Jimmy Mohamed reveals why you often urinate at night!

Verified on 03/30/2024 by Alexane Flament, Editor

Do you urinate more than twice a night?

Then you may be suffering from nocturia, a condition that could be linked to the amount of time you spend in front of screens during the day.

Explanations from Dr Jimmy Mohamed!

From 5 hours of screen time per day, the risk of peeing at night is doubled

Spending too much time looking at screens, researchers say would increase the risk of having to urinate at night!

This is called the nocturia, which is defined as systematically waking up more than twice a night to go to the toilet. “This can happen in older men because the prostate enlarges with age and can put pressure on the bladder.”, explains Dr Mohamed.

But this is the first time that screens are singled out to explain nocturnal peeing.

For their scientific work, the researchers were not interested in middle-aged people but in young adults aged over 20. They compared people who were exposed to screens the most to those who were exposed to screens the least.

As a result, those who spend a lot of time in front of screens have 50% more risk of urinating at night.

“This threshold is crossed from 5 hours of screen time per day. When we look in detail, these consequences are the same whether you watch a television program, content on your smartphone, tablet or computer”, explains the doctor.

In France, the average screen time is around 4 hours per day. “We then say that many people can be affected by nocturia.”, constate Jimmy Mohamed.

Want to urinate at night and screens: what are the links?

Screens, through the light they diffuse, disrupt the production of melatonin, the hormone that promotes sleep. By extending the time it takes you to fall asleep, this screen time will induce sleep debt.

Additionally, when you go to bed late, you disrupt sleep cycles.

However, when you sleep, your brain regulates the urge to urinate. “Disturbed sleep therefore means many biological functions will in turn be disrupted, including that responsible for urine control.”, warns Dr. Jimmy Mohamed.

Other factors that can make you want to urinate at night

Other (better known!) factors can make you want to urinate at night:

diuretic drinks which, by definition, promote the elimination of urine. We think of tea, coffee, alcohol or even sweetened carbonated drinks.
a prostate problem at men’s.
sleep apnea (respiratory cessation of a few seconds during sleep).

If you go to the bathroom several times a night, every night, and it has been going on for a while, consult a doctor.