How to Reduce Nighttime Urination | Dr. Andrew Huberman

I wake up believe it or not 20 to 30 times during the night to urinate. I'm thinking of installing a urinal in my room ... lol. It is a true torture. 😰 Part of it is from the blood pressure medication that is diuretic. It is a total nightmare because I like sleeping about 12 hours, I'm a late sleeper and wake up by 2pm and start drinking fluids but never feel like drinking 10 x 8oz glasses for 10 hours. I'd say I drink 4 to 6 glasses of 8oz of water at most depending if it is summer or cold in the winter, plus whatever fluids I get from fruits. If I drink 10 glasses of water/day I'd be going to the bathroom all day long. I know my circadian rhythm is way off, but sleep is the only pleasure and escape I get in this life and sometimes I sleep even more than 12 hours, especially the weekends. I'm afraid to drink less water than 4 glasses because that would be bad for the kidneys that need to filter toxins. My friend accidentally ruined her kidneys from eating too many cashews that contain oxalate and she is on the list for kidney transplant. Well cashews are not as harmless as we think. The oxalate created crystals in her kidneys and ruined them forever. Search on google "oxalate in cashews". Avoid foods that contain oxalate is my advice.

I'm a gulper.

I like to end the day with a 2 to 4 ounce martini. What effect will that have on nighttime urination urges?

As always, top quality stuff. Water at night isn't the cause for me, but AH's mention of the kidney's link to circadian rhythm gives me a clue. I think my kidneys aren't getting the memo that it's sleep time and to take a break. I worked many years of night shifts which may have messed up my body clock. Can be up to 3-4 times per night sometimes despite barely drinking water. And I'm healthy young and on the slim side. I only manage about 1L of water a day and nowhere near bedtime. It's weird. Good topic though!

You can not do anything if your enlarged prostate makes you go to the toilet every 2 hours at night.

Summary: drink less closer to sleep.

Thank you for that. An additional strategy to ensure I do not get up in the night to pee. Another technique I use to ensure this outcome is mix about a 1/8tsp of bicarb in a half a glass and drink just before bed. It has helped. I was told that this reduces the acidity of the bladder and hence the tendency to want to pee. And that this is used in some nursing homes.

Thank you Andrew, I will forever on feel comfortable gulping that fluid and will feel free to ingest more fluid 💦🪣🤤. Teasing aside, I found this one of the more fascinating segments as I had no concept of how any of this works and have always been curious. It's so cool to find the definitively correct way to do such basic things as drinking water, maybe some don't care but it's genuinely a weight off my mind and a fun thing to be able to bring up in conversation. Things like this need to be carved into stone for future generations!

How to reduce nighttime urination... Proceeds to give a scientific explanation about the subject. Come on bro, get to the point.

I recently observed that I drink a lot of water. Probably dry mouth from all the weed.

Legit don't need over 5 mins to explain this, kinda zoned out 3 mins in, don't even know the answer.

Almost worthless tbh. Many more helpful tips ignored.

Just slowly reduce your water intake each day until your body aclimates to zero. It's all about making changes gradually.

I momentarily read the title as how to reduce nightmare urination.

All these things to keep track of ..no old folks I know did this..makes a neurotic population. Too many plastic bottles to begin with

Basically, he concluded that the body's functions slow down as evening approaches, so we should drink more during the day and less in the evening. Jesus Christ, exactly which of these points needed a doctor's degree to figure out, and doctor's fee to be told? The specific number of 10 hours? Even in 2023, these so-called doctors still only know part of the picture of sipping that Indian yogis knew thousands of years ago, which is that one of the reasons sipping reduces urination is that it causes water retention in the brain, especially when the body is not thirsty, so you should NOT sipping throughout the day. And again with the 8 glasses a day. And every hour! Is the fact that no two people's constitutions are the same so hard for western medicine to see? Is it so far from common sense for these people that the amount of water you need depends on your activity level, age, diet and countless other factors? Have they ever considered that the more efficient you know how to make your body, the less food and water you need? It's normal to pee once or twice a night! If any of my TCM teachers found out I was allowing my patients to pee that much by default, they would take away my degree. For the life of me, as a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, I do not understand how the masses can dismiss Chinese medicine as primitive and at the same time seek western doctors for advice like this. I'm not even going to get into the real intricacies of the kidneys and hydration.

At night we need fluid to sweat also?

Yes! but no! but yes! -- unless no! then yes!
No?? .....
(sip water -- sip ! -- in the evening.)

Isn't true that not all liquids are equal. Coffee is an antidiuretic inhibitor that stimulates urination. Also, I have a theory that dairy products may do the same. When I ingest milk or ice cream after 5 pm it causes me to urinate a lot at night. I normally rarely get up to urinate at night. Therefore, being a test patient of "one", is this true that dairy causes this with other people too?

Thank you 🙏🏻

Thanks Andrew. When you are an old man like me you will see how important this is. I wake up to pee every two hours, normally after the REM cycle. I compensate by spending more time in bed but it’s really inconvenient.

Drinking beer 🍺 at night makes me peeee

"So-called urination"

wow, this guy is so good looking and very well-spoken and knowledgeable too.

should've also mentioned vitamin b1

thanks, taking notes

Five ounces???　Wot's that in English, please?

Thank you for saying "urinate" instead of "pee". So much more civilized.

Helpful but wondering if water would also include the 3 cups if tea (no caffeine) in drink a day.

I'm not even going to watch this before making a judgement...

Don't drink a bunch of liquid before bed. Wow what magic!

observe your waking pattern for a week
understand when your body wakes up on an average - call it T hours
Hydrate properly until T+10 hours every day - gulp/sip - up to you - whatever feels natural to you
Post T+10 hours, decrease the amount of water intake unless extraordinary like heat or sweat calls for more hydration - and hydrate slowly and sip by sip only if at all possible

body will adjust over time and pee patterns will sync will your circadian rhythm.

I have a spinal cord injury that impacts my bladder so I hold less urine before the urge kicks in. I've found out by trial and error that Dr. Huberman is correct. It is not easy, but I stop drinking fluids 6 hour before bedtime and even I only have to get up once or twice. I also accidently discovered that a NSAID called Diclofenac Potassium (50mgs) at bedtime cause urine production to slow dramatically. There are times when I sleep the entire night! This is a dramatic change from getting up every 90 mins all night long.

How do you combine it with the evening weight training? There is no other time to me to lift weights and it requires hydrating. Just having many little sips?

Waking up 1-2x per night is NOT normal....... Incorrect Dr. Huberman.

It may be common, but it's not normal

Very well explained and validated with physiological details. Though all those who have this problem, somehow are aware of the fundamentals that the more one gulps water in the late hours of the day the probality of urine in the night would be more, but here this has been very conveincingly explained and validated. ❤

Gee, guess what. If you want to pee less at night, drink less in the evening. Who'd've ever thunk it, hey?

Wow so drink less fluids or none later in the early eve. It took a DR to tell you this little trick lol

Sorry I missed the important part - I had to leave for a pee

I do hydrate properly throughout the day, but very often in the evening I'm still thirsty. If I don't drink enough water then, I'd feel very strange (especially my mouth and throat) when going to sleep and when waking up...
So I'd rather focus on sipping the water 10 hours after waking up till going to bed. I've heard it before that this is a better way to hydrate the body. Indeed I've noticed that when I do it, I don't go too frequently, too much to the toilet. As if the water is better absorbed by my body.

What about tip 3? I saw only 2...

Make a video on visual snow

By the way, why does this Doctor and Americans, generally, speak of weight when he recommends how much you ought to drink? Why "5 ounces"? Why doesn't he speak of volume, as in pints or litres? I will need to look up ounces to pints/litres in order to convert.

evening snacking contributes to making more urine, especially if it raises insulin, so avoid that

interesting, will try it thanks

Less water in, less water out. Genius

Drink water while you are sited, that’s effective, you won’t need to get up for bathroom anymore.

Number one way for me was to treat my sleep apnea with cpap. Sleep apnea reduces vasopressin. Went from 5 times a night to 0. Number one reason people get nocturia

Just piss the bed and problem solved.