#sleep Do you fall asleep just fine but you can’t stay asleep? Do you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and find you can’t fall back to sleep? The need to urinate often at night is called nocturia. “Beyond Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), there is debate among experts about whether nocturia causes sleep disturbances or the other way around. It is more likely that sleep problems, including insomnia, are the root cause if a person struggles to get back to sleep after going to the bathroom.”
To reduce your risk of nocturia follow these behavioral tips:
1 – elevate your legs before bed (promotes fluid shifts earlier in the evening – think of sitting in a recliner)
2 – Reduce caffeine and alcohol intake close to bedtime
3 – Get most of your needed daily fluid intake done by dinnertime.
There are medications to reduce nocturia. If you’re getting up more than 2x/night to urinate, and behavioral changes are not working, it’s time to talk to your primary care doctor to see “what else” can be done.
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