How To Stop Waking Up To Pee At Night

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Disclaimer: Not medical advice. The following information is for educational purposes only.

In this article we’ll be exploring:

Why Do I Wake Up to Pee at Night?

At night when we sleep, our body releases a hormone known as ADH (Antidiuretic Hormone) in higher amounts. The release of ADH at night is responsible for reducing your need to urinate during sleep, promoting uninterrupted rest. If you’re constantly waking up to pee at night, there’s likely an issue impacting your ADH hormone. The three key areas to address are:

Circadian Rhythm Disruption
Addressing Nutrient Deficiencies For ADH Production
Getting Enough Sodium (Salt)

Circadian Rhythm Disruption

The production and release of ADH is regulated by our body’s circadian rhythm. If our circadian rhythm is off, then the amount of ADH released at night or the timing of release can be impacted. If your body isn’t releasing enough ADH, or releasing ADH at the wrong times, you’re more more likely to feel the need to urinate in the middle of the night.

Our body and internal organs all operate on a 24-hour clock (circadian rhythm). At different times of the day, our body, hormones and organs function differently. Our circadian rhythm is synced primarily to our lighting environment - especially the sun during the day, and darkness at night. If your circadian rhythm is off sync, the way your body functions will also be disrupted.

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How do I know if my circadian rhythm is working correctly?

Getting 7 - 9 hours sleep each night?
Waking up in the morning?

These alone DO NOT mean you have a properly functioning circadian rhythm. A properly functioning circadian rhythm is when:

You feel sleepy at a similar time each night
You automatically wake up (without an alarm) at a similar time each morning

Dark days (being indoors all day) and bright nights (being under bright LED lights and electronic screens) are the major cause of circadian rhythm disruption.

How to Develop a Proper Circadian Rhythm:

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Your Action Plan:

Get sunlight first thing in the morning Within 30 - 60 mins of waking up. Even as little as 3 minutes has significant benefits. If there’s no sun, being outdoors under the sky still syncs your circadian rhythm. Bonus points: get outdoors during midday (between 10am - 3pm) and close to sunset (anytime within an hour of sunset)
Have breakfast in the morning after your outdoors time This sets your peripheral clocks (organs circadian rhythm)
Have your final meal at least 2 - 3 hours before bed Eating too close to bedtime can disrupt your circadian rhythm
After sunset, dim down your lighting environment Especially a few hours before bed. Blasting your eyes and environment with bright lights (LED lights overhead, screen use, etc) will disrupt your circadian rhythm
Avoid screens ~2 hours before bed If you’re going to use screens within ~2 hours before bed, wear blue light blocking glasses.

Addressing Nutrient Deficiencies

The production and function of ADH (Antidiuretic Hormone) requires four key nutrients:

Vitamin C
Copper
Zinc
Glycine

Being deficient in any of these nutrients means your body doesn’t have the required building blocks to create and support the function of ADH:

If you don’t eat red meats or animal products often, you’re likely deficient in copper, zinc, glycine
If you eat a lot of plant-based foods together with zinc-rich foods, you’re likely not absorbing much zinc
If you don’t eat fruits daily, you’re likely deficient in Vitamin C 1. Great Sources of Vitamin C:

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Aim for 1 - 2 servings of a Vitamin C rich foods daily. Men: Aim for 100 - 150mg of Vitamin C daily Women: Aim for 50 - 75mg of Vitamin C per 1,000 calories daily

Acerola cherry (powdered form is also excellent)
Camu camu (powdered form is also excellent)
Guavas
Kiwifruit
Papayas
Oranges
Strawberries
Pineapple
Lemons

2. Great Sources of Copper:

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The RDA for copper is 0.9mg daily for both men and women. Ideally, aim for between 0.9mg to 2.4mg daily. Copper is easy to get sufficient amounts from small servings of these food groups ⬇️

Liver (beef, goose, lamb, duck)
Shellfish: oysters, clams, mussels, etc
Red meats
Mushrooms: especially shiitake
Seaweed: especially spirulina
Cacao
Legumes: especially lentils and chickpeas
Potatoes

3. Great Sources of Zinc:

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The RDA for zinc is: Men: 11mg daily Women: 8mg daily Those getting their zinc exclusively from plants require at least 50% more: Men on plant-based diets: 16.5mg daily Women on plant-based diets: 12mg daily

Oysters
Red meats
Poultry (darker meats contain more zinc that lighter meats)
Egg yolks
Cheese
Seeds* (sesame, sunflower, flax, pumpkin, squash)
Nuts* (cashews, pecans, brazil nuts, pine nuts)

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* = must be soaked, sprouted or fermented to reduce phytates (an anti-nutrient) which will bind to zinc and inhibit absorption. Ideally, even if you’ve soaked/sprouted/fermented any plant-based foods containing phytates, you’ll want to consume them away from zinc rich foods to avoid any zinc being lost to anti-nutrients.

4. Great Sources of Glycine:

Meat
Fish
Dairy products
Eggs
Gelatin
Bone broth
Glycine supplement ← important if you don’t consume animal products

Getting Enough Sodium (Salt)

Sodium (salt) helps to stimulate the release of ADH. Instead of worrying about your salt intake and risking getting too little, focus on increasing the amount of potassium rich foods in your diet. This will allow you to salt your foods to your desire. Great Sources of Potassium:

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Aim for 3 - 4 servings of potassium rich foods daily E.g 2 cups coconut water + 2 bananas

Coconut water
Banana
Potatoes & sweet potatoes
Legumes
Dried fruits (prunes, raisins, dried apricots, medjool dates)
Beans
Fish (salmon, mackerel, halibut, etc)

At night before bed, consuming a small amount of sodium (salt) may also help boost ADH levels.

Summary

To wrap up, here’s a summary of the steps you can take to address the issues impacting your ADH (Antidiuretic Hormone) that cause you to wake up in the middle of the night to pee: