Waking up to pee is normal, but not if it is more than twice a night

Age and health conditions such as diabetes can increase the chances of you waking up at night to go to the bathroom

- Simar Bajaj

Nightly trips to the bathroom are normal. About a third of adults aged over 30, and half over 65, do so.

Waking up to relieve your bladder, formally known as nocturia, is a medical issue only if you have to do it more than twice a night — or if you have trouble going back to sleep afterwards, said Dr Jeffrey Weiss, chair of urology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.

“It’s a symptom,” he said, “but not a disease.”

While urinary issues like an infection or overactive bladder may be to blame, conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and sleep apnoea can also cause nocturia.

Here is what experts say you have to watch out for and how to cut down on nighttime bathroom trips.

WHAT CAUSES NOCTURIA?

At the most basic level, nocturia happens for two reasons. Your body is producing too much urine at night or your bladder cannot hold as much as it used to. About a third of people deal with both.

Age is a major risk factor. When you are young, your body produces most of its urine during the day, but as you get older, urine production shifts towards the night because of hormonal changes and a decline in kidney function, said Professor Donald Bliwise, a sleep specialist at Emory University Medical Centre.