What does frequent urination mean?

Frequent urination refers to urinating too often. Under normal circumstances, a normal person urinates 4 to 6 times during the day and 0 to 2 times at night. If the frequency increases significantly, it is called frequent urination. It may be physiological or psychological. Of course, it may also be caused by disease reasons. For example, drinking too much water, being too nervous, inflammation of the urinary tract, kidney disease, etc. may all lead to frequent urination.

What does frequent urination mean?

1. Frequent urination in men

(1) Increased urine volume When urine volume increases, the frequency of urination will also increase accordingly. Under physiological conditions, such as drinking a lot of water, eating watermelon, and drinking beer, due to the increase in water intake, the amount of urine increases through the regulation of the kidneys, and the frequency of urination also increases, resulting in frequent urination. Under pathological conditions, such as some patients with diabetes and diabetes insipidus, they drink a lot of water, urinate a lot, and urinate frequently, but they do not feel any discomfort when urinating. (2) Inflammation stimulates the bladder. When the bladder is inflamed, the urinary urge center is in an excited state, resulting in frequent urination and reduced urine volume. Therefore, frequent urination is an important symptom of cystitis, especially in acute cystitis and tuberculous cystitis. Other conditions such as prostatitis, urethritis, pyelonephritis, chronic balanoposthitis in children, and vulvitis can also cause frequent urination. Under the stimulation of inflammation, frequent urination, urgency and pain often occur at the same time, which is called urinary tract irritation syndrome, commonly known as "triuria". (3) Certain factors of urinary dysfunction, such as prostatitis, can cause excessive contraction of the urethral sphincter, leading to bladder outlet obstruction and residual urine formation, causing urine to flow back into the prostate, which can not only bring in pathogens but also directly stimulate the prostate, inducing sterile "chemical prostatitis", causing abnormal urination and pelvic pain. Many patients with prostatitis have a variety of urodynamic changes, such as decreased urine flow rate, functional urinary tract obstruction, detrusor-urethral sphincter dyssynergia, etc. (4) Non-inflammatory irritation, such as urinary stones and foreign bodies, usually presents with frequent urination. (5) Reduced bladder capacity, such as bladder space-occupying lesions, tuberculous bladder contracture, or large bladder stones. (6) Psychoneural urinary frequency only occurs during the day or before falling asleep at night. It is often caused by mental stress or occurs in patients with hysteria. This may also be accompanied by urinary urgency and pain.

2. Frequent urination in women

There are many reasons for frequent urination in women, mainly including reduced bladder capacity, such as bladder space-occupying lesions, compression from the enlarged uterus during pregnancy, tuberculous bladder contracture, or large bladder stones. (1) Psychoneural factors Frequent urination is usually caused by psychogenic factors, with the symptoms of frequent urination sometimes more and sometimes less, and there are obvious "signs" of mental effects. Frequent urination caused by mental stress will not cause serious consequences to your health. For those whose frequent urination affects their study, work, and rest, psychological therapy and nerve-regulating drug treatment can be performed. Especially for some long-term and severe frequent urination, relevant examinations should be carried out carefully, and the frequent urination should not be easily diagnosed as caused by psychoneurological reasons.