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The need to pee at night (nocturia) -- which affects most people over the age of 60 -- is related to the amount of salt in your diet, according to new research presented at the European Society of Urology congress in London.
Most people over the age of 60 (and a substantial minority under 60) wake up one or more times during the night to go to the bathroom. This is nightime peeing, or nocturia. Although it seems a simple problem, the lack of sleep can lead to other problems such as stress, irritability or tiredness, and so can have a significant negative impact on quality of life. There are several possible causes of nocturia. Now a group of Japanese scientists have discovered that reducing the amount of salt in one's diet can significantly reduce excessive peeing -- both during the day and when asleep.
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223 members of the group were able to reduce their salt intake from 10.7 gm per day to 8.0 gm/day. In this group, the average night-time frequency of urination dropped from 2.3 times/night to 1.4 times. In contrast, 98 subjects increased their average salt intake from 9.6 gm/night to 11.0 gm/night, and they found that the need to urinate increased from 2.3 times/night to 2.7 times/night. The researchers also found that daytime urination was reduced when salt in the diet was reduced.
There's a slightly longer summary here: Cutting salt could cut night-time loo visits; and some mainsteam media have also covered the story in a more readable form: Could eating less salt reduce nighttime bathroom trips?. And for balance, some people on the internet think the opposite is true.
[Update: Replaced ScienceDaily link with a link to original source article. --martyb]
(Score: 3, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday March 28 2017, @03:45PM
Are they certain that the increased in salt isn't just part of the issue? Normally salty stuff makes me thirsty... which leads me to drinking more water. Which might need to be let out a bit more frequently as a result.
Completely agree with this observation. I don't eat out a lot, but I've frequently encountered excessively salty food when I do (not to mention the occasional margarita, etc.). When I consume such very salty food, I often drink a LOT more water. (If I don't do that, I frequently wake up in the middle of the night and am ridiculously thirsty... because of the salt. And that leads me to go drink a couple glasses of water in the middle of the night, which leads me to go to the bathroom an hour or two later, still often in the middle of the night.)
Also, it should be noted that these people are eating a LOT of salt. FDA recommends 2.3 grams/day max of sodium, but the average American apparently consumes around 3.4 grams/day. The people in this study were cutting salt intake from 10.7 grams/day to 8 grams/day, still over twice the amount of the average American diet even after cutting.