Acute Sleep Deprivation Leads to Change in Nighttime Urine Production for Men and Women

I recently read an article entitled “Acute Sleep Deprivation Leads to Changes in Nighttime Urine Production for Men and Women.” It was basically about a study showing that men who don’t get much sleep produce more urine than women who don’t get much sleep.

The team conducting this study Birgitte Mahler, Kostantinos Kamperis, Soeren Hagstroem, Eva Radvanska, Soren Rittig, and J.C. Djurhuus, all of the Aarhus University Hospital in Brendstrupgaardsvej, Aarhus, Denmark. They chose 20 volunteers, 10 males and 10 females, from age 19 years old to 35 years old. Each volunteer underwent two 24-hour circadian in-patient studies under standardized conditions for diet and fluid intake. They were also sleep deprived randomly during one of those two studies. The team recorded their blood pressure and heart rate every hour, using a non-evasive blood pressure monitor.

Though there were no significant differences in the daytime urine, after the sleep deprivation, both men and women were observed to have larger amounts of urine, the men more so than the women.

The results concluded that sleep deprivation leads to:
- an increase in the amount of urine, more so in males
- reduced fall in blood pressure
- lower levels of sodium regulating hormones
- excessive excretion of osmoles (sodium and potassium)

This relates to the Psychology of Sex and Gender because it was done using the experimental approach. The team tested their hypothesis about sleep deprivation leading to changes in nighttime urine production for men and women in a controlled situation, and they created an artificial environment in which to conduct their study.