Adults produce more urine than children, and a child's urine production generally increases with age. The amount of urine which a person produces can depend on many different factors¹ such as:

• The consumption of certain types of food.
• The amount of liquid consumed.
• The amount of food consumed.
• The amount of fluid lost through breathing and perspiration.
• Medical conditions
• Certain medications

How often should you urinate?

While every person is different, most healthy people need to empty their bladder between 4 and10 times a day. This can change depending on how much you eat and drink, and this is especially influence by caffeine and alcohol intake, as these are diuretics that rid your body of fluids, increasing the need to urinate.

Certain medications have been known to increase urination, especially those that are used to treat high blood pressure, poor kidney function, liver disease and congestive heart failure, as they are also diuretics. A few examples include:

• Amiloride (Midamor) used to treat hypokalemia (low potassium levels in the blood)
• Chlorothiazide (Diuril) used to treat fluid retention (oedema) in people with congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, cirrhosis of the liver, or oedema caused by taking steroids or oestrogen, or kidney disorders.
• Chlorthalidone (Thalitone) used to treat high blood pressure, fluid retention (oedema) in people with congestive heart failure, cirrhosis of the liver, or kidney disorders, or oedema caused by taking steroids or oestrogen.
• Eplerenone (Inspra) used to treat congestive heart failure after a heart attack and high blood pressure (hypertension).
• Furosemide (Lasix) prescribed in the treatment of high blood pressure or to reduce extra fluid in the body (oedema) caused by conditions such as heart failure, liver disease, and kidney disease.
• Hydrochlorothiazide (Microzide) used to treat high blood pressure
• Indapamide used to treat high blood pressure and congestive heart failure.
• Metolazone used to treat congestive heart failure, high blood pressure or a kidney disorder such as nephrotic syndrome.
• Spironolactone (Aldactone) used to treat cirrhosis of the liver and congestive heart failure.
• Torsemide (Demadex) used to treat high blood pressure or reduce excess fluid in the body (oedema) caused by conditions such as heart failure, liver disease, and kidney disease.
• Triamterene (Dyrenium) used to help increase the amount of urine that you produce to rid the body of excess water.

Pregnant women urinate more as a result of the fluid changes in the body and increased bladder pressure from the growing foetus. It is also common for women to have an increased urinary output after giving birth due to certain medications being administered, and the extra fluids that may have been received during labour.

Extremely urgent urges to urinate in older men and women could be a result of an overactive bladder. While the condition is common in older men and women, it is not considered a normal part of ageing and you should speak to your doctor if you experience this.

A frequent need to urinate could also be a sign of other medical conditions such as:

• Urinary tract infection (UTI)
• Interstitial cystitis
• Diabetes
• Vaginitis in women
• Sickle cell anaemia
• Hypercalcemia

 An enlarged prostate in men causes a lower-than-average amount of urine output due to the prostate blocking the flow of urine through the urethra.

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References

^{1. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. January 2014. The Urinary Tract & How It Works. Available at: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/urinary-tract-how-it-works Accessed [12/02/2018]}