54 THE QUEENS COURIER • HEALTH • OCTOBER 4, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
health
Waking up to go to the bathroom multiple times
per night? It’s not because you’re ‘getting old’
It’s a common misconception: the older
you get, the more frequently you need to
use the bathroom at night. Did you know
waking up more than once per night to
urinate is a medical condition known
as nocturia? Shockingly, 64 percent of
American adults do not know.
A recent Harris Poll of more than
2,000 U.S. adults, endorsed by Th e Simon
Foundation for Continence, National
Association for Continence (NAFC)
and the Prostate Conditions Education
Council (PCEC), found that approximately
one-third of them suff er from
nocturia. Nocturia, which forces individuals
to get up more than once per night to
urinate, is a leading cause of sleep loss and
can put one’s health at risk.
“Before receiving treatment for nocturia,
I typically wound up making
fi ve trips to the bathroom each night,
which I knew wasn’t normal,” said Jack
Fagan, a 67-year-old resident of Sewell,
NJ. “Treatment has made a noticeable
impact on my quality of sleep. I fi nd
myself more refreshed and have the
energy to enjoy time with family and
friends.”
Most people living with nocturia (72
percent) reported they are negatively
impacted by the condition at night;
43 percent of whom have trouble falling
back to sleep, 12 percent indicated
they wake up their partners and 10 percent
expressed nervousness about tripping
or falling while walking to the bathroom.
Th e impact of nocturia-induced
sleep loss can be wide-ranging, aff ecting
physical and mental health. Sixtyone
percent of nocturia suff erers experience
daytime issues as a result of nighttime
urination, including: drowsiness,
irritability and reduced productivity and
concentration.
Sixty-six percent of nocturia suff erers
surveyed have never discussed their
symptoms with a healthcare professional;
half of respondents reported they
thought it was a normal part of aging,
and 27 percent believed nothing could
be done to remedy the problem.
“We see patients who have suff ered
with nocturia for many years, as it slowly
progresses from getting up twice to over
four times per night to urinate,” said
Roger Dmochowski, M.D., a nocturia
suff erer and professor within the department
of urologic surgery at Vanderbilt
University Medical Center. “In my personal
and professional experience, nocturia
can have serious implications for
an individual’s emotional state and daily
life, due to sleep disruption, if not diagnosed
and treated. Up until recently, we
didn’t have eff ective treatments.”
For more information on nocturia,
visit www.whatisnocturia.com, or www.
simonfoundation.org/nocturia.
Th e Harris Poll survey was funded
by Avadel Pharmaceuticals and Serenity
Pharmaceuticals.
Courtesy Family Features
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Me, myself and eye: 5 common behaviors
that could be hurting your eyes
If you’re like many Americans, you’re
diligent about maintaining your health
by eating right, exercising and regularly
seeing your doctor. But even the
most health-conscious people are oft en
unaware of daily behaviors in their lives
that could be straining or even damaging
their eyes. Th at’s surprising, given that
21 percent of Americans believe severe
vision loss would negatively impact the
quality of their lives.
Th e good news? Taking steps to protect
your eyes isn’t diffi cult. Guarding yourself
against these potentially damaging
behaviors should be part of your regular
health routine.
• Not wearing sunglasses. Sun wear does
more than just block glare. Th e same
harmful rays that can burn your skin
can also damage your eyes over time,
sometimes leading to vision-reducing
issues such as cataracts and macular
degeneration. As a precaution, ophthalmologists
recommend wearing sunglasses
anytime you’re outside, seeking
lenses that block out at least 99 percent
of UVA and UVC rays.
• Failing to visit your eye doctor annually.
Seeing an eye doctor once a year
to check on any prescription changes
is important, but a visit can also
help detect other serious eye issues.
Alarmingly, one survey found 64 percent
of Americans notice signs of trouble
such as red, watery eyes, light fl ashes,
blurry or double vision, diffi culty
seeing at night or diffi culty reading
up close, yet only 13 percent follow up
with eye exams. Fortunately, taking that
step is easier when you’re covered by
solid eye care insurance with a provider
such as VSP Individual Vision Plans,
which could save you literally hundreds
of dollars a year in eye exams, glasses
and contacts.
• Staring at your smartphone. If your eyes
are oft en sore or tired at the end of the
day, you may be spending too much
uninterrupted time zeroing in on your
phone. To avoid that strain and even
worse symptoms such as blurred vision,
dry eyes, dizziness or nausea, enlarge
your font, always keep your phone at
least 16 inches away from your face and
take screen breaks every 20 minutes.
• Overusing eye drops. Some people form
a dependency on the over-the-counter
whitening drops that reduce redness by
temporarily restricting blood fl ow to the
eye’s blood vessels. Repeat users oft en
notice that their eyes “rebound” and
get red again as oxygen returns to those
deprived capillaries, creating a vicious
cycle. As a rule, non-prescription eye
drops should not be a long-term solution
to any eye issue.
• Using old or borrowed eye makeup.
You should replace your makeup every
three months to keep from introducing
new and potentially harmful bacteria
into your eye area. Avoid other people’s
makeup for the same reason. Eye care
experts also warn against applying eyeliner
to your inner eyelids, which can be
especially vulnerable to infection.
Getting in the habit of caring for your
eyes need not be time consuming, and it
doesn’t have to be expensive if you think
ahead by enrolling in a vision plan with
VSPDirect.com, the provider with the
largest network of independent doctors
nationwide. Call for more information at
800-785-0699.
Courtesy BPT
/www.whatisnocturia.com
/nocturia
/nocturia
