The normal number of times you should be getting up to pee at night if you’re younger or older than 55

Are you waking up to wee?

A leading urologist is spilling the pee — that is, tea — on how many times you should be getting up to urinate each night.

But this golden rule isn’t one-size-fits all: The number of middle-of-the-night toilet trips you can reasonably be taking differs if you’re under 55 or older.

Mel Robbins, a best-selling author and personal development coach, recently hosted Dr. Rena Malik, a board-certified urologist, on her podcast to discuss the importance of the pelvic floor and its relationship to nocturnal pit stops.

Robbins explained that the pelvic floor is a crucial part of the human anatomy that “has an impact on everything from normal urinary function, pooping, your orgasm, all of it.”

Malik likened the pelvic floor to a hammock, explaining that it is actually part of the core.

“It’s a bowl of muscles in the pelvis that holds up your organs. You’re always using them, but it’s a matter of whether they are going through their full range of motion, are they tight, or are they weak,” she said.

Malik noted that waking up multiple times during the night to urinate is a complex symptom that could indicate an overactive bladder or weakened pelvic floor muscles.

On average, adults urinate six to seven times per 24-hour period and can typically sleep six to eight hours without a bathroom break. Experts agree that if you’re getting up more than once per night to pee, you may be experiencing nocturnal urinary frequency or nocturia.

Malik maintains that if you’re under 55, you generally should not need to get up to pee in the middle of the night at all. If you’re over 55, getting up once is deemed normal, and any more may be a problem.

She explained that the reason for that shift is that the body starts producing a third of its urine at night due to hormonal changes later in life.

“You will have to wake up once because your bladder just can’t hold that much,” she said.

There are, however, modifiable factors that impact urination, including fluid consumption.

“If you’re drinking a ton of water before bedtime or have a glass of water at the bedside, you’ll have to wake up to pee,” she explained.

Not only is how much you drink important when thinking about urinary frequency, but it’s also what you’re drinking and what time you’re consuming it.

“Alcohol and caffeine are the most common culprits of bladder irritation. They change the sensitivity of the bladder so it spasms and gives you that urge to go more often.”

She added that booze and caffeine are both diuretics, meaning you’re going to produce more urine, and that will result in more urinary symptoms within two to four hours after taking that fluid in.

“Both these things can affect you, and they can change over a lifetime. Somebody can be
like, ‘I’ve been drinking the same amount of coffee my whole life, and now I drink that cup and I gotta go.’ I would never stop drinking coffee, so I won’t tell you to stop,” she said.

While she stops short of telling people to do away with caffeine, she does recommend cutting back a cup or switching to decaf for your second mug: “Just experiment with it so you know that that’s what’s causing it.”

That way, you can make an informed decision based on your definition of quality of life.

Malik said that while individual preferences will influence liquid consumption, those who prioritize sleep should aim to avoid drinking anything several hours before bedtime.

Over a third of adults fail to get the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep each night.

Lack of sleep can lead to what some experts refer to as a “silent epidemic” — a condition called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which affects more than one in four American adults, according to the American Heart Association.

Multiple studies have linked a lack of high-quality sleep to weight gain, increased hunger, and adverse blood sugar control.

Insulin resistance is a significant risk factor for NAFLD, and the risk is exceptionally high for postmenopausal women. One study found that chronic short sleep duration led to a 20% increase in insulin levels among that group, compared to 15% overall.

However, Malik’s concerns about her older patient’s nighttime bathroom visits extend beyond urinary health and sleep quality.

“I worry about them waking up at night to pee because if you wake up and it’s dark, you’re navigating to the bathroom, something’s in the way, you fall, or you fracture your hip. If you’re a little bit older, your risk of dying in that year after a hip fracture is 20%, so it is a big deal. Waking up at night puts you at risk,” she warned.