6 Natural Remedies to Reduce Frequent Urination at Night | livestrong

It’s not a major concern if the need to pee at night occurs every once in a while.

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“In a patient with a perfectly healthy bladder, I would expect they either don’t wake up at night to urinate, or occasionally wake up once if they were drinking fluids up to their bedtime,” says James Anaissie, MD, a urologist at Memorial Hermann in Houston.

But when nighttime urination (aka nocturia) becomes more frequent, it could point to an underlying health concern.

“Waking up at night to urinate can be really disruptive to a good night’s sleep, and is often a sign that your bladder is struggling,” Dr. Anaissie says.

Causes of Frequent Urination at Night

There are many, many different potential reasons behind nocturia — here’s a look at some of the most common:

The good news: “All of them have some treatment,” Dr. Ramin says. Some can be treated well, while others can only be mitigated, he notes.

Here, a look at some simple at-home remedies to consider, as well as when to see a doctor.

1. Drink Less Before Bed

The most obvious solution tops the list: Restrict fluids at nighttime.

“Sometimes people are too busy to hydrate well throughout the day, and when things finally slow down when they get home, they overcompensate and end up waking up to empty their now-full bladder,” Dr. Anaissie says. If you recognize yourself in that description, change the habit: Drink throughout the day, then cut yourself off from fluids in the evening.

“I always tell my patients to hydrate well throughout the day by carrying a refillable water bottle, so that when they come home, they don’t have to overdo it right before bed,” Dr. Anaissie says.

Cut down on fluids for the three to four hours prior to your bedtime, Dr. Crouss says — so, if you turn the lights out at 11 p.m., that means drinking less starting at 7 or 8 o’clock.

One other tip: Pee before you slip between the sheets. “Emptying your bladder before bed, sometimes even twice before bed, can help with nighttime urination,” Dr. Crouss says.

How Many Times a Day Should You Pee?

Logically enough, how often you pee throughout the day depends on a few factors — including how much you drink. Guzzle water all day long, and you’ll understandably visit the bathroom more frequently than someone who only has a morning cup of coffee.

Peeing about five to seven times a day is considered normal, Dr. Crouss says. “We diagnose patients with nocturia who complain of being awoken from sleep to urinate one or more times during the night,” she adds.

2. Stay Away From Bladder Irritants

Here are some of the big offenders when it comes to things that irritate the bladder, according to the Mayo Clinic:

You can cut these items out of your life entirely for a brief period — like a week — to see if it makes a difference, then add one item back every few days after that to see if it’s a culprit, per the Mayo Clinic. You may not have to remove alcohol and chocolate or other items entirely; you can also try reducing how much you have.

And consider the timing, too: Spencer recommends avoiding these bladder irritants in the afternoon and evening in particular.

3. Try Compression Stockings

Here, it helps to think about one of the causes of nighttime urination: retaining fluid. Edema can occur for several reasons, from medication side effects to heart failure to being premenstrual to eating salty foods, per the Mayo Clinic.

At night, as you lay flat, the fluid that was retained (frequently in the legs and feet) turns into urine, Dr. Ramin says.

The solution: elevating your legs. Another option: wearing compression stockings during the day. This helps prevent fluids from building up in your legs and helps you go more.

“If you can circulate excess fluid earlier in the day, less fluid will be loaded into your bladder overnight,” Dr. Crouss says.

Look for stockings that are thigh-high, Dr. Ramin recommends. One option: Jomi Compression Stockings ($37.99, Amazon).

4. Get Some Exercise

Exercising during the day also helps cut down on nightly bathroom visits. Cardiovascular exercise is particularly helpful, Dr. Ramin says (think: walking, jogging, playing tennis or anything else that gets your heart pumping).

“A sedentary lifestyle can contribute to fluid retention in the body, leading to increased urine production and nocturia,” Spencer says.

One caveat: Avoid nighttime exercising and moves that put pressure on the bladder or prostate (like riding a bike), Dr. Ramin says.

5. Do Kegel Exercises (but Check With Your Health Care Provider First)

Kegel exercises “can help reduce bladder overactivity” for everyone, Dr. Ramin says. And you can do them whenever you want — not just before bedtime. Aim to do 30 to 40 Kegels a day, Dr. Ramin recommends.

Here’s how to do it, according to the National Library of Medicine:

This advice comes with caveats: if someone has an enlarged prostate and incomplete bladder emptying, Kegel exercises can lead to retaining fluid, Dr. Ramin notes. They’ll also worsen symptoms in other scenarios, such as if you have hyperactive or “tight” pelvic floor muscles, Dr. Crouss says.

The upshot: “Kegel exercises are recommended in some patients, but not in others,” Dr. Crouss says — so before using every moment waiting at a red light to squeeze those muscles, check in with your health care provider.

6. Adjust the Timing of Your Medications

In some cases, medications (such as diuretics, aka water pills) can lead to nighttime urination. If that’s the case, talk to your health care provider about when you take these meds, Dr. Crouss says.

“They could explore switching the timing of their medication to afternoon hours to increase urination right before bedtime and not during sleeping hours,” she says.

What About Medications for Nocturia?

One option is to try taking a non-habit-forming sleep medication (think: Benadryl) to help you sleep through the urge to get up and use the restroom, Dr. Ramin says. But try this tactic only if you’re finding yourself waking up once a night for the bathroom (and avoid it if you wake up multiple times per night), he says.

Plus, you can get a prescription for phenazopyridine, Dr. Anaissie says. Along with easing symptoms like pain and burning, this medication can also reduce urgent and frequent urination, per the National Library of Medicine.

But be cautious about medications — they’re a bandaid on the problem and don’t address the root cause, Dr. Anaissie says. In the long run, that can “delay appropriate treatment,” he says. (Of course, the appropriate long-term treatment may require medications to treat the underlying cause of your nocturia.)

What About Drinking Apple Cider Vinegar?

There’s no evidence that apple cider vinegar can ease nighttime urination. “If anything, it’s going to put a lot of acid in the bladder, and cause irritation to the bladder,” Dr. Ramin says.

Indeed, vinegar, apples and apple juice can all be bladder irritants, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

What About Drinking Cranberry Juice?

If you’re prone to urinary tract infections (UTIs), you’ve likely read the advice to guzzle cranberry juice. There’s a kernel of truth in that pure cranberry juice — which is incredibly tart and not easily digestible — can sometimes help in early UTIs, Dr. Ramin says.

But the cranberry juice you buy in the store is mostly apple juice, sugar and water (with a tiny percentage of actual cranberry juice), he points out. What’s more: There’s no evidence it can help with nocturia.

What About Taking Supplements?

It’s always wise to tread carefully when it comes to supplements, and that’s true when it comes to ones that might ease frequent urination at night, too.

“The American Urologic Association has not found any supplements that treat this problem just yet,” Dr. Anaissie says.

That said, there are some that might be worth considering:

Is It Due to an Overactive Bladder or an Enlarged Prostate?

Frequent urination at night — and also during the day — can be a sign of an overactive bladder (OAB), Dr. Anaissie says.

“It’s a very common problem that I treat all the time,” he says. It’s more commonly seen in people AFAB, and especially those who are older, but it can happen to anyone. Other symptoms of OAB include frequent urination and urgency incontinence, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“A lot of people suffer for too long with this issue, but there are some easy things we can do to reduce it significantly,” Dr. Anaissie says. This includes procedures (such as Botox injection in the bladder), daily medications and behavioral treatments, he says.

Another reason for frequent urination is an enlarged prostate. (Note: This small gland, which helps make semen and increases in size with age, is only present in people AMAB, per the National Cancer Institute.)

Both the causes and treatment of overactive bladder and enlarged prostate are different. “Overactive bladder is due to the bladder muscle or nerves being hypersensitive, while on the other hand with a big prostate, the flow of urine is blocked and the bladder is working overtime to force all the urine out,” Dr. Anaissie explains.

An enlarged prostate can be treated through medication or same-day surgery, he says.

When to See a Doctor

Here are a few indicators that it’s time to check in with your health care provider about nighttime peeing:

You can start with your primary care doctor, or reach out to a urologist or urogynecologist.