Getting up at night to urinate: what your body is trying to tell you

Do you wake up at 2 a.m., 3 or even 4 a.m., irresistibly pushed to urinate? This gesture sounds trivial, but it can reveal a silent mess in your body. And no, it's not necessarily related to this last glass of drinking water before going to bed... This phenomenon, common but often ignored, can alter the quality of your sleep without you realizing it. Here's what it hides and, above all, how to avoid it.

Getting up to urinate at night: not that normal

In fact, our body is designed to be able to sleep 7 to 8 hours without interruption, including without the need to urinate. It is a hormone, ADH (anti-diuretic hormone), secreted at night, that plays this role: it limits the production of urine while we sleep.

But here it is: when this hormone is poorly secreted or our sleep is too light to enter the so-called REM phase, the body no longer holds back water. As a result, your bladder wakes you up... when you should be in the midst of a dream.

Read more on the next page.