What is nocturia?
Nocturia, also known as nighttime urination, is a common condition that affects many people, especially as they age. It can impact women and men (especially for men with an enlarged prostate). Nocturia refers to the excessive need to urinate at night. Under typical circumstances, the body produces less urine at night, such that one can sleep soundly through the night without waking up to urinate. However, in the case of nocturia, a person is woken up two or more times throughout the night with the urge to void. Nocturia can be very disruptive to one’s quality of sleep and has many potential causes.
What causes Nocturia?
Causes of nocturia can range from lifestyle habits to underlying medical conditions including:
- Too much fluid consumed too close to bedtime.
- A developed habit. If you wake up at night without the urge to urinate but decide you might as well go, you can train your bladder and brain to habitually urinate at night.
- A urinary tract infection increases urinary frequency during both the day and night. See your physician if you suspect you have an infection, or if you have any pain or burning with urination.
- Some medications have diuretic effects. Speak to your physician and/or pharmacist to see if your medication may be contributing to nocturia, and ask if these pills can be taken earlier in the day.
- Overactive bladder is a condition where the bladder muscle suddenly contracts resulting in a strong, sudden urge to urinate that is very hard to postpone.
- Incomplete emptying of the bladder due to factors such as bladder prolapse or cystocele in females, infection or enlargement of the prostate in males, or an obstruction (e.g. Tumor).
- Swelling or edema in the legs.
- Sleep apnea.
- Congestive heart failure.
- Neurological disorders.
An innovative solution for Nocturia
UROSPOT has helped thousands of people get the sleep they need. At UROSPOT pelvic health conditions like nocturia are treated with a combination of technology, and personalized education and health coaching. The technology at UROSPOT uses wave of high intensity focused electromagnetic energy to stimulate the pelvic floor muscles. This energy also re-educates the neuromuscular connection between brain, bladder and pelvic floor. Because the feeling of needing to void is a sensation that is produced by the brain, we are able to retrain these signals, as well as our body’s response to them with the help of UROSPOT’s technology. This form of “retraining” is helps reduce nocturia and improve quality of life by increasing restorative sleep. The technology at UROSPOT is delivered in the form of a medical chair you sit on. You remain fully clothed, and nothing goes inside your body. It’s that easy!
Other Solutions for Nocturia
There are many lifestyle modifications you can make to better manage your symptoms including:
- Bladder retraining: implementing urge suppression techniques when you feel the urge to urinate at night. For example, when you feel the strong urge to urinate, you can try deep breathing, relaxation, reverse Kegels, or distraction techniques such as counting backwards from 100 by 7’s. The goal of these techniques is to learn to suppress the urgency and postpone the need to urinate, and they need to be practiced regularly.
- Stay hydrated throughout the day, but limit fluids 2-3 hours before bed.
- Consume caffeine early in the day.
- Decrease your caffeine and alcohol intake.
- Always make sure to void (empty) your bladder last thing before you climb into bed.
- Practice good sleep hygiene so you are not tempted to use the bathroom if you are awake at night.
- Medication such as desmopressin helps the kidneys produce less urine (discuss with your physician).
- Discuss with your physician and/or pharmacist if you can take medication that may be acting as a diuretic earlier in the day.
- Use compression stockings or elevate your legs if you have edema or swelling to aid in circulation and help to avoid fluid build-up in the lower extremities.
- Lie down for half an hour in the evening to help your body get rid of some excess fluid before bedtime. Your heart most effectively eliminates fluid from your legs when lying down versus standing up, producing more urine. Therefore, if you lie down and elevate your legs before bed, void your bladder, and then go to bed for the night, you may not get up to void as frequently throughout the night.
Sleep is so important to your overall health and wellness. Investing time to learn more about what is causing your nocturia and exploring treatment options can have a massive return on your quality of life. UROSPOT offers a complimentary consultation and trial of the technology to help you decide which treatment option is right for you. A team of nurses and pelvic health physiotherapists are there to help you with an individualized care plan and the entire care is non-invasive.
