"To sleep, perchance to dream."

While it's Young Hamlet who speaks these words in the oft-quoted soliloquy, I could say the same. But something else about sleeping is a certainty for me.That it will be interrupted.Frequently.In fact, there's no perchance about it. Usually four times a night, I wake up and walk to the lavatory.So when I stumbled upon research that determined too much sodium in diets of senior citizens increased their need to urinate during sleep, I read with especial interest.According to general health guidelines, I ingest too much sodium, but in my mind there are mitigating factors that make the excess a moot point.First, I consume far more calories for my weight and age than typical because of my activity level. Second, most of my sodium ingestion comes from really healthy foods that contain most of the sodium naturally, like fat-free Greek yogurt, fat-free cottage cheese, 100 percent whole wheat, and high-fiber cereal.Third, I believe that it's a lack of potassium that leads to high sodium ingestion producing high blood pressure. So does Alicia McDonough, Ph.D., professor of cell and neurobiology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.Her recent review, published in American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism, determined that higher levels of dietary potassium were generally associated with lower blood pressure, regardless of the level of sodium intake.Her belief is certainly true in my case. Because I ingest about more four times the amount of potassium than is found in the average American diet, receiving what mainstream medicine considers an excess of sodium has never increased my blood pressure.And my case is also proof of what McDonough writes in her review: that ingesting enough potassium is as essential as reducing salt use if your goal is keeping blood pressure within a normal range.But is the extra sodium I'm getting increasing my rate of nighttime bathroom visits? Or is it simply a combination of my increasing age along with the fact that I often need to consume fluids up until bedtime to rehydrate from that day's workout?I can't say for sure because there are some sorts of experiments that I'm not willing to try. I know how poorly I feel and how my performance declines when I'm dehydrated and work out the next day, so I'd rather not reduce my fluid intake.But if athletic performance isn't a concern for you and you have the same situation as I, try not drinking any beverages - except maybe a few ounces of water if thirsty - after 6 p.m. Throughout the day, reduce your ingestion of alcohol, citrus drinks, coffee, tea, and any other drinks that contain caffeine.Another study of high sodium ingestion yielded a result of particular importance because it contradicts something that most medicos felt was long past argument. Researchers at Vanderbilt University working in conjunction with those at the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Heimholtz Association in Germany found that the consumption of salty foods doesn't make you thirsty, but actually causes your body to conserve water.And since conservation of water requires your body to expend energy, the end result of eating salty foods is not increased thirst but increased hunger. At least that was the result when the researchers in Germany used 10 male subjects and simulated conditions that astronauts would encounter in lengthy flights in space.While this study showed what was previously believed - that excess salt was excreted in urine - no additional loss of water surprisingly was needed to do so.Instead of the sodium "pulling" water out of the cells as previously believed, the increased consumption of salt actually caused the kidneys to conserve water.While you can leave it up to the researchers to conduct additional experiments to determine exactly why this happens, you now have another possible link between why you seem to crave the soda when you snack on pretzels, chips, popcorn, or other salty snacks. It's not that your body wants the extra water to flush out the salt, but that your body wants the sugar because the flushing out of the salt requires additional energy.While this explanation may strike you as a bit of a stretch, my experience confirms it.Recently - and possibly foolishly - I've increased my use of no-calorie flavor enhancers to get more taste from my meals for the same number of calories. Yet that also seems to have increased my hunger.Since then, I seem to be chronically hungry. As soon as I finish a meal, it seems, the next one is on my mind.Some of those no-calorie products - surprise, surprise - have up to 270 milligrams of sodium per the suggested, two tablespoon serving. Could that be the cause of the hunger?I guess I'll have to do what I so frequently suggest you do: experiment with my diet.