As the saying goes, “Children sleep a lot and the elderly urinate a lot.” It is very common for elderly people to urinate a lot at night, and as they age, this becomes more and more pronounced, generally getting up more than 2 times each night. Unfortunately, many people think that nocturia is harmless and consider it to be a natural change with age. In fact, this perception is one-sided. Increased nocturia in the elderly, it is not a normal physiological phenomenon, much less a physiological need, but a potentially pathological manifestation. Nocturia refers to urination at one or more times during the night, and each urination interrupts sleep more often. Nocturia leads to insomnia at night, causing a decrease in energy and causing accidents in many elderly people, bringing many problems in later life and seriously affecting the health condition and quality of life of people. However, nocturnal polyuria is different from the clinical term polyuria, which refers to a daily urine output of more than 2,500 ml. Nocturnal polyuria refers to an increase in both the number and volume of urination at night, with the total amount of nocturnal urine generally exceeding 700 ml (accounting for more than 1/3 of the 24-hour urine volume), but the total 24-hour urine volume does not increase. Increased nocturia in the elderly is a common but under-recognized condition, so what exactly is going on with nocturia? The elderly commonly have symptoms of nocturnal polyuria The main reasons for this are as follows: 1. Physiological nocturia: drinking too much soup or porridge at dinner or drinking a lot of water before bedtime, drinking strong tea and coffee, etc., can cause an increase in nocturia. 2, mental nocturia: due to mental tension, insomnia and nervousness lead to an increase in the frequency of nocturia, forming habitual nocturia. 3, renal nocturia: the concentration function of the kidneys of the elderly is obviously reduced, and there is often an increase in nocturia; especially the elderly with hypertension, arteriosclerosis, renal insufficiency and other diseases, due to the sclerosis of the renal arteries, the kidney blood supply is insufficient, which makes the concentration function of the kidneys gradually decreases, and the volume of urine increases, especially the increase in the volume of nocturia is most prominent. It is worth noting that increased nocturia is often the earliest symptom of renal decompensation. 4, bladder forced urinary muscle atrophy: bladder forced urinary muscle atrophy in the elderly leads to a decrease in contraction force residual urine is the actual capacity of the bladder becomes smaller, and the number of nighttime urination increases. 5, genitourinary tract diseases: elderly men due to prostate hyperplasia hypertrophy, compression and stimulation of the bladder neck, so that the bladder contraction, thus appearing frequent urination, especially the most obvious increase in the number of nighttime urination; elderly women uterine prolapse, bladder neck around the tissue relaxation, bladder bulge, can also cause frequent urination at night, urinating more. 6, endocrine and cardiovascular diseases: diabetes, uremia, cardiac insufficiency, etc. can also cause increased nocturnal urination. In addition, some scholars recently believe that nocturia is closely related to the reduction of anti-diuretic hormone secretion and lack of circadian regularity in the elderly. In short, if you experience “increased nocturia”, it may indicate that your kidneys, heart or other areas have given you a red light. Therefore, elderly people should not be concerned about the increase in the number or volume of urine at night, because this is an early sign of certain diseases, and should seek medical attention in a timely manner. Prevention and treatment 1, to carry out appropriate physical exercise to slow down the aging of the body; 2, to control drinking water before bedtime, do not drink strong tea and coffee; 3, insomnia patients can take sleeping pills in moderation; 4, careful use of atropine and other drugs that weaken the bladder contraction ability; 5, prostate enlargement patients should take drugs or undergo surgery under the guidance of a doctor; 6, to cause nocturnal urination of disease to remain vigilant enough, timely hospital examination 6. Stay alert to diseases that cause nocturia and go to the hospital for examination and treatment.