The Salt Intake May Determine People to Urinate More

Specialists argue that the salt intake may determine people to urinate more during the night. A lower salt intake could help us reduce the trips to the bathroom at night. New research indicates that most people over the age of 60, and some even younger than that, wake up every night to pee. Some of them have this routine even several times per night.

Nocturia is going to the bathroom in the middle of the night

This behavior is known as nocturia. The interruption of sleep could lead to tiredness, irritability, stress, all these affecting life’s quality. Nocturia can be triggered by a wide range of factors, but mainly by the excess of salt in people’s diets. Tomohiro Matsuo, a researcher from Nagasaki University in Japan, stated that this research is known to be the first one to indicate the effects of the intake of salt over the human body, determining a frequency in urinating.

He argued that many people tend to have this problem with nighttime urination, especially when they grow older. The new study developed a link between the excess of salt and the frequency in urinating. A slight dietary change might substantially improve life’s quality. The study surveyed approximately three hundred Japanese people. All these adults had sleeping problems and an increase salt intake.

The salt intake can determine how often someone urinates

They received instructions from specialists to be able to reduce the excess of salt. These people followed the steps indicated by researchers for 12 weeks. The American Heart Association advises people to consume less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. That is the equivalent of a teaspoon of salt. Generally, AHA claims that people should not consume more than 1,500 milligrams of salt a day.

Based on the data provided by AHA, the table salt contains about 40% sodium. Approximately two hundred participants in the study reduced their salt intake. They reduced the amount of salt from 11 grams per day to just 8 grams. That reduction caused the average number of bathroom trips at night to drop from 2.3 to 1.4 times.

Moreover, the number of times people needed to go to the bathroom also decreased during the day. Researchers stated that the reduction of nighttime bathroom visits helped to improve the life’s quality.

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