Sleep Apnea Is An Important Cause of Nocturia

Most doctors assume that when a man is getting up often to urinate that the cause must be an enlarged prostate and some blockage of flow. Nocturia is the term used for arising from a sleep to use the toilet. While an enlarged prostate is one cause there are other very important reasons for getting up at night to empty. One I discuss often in the office is sleep apnea. A person who sleeps with recurrent problems breathing will sleep lightly, and instead of their bladder filling up as it should, the light sleep causes them to wake easier and with a smaller bladder. If they fix the sleep apnea and sleep better, oftentimes the night-time trips to the bathroom are fewer too. If you get up to empty a lot of night and if you snore, are tired all day, or have a large neck then think about sleep apnea. You might find that a trip for a sleep study does you a world of good.