What’s Your Body Trying to Tell You?

Dark Urine

Most Likely Causes

When you don't drink enough water, the pigments in waste that the kidneys excrete are more concentrated, so your urine becomes a deep yellow. Dark urine can also mean you have a urinary-tract infection, which could be sending a small amount of blood into your urine and making it darker.
 
 

Less Likely Causes

A bladder or kidney infection can also cause darker urine, as can renal stones and other kidney problems.
 
 What to do: 

• Drink more water. Try this easy rule: Figure your height in inches; that number is the minimum amount in ounces you should be drinking per day. So if you're five-six, that's 66 inches, or 66 ounces.
• See your doctor if the color of your urine doesn't fade, you have a fever or pain with urination, or you urinate with an unusual frequency or urgency.