Posted on 10/20/2025 9:28:59 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Everyone knows staying hydrated is important, but new research highlights just how important it is for a less obviously related area of health—sleep.
In the hypohydrated state, participants slept about an hour longer than their baselines on average, but, they reported having a significantly harder time falling asleep and feeling more fatigued the next morning.
The study had 18 college-aged males report to the lab for four consecutive days. On the first day, they established a baseline hydration status. On the second day, they were euhydrated, meaning they were well-hydrated from having consumed 500 milliliters of water the evening prior. Participants were instructed to not drink anything after the lab visit on day two so that they arrived at the lab in a hypohydrated state on day three. Following that, they were told to drink and eat as they normally would, and the final measurements were taken on the fourth morning.
The researchers tested participants' urine specific gravity (the amount of solutes in urine—a lower solute concentration indicates better hydration), urine color, and body mass loss, which are all indicators of hydration status.
Participants completed a survey about the length and quality of their sleep each night, answering questions about things like how long it took them to fall asleep, if they woke up throughout the night, and if they dreamed.
By giving participants such specific instructions and controls, the researchers were able to establish a confident connection between hydration and sleep.
"These are levels of dehydration that we're seeing people walk around with," Lee says. "You may not know why all morning you feel a little fatigued, or you're having trouble sleeping at night, and some of it may have to do with your daily, habitual fluid consumption habits."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Flying to Rochester, NY today and I’m likely to have a Cream Ale today. Not because its great beer, just because it’s part of where I grew up.
I found out that drinking a lot of water during the day, then slowing my water intake around 7PM keeps me hydrated without all the extra bathroom calls....
“In the hypohydrated state”...
duh wha? Should I sleep with a lawn sprinkler? So sick of these garbage articles.
Try doing Kegel exercises...when i first saw them i thought, “these are gay- i’m not doing these” but then i finally tried them and rather than getting up 3 or 4 times a night to pee i maybe get up once...
“An aside in a rock music writer’s book said he noticed at football and baseball games the lines for the women’s rest rooms were always short and the ones for men stretched out a long distance every time.”
How very astute of him. 🙄😵💫
I never noticed that. 🙄😵💫
Must try. Last night every hour and here I am at 0520 just reading a book in the living room.
they are very easy- i will tell you this trying not to sound gross- the exercise where you clinch your butthole works the best- or at least it did for me...and i’m being completely serious...
Before that i took all kinds of natural supplements, kelp, chinese this, japanese that....the kegel exercises had immediate effect...
I see the physiology of it. Strengthening that area just may improve the muscles, etc around the bladder.
This is some exercises in martial arts to strengthen the center. We jokingly called it strengthening the pee muscles.
” Use your tunsen.”
Eastern strengthening. Thank you.
I do about the same. According to urine color, I stay pretty well hydrated most of the time. The trouble is dry mouth. If I don’t drink a glass of water at bedtime, I’ll have bad dry mouth all night and have to wake up and sip water every hour or so.
.....and getting up 5 times during the night..............
And no electrolytes.
I learned to wake up for this duty as soon as I dream about hunting for a restroom in the mall or an office building with many partitions. This is better than allowing the dream to find a proper urinal. ;-D
But, yes, I do sleep better when fully tanked.
“Water, you mean like from the toilet?”
.
The term “toilet water” seems to have disappeared from our lexicon.
I envy yiu, hyou can get it in tap there. And its really good.
I’m with the group of more water I drink during the day, the more times I wake up during the night to empty my bladder.
I wonder what the age groups were that they did the tests with. Perhaps the ‘need to pee’ is due to aging, especially if one drinks a pint of water, 500 milliliters, before going to bed.
“I wonder what the age groups were that they did the tests with”
I think it said college kids.
I get nighttime dry mouth too - even “watering up” doesn’t stop it so I keep a glass of water handy and if I wake up, I swish some around to moisten things up and take a few small sips.
Tried the dry mouth remedies and they don’t work for beans - 30 minutes after using them, my mouth is dry again - funny how it only happens at night.
I’ll also get dry mouth when I’m walking briskly on a warm day, after I’ve been breathing through my mouth for a while. Generally not as bad as at night, though, because I notice it sooner.
You’re right about the remedies. They don’t work. My dentist gave me some sort of lozenge that I was supposed to tuck between my cheek and molars. First night I tried one, the damned thing came loose and about choked me to death.
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