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Heather Jeffcoat, DPT
If You Are Tired of Waking Up to Pee at Night, We've Got Some Answers
Getting up to pee during the night can be super disorienting. It turns out that it can give you some insight into your health. To be clear: Getting up to go to pee every once in a while is perfectly fine, according to Heather Jeffcoat, DPT , Fusion Wellness & Femina Physical Therapy in Los Angeles, California. But if you're waking up to pee (and you're not on medication like a diuretic) it might help to examine what's going on.
People can develop nocturia for a whole host of reasons. Some of the reasons, according to Dr. Jeffcoat, are mechanical or based on the literal musculature function of the bladder and pelvic floor.
In my practice, I see nocturia mostly in postpartum individuals, especially when they are frequently getting up to breast or bottle-feed,"
Dr. Jeffcoat says. She explains that sometimes nocturia persists because someone has been primed to wake up at regular intervals throughout the night— and it continues even after they're no longer breastfeeding. This is a necessity and pretty normal. She adds that pelvic floor trauma incurred during birth can be a possible culprit.
Another factor, Dr. Jeffcoat says, is constipation. Constipation can cause nighttime urination because built-up fecal matter in the colon can press on the bladder and instill urgency strong enough to wake you up, she explains. And if you have bladder control and incontinence trouble throughout the day, it isn’t uncommon to have those carry into the night, Dr. Jeffcoat adds. "It's essential to manage daytime frequency to help with nighttime frequency through behavioral retraining techniques that a pelvic floor therapist could show you."
To get the full lowdown on how to avoid waking up to pee at night, continue to the full article here.
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