changes can make a difference. “Stop drinking water three hours before bed and urinate before bed,” says Dr. Casperson. According to the Urology Care Foundation, elevating your legs or wearing compression stockings can also help prevent fluid from accumulating in your legs, which you then need to drain by going to the bathroom. The foundation also recommends trying short naps; when you nap, fluids are absorbed into your bloodstream, reducing the chance that you’ll need to wake up frequently to urinate.
If you’ve made some lifestyle changes but nighttime urination is still bothering you, it’s worth working with your doctor to find out the underlying cause. Medications can help, as prescribed by your healthcare provider. Medications such as anticholinergics, mirabegron, Botox, imipramine, and duloxetine can affect the muscles associated with the bladder and relieve excessive urinary frequency. Take control and discover which solutions are best for you.
via Men’s Health
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