Urinary frequency: what does it depend on?

Urinary frequency is the number of times you go to pass urine. It is daytime frequency during the hours of the day and night-time frequency during the hours of the night.

More precisely, urinary frequency refers to the waking period, when you are awake and active, and to the sleeping period.

There are of course exceptions: for example, the night-shift worker, who is awake and active at night and sleeps during the day. But when we talk about night-time urinary frequency, we mean the period of sleep during the night, usually 6 to 8 hours.

What does it depend on under normal conditions?

In a person without any disease, many factors come into play:

• the amount of urine produced (fluid intake, sweating, kidney function)
• the capacity of the bladder, the urine reservoir
• how completely the bladder empties
• psychological and emotional state
• personal and social habits
• whether or not a toilet is close by

For the reference values, see normal values in numbers.