Frequent Urination: What Causes It, and What Can I Do?
Everybody urinates, but if you suspect you’re getting most of your daily steps from running to the bathroom, you might have frequent urination.
How do you know? Not everyone who urinates a lot has frequent urination, after all. While generally people urinate four to eight times a day (with most averaging seven to eight), many temporary factors can make you go more. These include pregnancy, certain medications, or simply drinking more fluid than usual.
But if these factors do not apply and you continually make more than eight bathroom trips a day, plus more than two a night, you could have frequent urination.
It’s important to distinguish the difference because frequent urination can be a symptom of an underlying urological condition that might worsen. Fortunately, most of these conditions can be treated by a urologist, and even managed with natural remedies and self-care.
Meet Your Urinary System, Where Sometimes Things Go Wrong
Before seeking care for frequent urination, however, you have to learn the cause so it can be treated. The culprit can linger in any of the following areas of your urinary tract:
Your kidneys – These two organs continually screen your blood for toxins and other waste, which they expel in excess fluid.
The ureters – The narrow channels that run the fluid from your kidneys to your bladder.
The bladder – A hollow organ that can hold up to two cups of urine, on average, for two to five hours.
The urethra – The tube that urine exits your body through from the bladder.
That’s the primary urinary system, but a couple of non-central players also can alter urine frequency. They are:
The prostate – A small gland in men located beneath the bladder and surrounding the urethra.
The pelvic floor – A hammock-like network of muscles and ligaments that support your bladder and other organs.
What Causes Frequent Urination: 5 Urology-Related Issues
Your urinary system is susceptible to a range of conditions that can block or irritate the tract and make you have to pee more. Following are five common and highly treatable issues:
Urinary tract infection (UTI) – This common infection occurs when bacteria enter the urinary tract through the urethra, making it more common among women (who have shorter urethras) than men. A UTI can occur anywhere in the urinary tract and is marked by frequent, burning urination.
Overactive bladder (OAB) – An overactive bladder involuntarily starts to contract even when it’s not full, forcing frequent and hard-to-control trips to the bathroom. Bladder abnormalities and blockages can cause this, as well as over-signaling from the sacral nerves, which control the bladder.
Interstitial cystitis (IC) – Also known as painful bladder syndrome, IC is chronic and can feel like a UTI, though hurt more. The cause is unknown, but researchers believe contributing factors include irritation due to a weak bladder lining and (possibly) an autoimmune reaction.
Pelvic prolapse – If the muscles at the bottom of your pelvis weaken or become loose, the organs they support, including the bladder, can slip out of place. This condition occurs mostly in women (childbirth is a leading cause).
BPH (enlarged prostate) – Benign prostate hyperplasia describes prostate tissue growth that tends to occur when men enter their 40s and 50s. Though noncancerous, the enlarged tissue can press the urethra enough to make urination difficult, resulting in frequent bladder contractions. (Read our BPH booklet here.)
Treatments for Frequent Urination, Based on the Cause
A doctor can run tests to diagnose whether one or more of the above conditions are behind your frequent urination. These tests include monitoring your nerves and bladder strength or looking inside you for abnormalities using a thin, camera-equipped scope. Be ready to tell the doctor how often you pee and the color, what you drink, and your medications.
Based on the condition, your doctor might advise the following:
If you have a UTI, you will likely be prescribed antibiotics to fight the infection, and possibly (in women) estrogen cream to strengthen your vaginal walls.
If you have OAB, treatments usually begin with drug therapies, including injections of Botox, to relax the bladder muscle. Minimally invasive options include nerve stimulation, in which small implants manage the signals your nerves send to your bladder.
If you have interstitial cystitis, your doctor might advise several therapies based on the causes. Prescription drugs, including mixtures delivered through a catheter, can reduce pain and urination frequency. Training via biofeedback can teach you how to calm the bladder muscles. Or your doctor can distend the bladder with liquid while you are under anesthesia.
If you have bladder prolapse, women can strengthen their vaginal muscles using estrogen replacement therapy, or insert small medical devices, called pessaries, into the upper vagina to hold the bladder in place. If you are sexually active, a surgeon can rebuild your pelvic floor using your own tissue or mesh.
If you have BPH, you will typically start with medications (depending on the severity) to either relax the urinary muscles or shrink the prostate. Among medical procedures:
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- Blocking blood to the tissue (prostate artery embolization).
- Tissue reduction via lasers, electrical currents, water jets, or water vapor.
- Inserting a drug-coated balloon into the prostate, opening a space that the medication then heals.
- UroLift, in which tiny implants pull the tissue away from the urethra.
- Surgical removal (if severe).
Natural Remedies You Can Try for Frequent Urination
In addition to medical care, some home-based practices can help alleviate frequent urination as well as prevent the causes. Consider adopting these habits:
- Just add water. Keep track of what you drink and ensure you are getting a high amount of water compared with caffeine and alcohol, which are diuretics that increase urination.
- Take weight off your pelvis. If you carry a few extra pounds in the middle, ask your doctor about reducing them. Those pounds can make it harder for your bladder and pelvic muscles to hold urine.
- Pelvic squeezes. Kegels, exercises in which you tighten and release your pelvis as if holding in urine, should strengthen the muscles that support your bladder, urethra, and other organs – in men and women.
- Interval bathroom breaks (for OAB). Schedule trips to the bathroom at set times, so your bladder gradually learns to hold it in. When the urge strikes, resist rushing out and instead relax your body.
- Read the ingredients. Ongoing research links ultra-processed foods such as chips, packaged baked goods, and frozen meals to OAB. One reason: The artificial additives, salts, and fats in these foods can cause inflammation.
Should these approaches help you, then good news! Keep doing them. But if you continue to experience frequent urination and the other above symptoms, you should see a doctor to diagnose and treat the potential underlying condition.
Visit our Men’s Health page and Women’s Health page to learn more about the conditions we treat. To consult a doctor at Advanced Urology Institute, select a location convenient for you.