I wonder just how many adults do actually wet the bed

[stevewet]

I often wonder just how many of us there are. The continence nurse I see periodically says it is more common than you would think.

[Little Sherri]

I wet the bed with some frequency, although I kind of did that to myself - I've been wearing diapers to bed for over 5 years. But, prior to that, my history was this: I was a champion bedwetter until a bit after I turned 10, and then I outgrew it and the frequency declined rapidly, to the point that it almost never happened by the time I was 11. 

Then, decades later - so about 6 years ago, now - apropos of nothing, one day I woke up in the middle of a wet spot. Then, probably 6 months later, it happened again. I already had diapers around for recreational purposes - I used to wear them for a few hours here and there when I had the house to myself, or overnight on business trips. So, I decided to start wearing them to bed, sneaking them on after my wife fell asleep, and wearing shorts over them. As far as I recall, they never really prevented an incident - I don't remember ever finding myself wet if I hadn't allowed it to happen. Eventually, when I "came out" to my wife about wearing diapers, I leaned into the two earlier incidents, though, saying that I slept way better and was way more comfortable if I had a diaper on at night. 

Now, 5 years later, having allowed myself to wet the bed many, many times per week, I find myself in the situation of sometimes waking up in a wet diaper, with no recollection of having allowed it to happen. Sometimes this occurs two or three nights a week, and sometimes, it occurs once every couple of weeks. So, I'm an unreliable adult bedwetter, I guess? I'm not sure how easy it would be to reverse this "slide", and I don't care to find out in any case - I enjoy wearing diapers. 

[stevewet]

I was a chronic nightly wetter growing up. Hardly ever dry before the end of my teens. I was almost 22 before I stopped . Been back to nightly wetting since I turned 50 

[rubbersheetmike]

5 hours ago, stevewet said:

I often wonder just how many of us there are. The continence nurse I see periodically says it is more common than you would think.

According to a recent Time article called 'The Shame of the Adult Bedwetter' about 1 to 3 percent of adults in the U.S. wet the bed. I have read other estimates of 1 to 2 percent.

[zzyzx]

10 hours ago, rubbersheetmike said:

According to a recent Time article called 'The Shame of the Adult Bedwetter' about 1 to 3 percent of adults in the U.S. wet the bed. I have read other estimates of 1 to 2 percent.

@stevewet:  I'll be hard pressed at the moment to pull out the statistics to back up what I'm going to say.

Back when occasional secondary nocturnal hit me the TriState (NY area) incontinence resource site had some data on this, including a graph about incontinence and age (so not specifically bed-wetting in that graph).  The low point in the graph was around 18-20 years old, and a large part bed-wetters that never dried up (or were secondary during youth).  Site has been offline for years, and I don't remember enough of the URL to find it in the Way Back (Internet Archive) machine.

In my reviews, there are two  articles that my mind held onto.  One was the report from Israel where everyone is required to provide service to the country, typically 18 to early 20's.   And the bed-wetting numbers for them were around 2% (and not specified more accurately).  Given a 2 to 1 male vs female ration that is typically found for this, that would mean about 3% of the males were in that category (or take it at the 2% for overall).  The second article is one  one out of Asia, I believe Singapore, and listed it at 2.3%.  This was the first one I found listing it above 2%, and the type of study was such that the number was probably "under reported".    I think the report from Israel was fairly accurate number.  I don't know if / what options some one that is a citizen of the country has as options that could have kept them from becoming part of the statistics of that report (for when it was done).  I believe both of these reports are over two decades old.  Don't remember if I managed to find these via research at a local university's hospital library where  I was able to perform online (keyword type) search the available medical literature and then bring up the specific papers to review.

And the low point is around 18 or so years old....  Then incontinence issues start increasing again.  First for women (child birth impacts?) and later for men (prostate impacts?).

[stevewet]

The continence nurse told me she sees many adults who wet the bed.

[WBxx]

In the “Q&A” session of a physical I (age 19) sheepishly asked if my recent bed wetting was a sign of a serious problem.   Thought the doctor would be shocked.  To the contrary, he assured me adult bed wetting was not unusual offering suggestions for coping.  And no, he didn’t suggest diapers.

I can’t equate “not unusual” to a percent.  But even 2% is significant.  My high school graduating class was slightly over 200.  Wonder who the other 3 were.  Were they diapered?  Did they enjoy it?

[stevewet]

1 hour ago, WBxx said:

In the “Q&A” session of a physical I (age 19) sheepishly asked if my recent bed wetting was a sign of a serious problem.   Thought the doctor would be shocked.  To the contrary, he assured me adult bed wetting was not unusual offering suggestions for coping.  And no, he didn’t suggest diapers.

I can’t equate “not unusual” to a percent.  But even 2% is significant.  My high school graduating class was slightly over 200.  Wonder who the other 3 were.  Were they diapered?  Did they enjoy it?

By my teens the only one I knew for certain still regularly bedwetting was my cousin who wet until he was 17.

[rusty pins]

10 hours ago, stevewet said:

The continence nurse told me she sees many adults who wet the bed.

Yes, I can see that, however her job is as a continence nurse.  A writer, for example would tend to see more publishers or people in that line of work.  Therefore a continence nurse might see, for example, 30% of people she sees as being bedwetters or having some wetting issues where as that writer or people in most other lines of work would rarely come across such people.   If they did, they wouldn't know it unless the person tells them, "I wet the bed regularly".  For any poll or statistic, you have to poll people from all walks of life, age and professions to get the most accurate data.  My former back massagest said she has several clients with incontinence issues, but she worked in the medical field giving massages to cancer patients in the hospital and afterwards in privet practice.  If you work in that type field or among those types of people, the chances you will know people with incontinence or that wears diapers will be much higher that most people in other lines of work. 

[Wet Knight]

What ever the percentage is, a lot of elderly women wear a pad at night for little leaks, which probably isn't actually bedwetting as bedwetters experience bedwetting.

[stevewet]

1 hour ago, Wet Knight said:

What ever the percentage is, a lot of elderly women wear a pad at night for little leaks, which probably isn't actually bedwetting as bedwetters experience bedwetting.

Both my mother and grandmother were incontinent in old age and wet there beds regularly. My grandmother's house reeked of urine from her incontinence. 

[deewet]

My urologist tells me that continence issues in men are becoming very common these days, especially those with prostrate issues and diabetes.  Having said that, considering that is his specialty, it is no wonder that many he does see have those problems.  Not sure how that charts with the general public, the point, it is more than older gals buying diapers these days, and the adult diaper business is booming from what I hear!  That tells me that more folks are wetting the bed than most expect!!

[babykeiff]

The actual numbers are slightly hidden due to human behaviour to hide what they percieve as a difference to societal norms.

To figure out the numbers, one has to look at the adult diaper market, its now acceptance on mainstream media advertisements and reverse calculate what the market is targeting. This is due to simple economics - a company will not produce or sell a product without at least, ensuring that there is a market to buy said product. This gets very specific when one looks at the capital investment into this market - and the realization that money is not invested into a product / market without some reasonal expectation of a return on investment.

For one version of source figures, see https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/adult-diapers-market

This states that the disposable adult diaper market is due to be $38.2b by 2032, with a growth of 8% per annum. Assuming 1 diaper per night is 365 per year at an average cost of $1 per diaper equates $365 per person per year. $38.2b / $365 = 104.6m people. World population is roughly 8b people. That works out as 1 person in every 80 bed wet.

There is other variances that are needed to be added which are:-

• the preference of the older generation to use cloth instead of disposables
• a proportion of people don't use any protection other than a plastic undersheet
• some people stuff a baby diaper in underwear
• some people use a sanitary pad

I would suspect that the numbers are more likely 1 in 40 people or greater considering the availability of waterproof undersheets (sold as hypoalergenic and/or dust and bed bug protection fitted sheets) for adult sized beds. Add this to the increasing delay in children being toilet trained - and attending school later and later still wearing diapers, I would suspect that the number to get to 1 in 20, then to 1 in 10, and then to 1 in 5 or more.

[deewet]

One other thought I should add, I know for a fact based on knowing nurses that have worked in nursing homes and with assisted living arrangements, that the common practice these days is to diaper almost all the patients that have mobility or mental problems as changing diapers on a regular basis is easier than being available to help these folks use the bathroom when they want to.   Considering all the older folks that get into nursing or home care situations, probably puts this number at 75% or greater of our older generation. 

[ks84]

I do every night. I go to bed in a dry diaper and wake up in a soaked diaper it works the best being married for over 15 years out of respect to my wife I would rather be a man enough to put a diaper on with my bedwetting issues to wear a diaper than allow my wife to wake soaked

[bedwettersteve]

I'm a chronic bed wetter and have been all my life. most nights i wear a diaper 

[barnburner]

Its probably pretty common, but most are most likely not an every night kind of thing, and im not including alcohol or other short term intoxication.

 

I have done it randomly in the past few years, I dont get drunk or do anything else, it just happens.(should be noted I dont need or wear diapers to bed just because of this)

[Cruiser 03]

Thanks to diapers and my aide  I wet and soil everyday without punishing the bed .

[MatthewDL]

I'm a life-long bed wetter.  I was a nightly wetter into my early teens before I started to have dry nights.  It got better over the years but never completely went away.  I still have occasional night-time accidents but most nights I wake up when I have to go.  Some nights I wake up because I'm going, and some mornings I wake up in a wet diaper with no recollection of going during the night.  Just always been that way.  I went through several sleep studies over the years and even had surgery to correct sleep apnea in hopes it might help my enuresis, but to no avail.

[sleepy_baby]

My Ex Boyfrend wet the bed quite a bit. One of the reasons i was attracted to him 

[rubbersheetmike]

On 9/6/2023 at 1:41 AM, zzyzx said:

@stevewet:  I'll be hard pressed at the moment to pull out the statistics to back up what I'm going to say.

Back when occasional secondary nocturnal hit me the TriState (NY area) incontinence resource site had some data on this, including a graph about incontinence and age (so not specifically bed-wetting in that graph).  The low point in the graph was around 18-20 years old, and a large part bed-wetters that never dried up (or were secondary during youth).  Site has been offline for years, and I don't remember enough of the URL to find it in the Way Back (Internet Archive) machine.

In my reviews, there are two  articles that my mind held onto.  One was the report from Israel where everyone is required to provide service to the country, typically 18 to early 20's.   And the bed-wetting numbers for them were around 2% (and not specified more accurately).  Given a 2 to 1 male vs female ration that is typically found for this, that would mean about 3% of the males were in that category (or take it at the 2% for overall).  The second article is one  one out of Asia, I believe Singapore, and listed it at 2.3%.  This was the first one I found listing it above 2%, and the type of study was such that the number was probably "under reported".    I think the report from Israel was fairly accurate number.  I don't know if / what options some one that is a citizen of the country has as options that could have kept them from becoming part of the statistics of that report (for when it was done).  I believe both of these reports are over two decades old.  Don't remember if I managed to find these via research at a local university's hospital library where  I was able to perform online (keyword type) search the available medical literature and then bring up the specific papers to review.

And the low point is around 18 or so years old....  Then incontinence issues start increasing again.  First for women (child birth impacts?) and later for men (prostate impacts?).

I think the Israeli stats are probably the most accurate because it's my understanding based on what a guy who lived there one time told me that almost everybody except for those with specific religious exemptions has to register for military service. That gives them a pretty good sample group. As for the 18 to 20 "low point" my guess is that a lot of overage bedwetters get their wetting under control by their mid to late teens are probably less diligent about it when they move out on their own. I had a rubber sheet on my bed until I was 17, although the my frequent bedwetting decreased in my early teens. When I finished school and moved away from home at 19 (I failed a grade so spent an extra year in high school) and started working in construction I also started going out drinking a lot and pretty quickly wrecked a mattress. Then I started using a vinyl mattress cover. I stopped drinking in my 20s mainly because it made it easier on relationships. But the bedwetting started again a couple decades later.

[pilgrim]

17 hours ago, rubbersheetmike said:

I think the Israeli stats are probably the most accurate because it's my understanding based on what a guy who lived there one time told me that almost everybody except for those with specific religious exemptions has to register for military service. That gives them a pretty good sample group.

I do wonder if the number might be inflated if it was data gathered whilst assessing people for their suitability for military service, I have the impression it's kind of a cliche that wetting the bed is a good way to get out an unwanted spell in the military, since it's pretty much impossible to prove that someone is or isn't a genuine bedwetter.

I looked through the medical criteria for the German military(Germany technically still has conscription, it's just been suspended since 2011) and there is a special note that although it means automatic exclusion from serving, anyone who self-reports as a bedwetter during the standard medical assessment has to have a special interview with either a urologist or a psychologist depending on whether the cause is believed to be a urinary system defect, or just pure bedwetting with no specific cause. I take that to be a acknowledgement that someone reporting it might not be telling the whole truth!

A German man I know once told a story that he went to a lawyer to ask for advice on getting out of conscription and the answer he got was "how do you feel about bedwetting"! I'm not actually German, so quite how much this was passed around as an idea for avoiding military service I'm not sure.

I couldn't find any detailed information about how Israeli army would deal with someone reporting bedwetting so I guess it's either secret, in Hebrew, or both.

[Wet Knight]

When I, as a civilian, got seconded to "RAF Communications", Where ever I got posted, the Quartermaster had a rubber sheet for me, so I don't think that I can have been the only bedwetter in the service.

 

[stevewet]

Growing up I was a chronic nightly bedwetter until my late teens and wasn't reliably dry at night until my early 20s. My cousin wet most nights until he was 17. My mother was a bedwetter until she was 18 and I had a great uncle who wet all his life. That is just one family. I suspect there are many of us as it is just not something people talk about. My first serious girlfriend was a bedwetter well in to her 20s.

[Donny4]

I don’t know what the number is but am so glad I’m one of them. Natural to me from day 1.