When a patient admits to waking up once, twice, or three times a night to use the restroom, I talk to them about bladder irritants, the importance of being hydrated before bed, and how to “retrain” their bladder through habits.

All of these things are crucial to keep focusing on, but there’s also another reason we shouldn’t be getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom: it indicates that we aren’t entering the crucial REM (rapid eye movement) cycle!

Throughout REM, our bodies go through a number of amazing things. It is a crucial sleep stage that affects mood, memory, and learning.
Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) is also secreted during this period. The primary function of ADH is to minimize the amount of water excreted through urine, thus conserving your body’s fluid capacity.

We urinate less and secrete more ADH when fluid needs to be stored rather than lost. ADH secretion diminishes, and we urinate at the regular frequency (every two to three hours, with a strong flow lasting eight to twelve seconds) when we are well hydrated.