Waking Up to Urinate at Night Could Be a Sign of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

If you're a man, and you're waking up to urinate during the night, don't be too quick to blame it on your prostate. According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, getting up to empty your bladder at night may be a sign of obstructive sleep apnea, a condition where breathing pauses during sleep as the airway closes off.

Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy or Sleep Apnea?

Researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev made the surprising discovery that over 57% of middle-aged and older men diagnosed with benign prostatic hypertrophy or BPH, may also have obstructive sleep apnea. They think this is the real reason they're waking up to urinate at night. Benign prostate enlargement is a common problem among older men.

Obstructive sleep apnea is a common disorder too, especially among people who are obese. It's a condition where breathing stops for as long as 40 seconds periodically throughout the night. Signs and symptoms of this sleep disorder include snoring, daytime grogginess, poor sleep, weight gain, mood changes - and an elevated heart rate and blood pressure. Treatment is important since untreated obstructive sleep apnea can lead to high blood pressure, heart problems or stroke.

Waking Up to Urinate: It's Not Always Your Prostate

Obstructive sleep apnea is a common cause of awakening at night to urinate, but some doctors may not explore this possibility if a man has another reason for waking up - an enlarged prostate. According to this study, some men go to the bathroom to urinate because sleep apnea awakens them - not because of their enlarged prostate.

They also found that men who spend more time in the bathroom during the night have more severe sleep apnea. Men who urinated more than 3 times nightly were the most likely to have serious sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea itself may increase the need to urinate by altering kidney function and by stimulating release of a chemical called atrial natriuretic factor that causes the kidneys to produce more urine.

What Does This Mean?

Don't be too quick to assume that the urge to urinate at night is due to an enlarged prostate. It could be sleep apnea, a potentially serious condition that can be successfully treated. Any man who's waking up during the night to urinate should discuss the possibility of sleep apnea with their doctor - before it leads to more serious health problems.

References:

The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine 24 (2): 146-151 (2011)

Merck Manual. Eighteenth edition. 2006.