Q: I constantly have to get up at night to urinate. Is there anything I can do about this?

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

Waking up to relieve your bladder, formally known as nocturia, is only a medical issue if you have to do it more than twice a night — or if you have trouble going back to sleep afterward, 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 like diabetes, heart disease and sleep apnea can also cause nocturia.

We asked experts what 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 can't hold as much as it used to. About a third of people deal with both.

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

Aging is also linked to less elastic bladders, weaker pelvic floor muscles and enlarged prostates. As a result, older adults often experience nocturia more frequently, said Dr. Alayne Markland, chief of geriatrics at University of Utah Health.

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