# Caffeine and urination frequency **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790 "2003-08-03T23:22:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/1 "2003-08-03T23:22:24Z")
I’ve noticed that when I haven’t gotten much sleep, and I drink caffeinated beverages to wake myself up, I end up urinating more frequently than if I got a good night’s sleep and drink the same amount of caffeinated beverages. This is most noticeable on Sunday mornings, when my morning routine is more structured than on other days of the week. On Sundays I get out of bed, empty my bladder and shower, then on my way to church I stop at the store to pick up breakfast (chili dogs!) and two 1-liter bottles of Mountain Dew. Breakfast of champions! This is consistent from one Sunday to the next. If I am well rested, I usually end up making one trip to the restroom at church. But if I didn’t sleep much the night before, I end up making 2-3 trips during the service. In both cases, I have eaten the same breakfast and drunk the same amount of Mountain Dew. I should mention that I don’t drink alcohol, so this isn’t a case of staying out too late on Saturday night and having alcohol’s diuretic effect combining with the caffeine’s effect. But I do have the bad habit of frequently staying up too late. So is this because when I’m really tired my body works to absorb the caffeine more quickly, thus making me feel the need to urinate more often? Or is my bladder simply as tired as the rest of my body and therefore less able to retain its contents as long? Or some other explanation? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/2 "2003-08-03T23:49:46Z")
I think caffeine works not only as a diuretic but as a laxitive. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/3 "2003-08-03T23:51:07Z")
Or even a laxative. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/4 "2003-08-04T06:19:45Z")
Mountain Dew, as you probably know, contains lots of caffeine, a diuretic. It makes you pee, and in large quantities, may cause dehydration. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/5 "2003-08-04T09:59:39Z")
I have no medical or scientific proof to back this up, but I do frequently drink caffeinated products, and when I drink more heavily caffeinated ones (Mountain Dew), I tend to urinate more frequently. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/6 "2003-08-04T10:01:11Z")
I should also add, that I’ve never had the laxative effect as a result of drinking too much caffeine. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/7 "2003-08-04T10:17:33Z")
Phase42 seems well aware that Mountain Dew contains caffeine which is diuretic - his/her question is how getting a good nights’ sleep can alter the effects of this. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phase42 \* > \*\* > So is this because when I’m really tired my body works to absorb the caffeine more quickly, thus making me feel the need to urinate more often? Or is my bladder simply as tired as the rest of my body and therefore less able to retain its contents as long? Or some other explanation? \*\* Could be either - or maybe (WAG) after a good sleep the bladder takes a little longer to “wake up” to fully working again? Julie ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/8 "2003-08-04T10:26:54Z")
Caffeine is a diuretic, and if you use artificial sweetners that makes the I-need-a-pee factor worse because they too are diuretics ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/9 "2003-08-04T15:07:12Z")
Ahem. I’m drinking the Mountain Dew regardless of how much sleep I got. I can spring from bed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and I’m still going to drink the Mountain Dew. I really like Mountain Dew. So, the Mountain Dew seems to make me pee _more frequently_ when I’m really tired. The Mountain Dew makes me pee _less frequently_ when I’m _not_ extremely tired. And caffeine itself isn’t a laxative, as far as I know. It’s the hot water you use to make coffee that loosens up your bowels, not the caffeine. Lots of elderly people who cannot take caffeine will drink plain hot water to loosen their bowels. I found that out when the Oddfellows and Rebeccas (service clubs populated my many elderly people) held a convention at the hotel across from a restaurant where I was cooking. They all came over for lunch and ordered hot water to drink. ---
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/10 "2003-08-04T16:34:12Z")
Caffiene is not a laxative but a stimulant. If you are particularly sensitive to it the caffiene can speed up your bowels and give you a kind of laxative effect. On the full night sleep question… from what I understand when you sleep your body makes a chemical that slows urine production so you can make it through the night without getting up to pee. Maybe when you get a full night’s rest this chemical is more prevalent in your blood and takes longer to dissipate than after a shorter less restful sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/11 "2003-08-04T16:39:01Z")
And there’s no difference in the amount you’re drinking? Are you perhaps drinking less liquid the night before? Or drinking alcohol on those nights when you’re waking up “tired”? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/12 "2003-08-04T17:10:27Z")
**tanookie** , good point, thank you! **Otto** , as I said in my OP, I don’t drink alcohol. I’m actually a recovering alcoholic with nine years sobriety 😉 As to how much liquid I drink the night before, one of the first things I do every morning is urinate, so that should eliminate any carryover. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/13 "2003-08-04T20:26:44Z")
Caffeine as a diuretic - [http://www.news.uconn.edu/rel02087.htm](http://www.news.uconn.edu/rel02087.htm) : > [@](#): > > Caffeine consumption causes a mild diuresis very similar to that of water. (Water, when consumed in large volume, increases urine output)… > > A person who regularly consumes caffeine has a higher tolerance to the diuretic effect. [http://www.snopes.com/toxins/water.htm](http://www.snopes.com/toxins/water.htm) > [@](#): > > Regular coffee and tea drinkers become accustomed to caffeine and lose little, if any, fluid. In a study published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, researchers at the Center for Human Nutrition in Omaha measured how different combinations of water, coffee and caffeinated sodas affected the hydration status of 18 healthy adults who drink caffeinated beverages routinely. > > “We found no significant differences at all,” says nutritionist Ann Grandjean, the study’s lead author. “The purpose of the study was to find out if caffeine is dehydrating in healthy people who are drinking normal amounts of it. It is not.” > > The same goes for tea, juice, milk and caffeinated sodas: One glass provides about the same amount of hydrating fluid as a glass of water. The only common drinks that produce a net loss of fluids are those containing alcohol — and usually it takes more than one of those to cause noticeable dehydration, doctors say. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/14 "2003-08-05T12:17:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tanookie \* > \*\* > On the full night sleep question… from what I understand when you sleep your body makes a chemical that slows urine production so you can make it through the night without getting up to pee. Maybe when you get a full night’s rest this chemical is more prevalent in your blood and takes longer to dissipate than after a shorter less restful sleep. \*\* Gets my vote! Julie ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-and-urination-frequency/192790/15 "2003-08-05T12:20:00Z")
Just Googled - it’s a hormone called **Desmopressin**. Julie