People who go to the toilet in the middle of the night are less productive at work, study suggests.
Getting up overnight to use the loo has a bigger impact on a person's work rate than asthma or some chronic lung diseases, leading the researchers to conclude that the condition is underestimated.
Nocturia - where a person wakes up once or more in a night to urinate - leads to "notable work productivity loss", the study presented to the European Association of Urology congress in Milan claims.
The team of researchers examined 261 women and 385 men with the condition and questioned them about the effect of health problems on their ability to work and perform regular activities.
Nocturia reduced work productivity by 24 percent - greater than the productivity loss shown by people with asthma or lung disease, it was found.
The ability to carry out leisure activities in the day was also reduced, by 34 percent.
Philip Van Kerrebroeck, professor of urology at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, said: "Nocturia is a common problem affecting around a third of adults, but its burden is underestimated and it is often dismissed as being less serious than other chronic conditions in terms of impact on quality of life and societal costs.
"These data show that nocturia negatively affects both sleep and daytime performance and its impact on work productivity is in line with many other chronic conditions. Patients with nocturia should seek specific treatment for this debilitating condition."
The researchers also found that disturbed sleep is considered to be the most burdensome symptom of nocturia, as around a third are unable drop off again which leads to insomnia
"I can't ever fall back asleep. I start watching TV all night and I am miserable the next day", one patient said.
研究表明，半夜起床上厕所的人工作效率更低。
起夜上厕所比哮喘或一些慢性肺病对一个人的工作效率产生的影响更大。这使得研究人员得出结论说，起夜的后果被低估了。
这项提交到米兰的欧洲泌尿协会大会的研究称，夜尿症会导致“工作效率的显著下降”。夜尿症指一个人晚上至少一次起夜排尿。
研究团队对有夜尿症的261名女性和385名男性进行了检查，并询问这一健康问题对他们的工作能力和日常活动的执行力产生的影响。
研究发现，夜尿症会使工作效率降低24%，这比哮喘病或肺病患者因病导致的生产率损失还要多。
夜尿症患者白天进行休闲活动的能力也会因此降低34%。
荷兰马斯特里赫特大学泌尿学教授菲利普•凡•柯乐布里克说：“夜尿症是困扰约三分之一成人的一个普遍问题，但夜尿症造成的负担被低估了，通常被认为对生活质量的影响和造成的社会成本不如其他慢性病那么严重。
“这些数据显示，夜尿症对睡眠和白天的表现都造成了负面影响，它对工作效率产生的影响和许多其他慢性病是一样的。夜尿症患者应该寻求针对这一衰弱状况的治疗方法。”
研究人员还发现，睡眠受到干扰被视为夜尿症最烦人的症状，约三分之一的夜尿症患者在起夜后就难以入睡，演变成失眠。
一位患者说：“起夜后我就再也睡不着了。我开始通宵看电视，结果第二天状态就很糟糕。”