I have been sleeping exclusively in my hammock for about a month now. I am using an underquilt and a top quilt and I never feel cold at night. So why am I waking up three or more times a night having to pee so bad that I almost don't make it out of my hammock? As an experiment I slept two nights in a row in my recliner and did not have the problem.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks!
are you sleeping diagonally? It could be an issue where pressure is being put on your bladder by not laying flat.
Pics of your setup would help. It could be an issue of insufficient sag in your hang: set the hammock lower, increasing the angle of the suspension ropes (relative to a horizontal line at the attachment point).
Best of luck! Hope this helps...
"Do or do not, there is no try." -- Yoda
what he said!Originally Posted by JohnSawyer
Many thanks to everyone who has chimed in on this one. JohnSawyer suggested that pics of my setup might help so I enlisted my lovely wife to help me get some photos.
Here they are, I'll explain each thumbnail.
This first image is the hammock with the UQ attached. The span is 130 inches, the suspension height is 75 inches and the ridgeline is 101 inches.
This is without the UQ attached
This is me in my hammock in my sleeping position. Most nights I go to sleep in this position and wake up in it. So there is no tossing and turning like I do in a bed.
This is the same position as above just taken from a closer perspective.
Again this is the same position just from a different angle. (I know this looks like I'm lying with my head downhill from my feet but that's just because the picture is being taken from uphill.)
And, finally, this is the second position I sometimes sleep in. But, again, if I go to sleep in this position, I wake up in it.
As you can see from these photos, I'm sleeping diagonally and I feel pretty flat. So, seeing all this, do you guys think I need to lengthen my suspension (as suggested above) or anything?
Thanks!
I don't know what the others will think, but you could try raising either the head end or the foot end a little bit. Raise one end and go to sleep and if you wake up to pee, go back to sleep in the opposite direction and see if you wake up. Best of luck. Nice stand by the way.
Could be one of several things. I once thought about a survey/poll on HF to try and determine if the brand/style of hammock had more of an effect on this problem, since I had the same issue, but not as many times as you.
1) What hammock are you using? Could it be that you are more u-shaped/folded versus a flat lie? I have not had as much an issue since I switched to my WBBB.
2) Are you too hot? too cold?? Not sure how body temp affects the kidneys but there may be something in that. Pretty sure there are others on HF who know the answer to this.
3) Don't drink 2 or 3 hours before going to bed and empty just before bed. I found that helped.
4) More personal here: have the prostate checked. BPH causes bladder issues. As a cancer survivor, it never hurts to know the status of your PSA anyway.
Others may have more ideas.
Rockdawg69
It's a long way to the top if you want to Rock and Roll ----- those hills!!!
Professional Prevaricator: Part-time dealer in Yarns, Tales, Half-Truths, & Outright Lies -1st half-hour session at no cost (Lawyers and Doctors excepted).
Mikewithe: I wonder if hammock sleeping is such an unusual sensation, though luxurious, that bladders react to those differences with a shortened fuse, so to speak. IMHO, my nightly sleep is so much more comfortable full timing in the hammock that being awakened for frequent nature calls is not irritating to me because I know I will comfortably and quickly return to blissful slumber. That is a wonderful blessing after years of painful disturbed hours hoping to return to sleep after any disturbance.
However, early on in my full timing learning curve, I slept so deeply that my nature calls were the panic race you describe. Unlike you, I didn't think the calls were more frequent; I was sleeping significantly longer hours, so an extra call was reasonable. But I needed to react faster to realize where I was and what the need was. The simple newness of hammock sleeping required me to wake up more completely than I did for the trek from my bed. It was a while before my body got the rhythm of waking in a timely way, and exiting the hammock gracefully without entangling myself. Seems my knees improved, too. Now the nightly calls are non events.
I hope your sleep becomes more comfortable with time.
Having never experienced this issue, I can only speculate... but... the center of a man's gravity is above his navel. You will end up, at some point, with that CG at the low-point of the hammock. It looks to me that your hammock is fairly level. This would raise your feet above your head... (contributes to my cold feet problem when hammocking)
I'd raise the foot end 6-10 inches and try again. (10" works for me) See what works best for you...
Google Nocturia... I wonder if you sleep on your side/stomach in a bed, and on your back in a hammock... could just be causing additional pressure on your bladder, making the issue worse.
Best of luck...
"Do or do not, there is no try." -- Yoda
When I got in the hammock last night I made note of my position. When I woke up I could tell that I had shifted significantly "downward", as you said, causing my feet to be higher than my head. Further, as you mention, I do sleep on my side/stomach in a bed but I haven't been able to figure out how to replicate that position in the hammock.
I'm willing to try raising the foot end as you suggest and see how that goes but I'm not sure how I could do that with my current setup as I am using a stand.
If I were to lengthen the suspension on the head end would that be the equivalent of shortening it on the foot end?
One other thing, even though you are using a UQ your kidneys can get cold, when they are they produce more urine.
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