By Xinhua
Beijing : Toss and turn, get up and take a pee. Toss and turn, get up and take a pee. Danish researchers reported Wednesday that is the nightly plight of an insomniac.
The results of testing 20 people deliberately deprived of sleep revealed they produce more urine at night, and it was more saltier than usual. The effects were much stronger in men than women, the researchers said.
Birgitte Mahler and colleagues at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark found no differences in urine production or quality during the day in their sleep-deprived volunteers.
But nighttime is a different story, they informed a meeting sponsored by the American Physiological Society in Austin, Texas.
Sleep deprivation reduced the usual dip in blood pressure that is seen at night, they found. This affected blood pressure-related substances such as rennin, angiotensin II and aldosterone, which could have in turn kept the kidneys on a daytime schedule, the researchers said.
The urine of the sleep-deprived volunteers also contained higher than usual levels of sodium and potassium.