4 replies to this topic

[calengineering]

I've had a problem for as long as I can remember that on most mornings, I have to wake up a little earlier because of an urge to urinate. Sometimes it's quite a small volume of urine, but I still have the urge. I still haven't figured out exactly why this happens. Obviously things like caffeine and drinking later at night play a factor, but I haven't noticed a dramatic change after stopping both.

Recently, I've discovered that if I increase my salt intake, I usually don't have this problem. I usually realize after waking up that I had something salty for dinner like instant ramen noodles (very high in sodium) or a salty dish.

Does anyone know why this happens? It seems contradictory to the fact that you can't drink sea water because you will get dehydrated. I don't know if that dehydration is due to peeing or water coming out of our body's cells. Does anybody know?

Could it be that my salt intake is lower than it should be? I have a pretty healthy version of the American diet and I eat from all the food groups. I would find it hard to believe that my salt intake is low, given the fact that most health guidelines advise Americans to lower their salt intake.

I'm thinking another possibility could be that my salt intake is fine, but increasing it helps mask this "need to pee" problem I have.

Edited by calengineering, 10 May 2013 - 06:53 AM.

[Absent]

I've had issue with waking up to pee like a little squirt.... I typically try to cut water intake 2 hours before I go to sleep, with only drinking minor sips afterwards, and the problem went away.

I had to cut excess sodium out of my diet because it would cause me to wake up incredibly thirsty. If I eat any salty snack like chips within 5 hours of bed, in a decent quantity, I will almost certainty wake up 3-4 times during the night to sip some water. It's really a balance thing imo... gotta figure out your balance.

[theconomist]

Do you breath out of your mouth by any chance? I've got a rhinnitus for as long as I can remember so I always breath out of my mouth which causes a very dry mouth when I wale up and subsequently an urge to drink and urinate. Cutting water doesn't affect this at all.

[hippocampus]

This is probably not directly relevant but I used to wake up at night 3-4 times, since I stopped eating gluten I'm much less thirsty and I only wake up once at night (although I want to cut back that too ).

In your case it could be something with renin-angiotensin system but I don't know much about biology so somebody else should explain it to you.

[niner]

Since no one mentioned it, the reason that salt makes you pee less is that your body tries to maintain a constant concentration of solutes in the blood. If you add a bunch of ions, in the form of salt, then you need more water in the system to keep the concentration in range. Your kidneys respond to this need by excreting less water, so you don't need to pee as much.