The Connection between Deep Sleep and Enuresis

The medical community has long thought that children aged five or six who are persistent bed-wetters also suffer from a sleep disorder. New studies appear to show that this is not always the case and that these children typically are deep sleepers who do not wake up when the brain sends the message that the bladder needs to be emptied.

Controlled laboratory studies point toward that deep sleeping plays a role in bed-wetting, but is not the primary cause.

A study at Albert Einstein College of Medicine recorded the electroencephalography (EEG) of the participating children. This is a monitoring of the brain’s electrical activity during sleep. Children suffering from an assortment of sleep disorders were recorded by the EEG as having unusual electrical patterns.

Children who suffered from enuresis, but no known sleep disorder, displayed normal brain activity during sleep. These results support the thought that sleep disorders and enuresis are not linked.

Doctors don’t know exactly what causes enuresis, though total bladder control is known to be a slow process that takes time, with no definitive age of mastery for all children. Some children develop nighttime mastery at a very early age while others take considerably more time. Daytime bladder control is normally attained first while children are awake and alert, able to respond immediately to a full bladder.

Many body parts must work together in regulating bladder function and urine control including the spinal chord, nerves, brain and muscles.

The bladder sends a message to the brain to wake up when the bladder is full. A deep sleeper does not respond to the brain's message and the body attempts to contain the urine in the bladder until the person awakes. Usually, where bed-wetting is concerned, the body is not working well enough yet to control the urine.

Some children have a smaller than average bladder, or one that is not yet matured enough to make nighttime bladder control happen regularly. Still other children create a higher volume of urine in which case the bladder is not capable of containing it through the night. Physical problems such as diabetes and urinary tract infections can also contribute to enuresis.

Studies have shown there may be a genetic aspect to enuresis. According to the National Kidney Foundation, a child with one parent that was a bed wetter has a 4 in 10 chance of also being a bed-wetter. Having both parents who were bed wetters raises it to a 7 in 10 chance of being a bed wetter.

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