Too Much Salt Could Lead to More Trips in the Bathroom at Night

A new study from Nagasaki University in Japan revealed that having a hight salt intake could increase the urge to make numerous trips in the bathroom at night.

The study, presented at the European Society of Urology congress in London, showed a linked between high salt intake and the condition known as nocturia or nighttime peeing.

A person suffering from nocturia wakes up one or more times during the night just to go to the bathroom. Nocturia mostly affects people over the age of 60. Nocturia is relatively a simple problem. However, its ability to disrupt a good night sleep could lead to stress, irritability or tiredness, greatly affecting a person's quality of life.

"Night- time urination is a real problem for many people, especially as they get older," said lead researchers Dr. Matsuo Tomohiro of Nagasaki University in a statement. "This work holds out the possibility that a simply dietary modification might significantly improve the quality of life for many people."

For the study, the researchers recruited a group of 321 men and women who had a high salt intake and had trouble sleeping. The researchers asked the participants to reduce their salt intake. Salt consumption of the participants were measured biochemically. The researchers followed the participants for 12 weeks.

Among the participants, 223 were able to reduce their salt intake from 10.7 grams per day to 8.0 grams per day. On the other hand, 98 of the participants increased their average salt intake from 9.6 grams per day to 11 grams per day.

The researchers observed that the participants who reduced their salt intake also experience a drop in the average frequency of their nighttime urination, from 2.3 times per night to 1.4 times per night. Meanwhile, the group with increased salt intake reported an increased urge to urinate at night, from 2.3 times to 2.7 times per night.

Additionally, reduced salt intake lead to less frequent urination during daytime. Participants who have reduced rate of nocturia also reported an improvement in the quality of their life, as measured by the standard CLSS-QoL questionnaire.