NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Urination - excessive at night

"Normally, urine decreases in amount and become more concentrated at night. That means, most people can sleep 6 to 8 hours without having to urinate. But, persons with nocturia get up more than once during the night to urinate. Because of this, those who have excessive urination at night often have disrupted sleep cycles. Common Causes • Benign prostatic hyperplasia • Certain drugs including diuretics, cardiac glycosides, demeclocycline, lithium, methoxyflurane, phenytoin, propoxyphene, and excessive vitamin D • Chronic or recurrent urinary tract infection • Chronic renal failure • Congestive heart failure • Cystitis • Diabetes • Drinking too much fluid before bedtime, particularly coffee, caffeinated beverages, or alcohol • Obstructive sleep apnea and other sleeping disorders"

NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Bedwetting

"Bedwetting is involuntary urination in children over 5 to 6 years old. It may occur at any time of the day or night. This article focuses on nighttime bedwetting. … Children who have never been consistently dry at night have primary enuresis. This usually occurs when the body makes more urine overnight than the bladder can hold and the child does not wake up when the bladder is full. The child's brain has not learned to respond to the signal that the bladder is full. It is not the child's or the parent's fault. Physical causes are rare, but may include lower spinal cord lesions, congenital malformations of the genitourinary tract, infections of the urinary tract, or diabetes. Bedwetting runs strongly in families. More than 5 million children in the U.S. wet the bed. About 9% of boys and 6% of girls still wet the bed at age 7. The numbers drop slightly by age 10. Although the problem goes away over time, many children and even a small number of adults continue to have bedwetting episodes."

Highlighted Articles

Me and My Kegels; Doing pelvic exercises the right way can pay off in the bathroom—and the bedroom.

"Two years after giving birth, I still can’t control my bladder. I’m one of 25 million Americans, the majority of them women, with incontinence. More than half of healthy women ages 42 to 50—I’m 45—have some form of chronic-peeing problem, usually linked to pregnancy and childbirth, coughing, constipation, heavy lifting, or hormonal changes. Yet, incredibly, 90 percent of us never seek treatment."

Benefits of Kegel exercises

"Kegel exercises strengthen some of the muscles that control the flow of urine. Doctors often prescribe Kegel exercises for people who have bladder control problems (urinary incontinence). Kegel exercises are also called pelvic floor exercises because they treat and prevent pelvic floor weakness "

Effects of walking exercise on nocturia in the elderly.

(Biomed Res. 2007) "The daytime urinary frequency, blood pressure, body weight, body fat ratio, edema ratio, serum catecholamines, triglycerides, and total cholesterol were also decreased. After 8 weeks of exercise, 20 of the subjects (67%) stated that sleep was deeper than before exercise. Assessment of the overall improvement showed that excellent or good results were obtained in 18 patients (60%). The main factor related to the influence of walking exercise on nocturia was that sleep became deeper, which increased the arousal threshold bladder volume. Walking exercise may also have a preventive effect on lifestyle-related diseases."