Waking up in the night to go to the bathroom is never fun, but depending on the frequency and severity it can indicate an underlying condition or simply mean that you should cut down on drinking fluids before bed.

As we age, it’s normal for nightly urination to increase slightly in frequency. In these cases, your bladder will usually only wake you up one time on a given night. If you find that you’re regularly waking up more often than that, your nightly urination may be the result of an underlying condition.

Causes

There are many reasons that you may be waking up with an urge to urinate. Some of the most common causes of waking up to go to the bathroom include:

Too much fluid intake before bed

Especially if beverages are caffeinated or carbonated, drinking right before bed can mean that your bladder will fill up in the middle of the night. This is because your kidneys will filter the fluid before the night is up.

Try to limit your fluids before bed to see if your symptoms begin to go away. If they don’t, one of the other causes may be the culprit and an awareness of other symptoms will help your doctor narrow down the exact cause.

Enlarged prostate (BPH)

The prostate is the gland that is located around the urethra where it attaches to a man’s bladder. As men age, it’s normal for the prostate to swell until, because of its location, it begins to make it difficult to empty their bladders entirely. This is called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and by age 60 about half of men have it.

The exact cause of BPH is not entirely known, but it is noncancerous and treatable with medication, or with surgery in cases where the prostate isn’t responsive to medication.

Other common causes of nighttime urination:

• Overactive bladder/neurological issues
• Undiagnosed/untreated diabetes
• Blood pressure medications
• Neurological problems
• Stress/anxiety

Treatment

In the case of something like BPH, there isn’t much that you can do on your own to alleviate symptoms and you should contact your urologist or primary care physician if you experience any of the above symptoms. Even so, here are some things that you can try to minimize the effect any urinary condition has on your sleep:

• Record a bladder diary and look for trends in how often you pee and when, and share these with your doctor.
• Reduce fluid intake within 4-6 hours of bedtime to minimize the urine you produce while you sleep.
• Elevate your legs periodically during the day to distribute any fluid that may be concentrated in your legs up to your kidneys for processing. If you don’t, when you lay down in bed the excess fluid from your legs may enter your bloodstream and be processed into urine at night.
• Encourage healthy sleep so that you aren’t waking up for an unrelated reason and going to the bathroom out of habit.

Not only can these things help you to manage your symptoms from the comfort of your home, but they also can help you to be more aware of your condition when you talk to your doctor about your symptoms so that you can be given a more precise treatment and return to a healthy sleep cycle that isn’t interrupted by your bladder.