Here's why you may be needing the toilet in the middle of the night

If you often wake up in the middle of the night needing to go to the toilet - a problem called nocturia, you may need to cut back on salt in your diet.

A Japanese team of scientists tracked 321 volunteers for three months.

They found that reduced salt intake led people to urinate less.

When 223 volunteers were asked to cut their salt by 25 per cent, from 10.7g to 8g a day, their average night time toilet visits fell from an average of 2.3 trips to 1.4 times.

In contrast, when 98 subjects increased their intake from 9.9 to 11g they found that their need to urinate increased from 2.3 times a night to 2.7 times a night.

The National Health Service (NHS) recommends that adults only eat 6g of salt each day.

The researchers also found that the fall in nocturnal bathroom visits resulted in a particular improvement in people’s quality of life.