Why You Should Hold In Your Pee

[Fred]

http://www.weightlossforall.com/why-you ... ur-pee.htm

Why You Should Hold in Your Pee

Have you ever had to use the bathroom while out and about? You feel the urge to stop while running errands, doing the weekly shopping, or finishing up that last bit of work. The bathroom calls to you urgently, and it takes every shred of control to hold it in until you reach a restroom. Well, did you know that holding it in can actually be good for you? Here are a few reasons why you should hold in your pee:

Boosts Willpower

When you are walking down the candy aisle at the grocery store, what is stopping you from picking up a few treats? There is a small part of your brain that is responsible for impulse control, and that's the part that stops you from doing things you know you shouldn't. When you hold back the urge to pee, you activate that part of your brain. While it's working to stop you from releasing the muscles holding your bladder closed, it will also stop you from yielding to the impulse to make poor food or drink choices. You will have much stronger willpower while you need to pee, thanks to the fact that you are holding it back instead of releasing it.

Increases Focus

A study in the Netherlands found that needing to pee can help you to score higher on mental tests! It has very little to do with the actual pee itself, but it's the way your brain focuses on controlling your bladder. You are very aware of your body and your need to urinate, but your brain is actively stopping you from releasing it. This gives you a sort of laser focus on what's going on around you, and especially any tasks you are currently performing. Have you ever noticed how quickly you finish that last job or send that last email before you run off to the restroom? It's all thanks to your brain!

Enhances Accuracy

Did you know that your instinctive reaction is often the right one? Your brain is often correct, but it's only once you allow your conscious mind to analyze the unconscious instinct that you begin to doubt yourself. When answering difficult questions, it's often best to let the instinctive part of your mind do the work. This is why needing to pee can help you to be more accurate. You will be focused on your need to use the bathroom, so you won't go about second-guessing your decisions. You'll get through the test without allowing yourself to over-analyze things, just so you can finish more quickly. The results may be better than you'd expect!

The Downsides of Needing to Pee

Of course, if you feel the need to pee, it can be distracting from everything that you're doing. You may have a hard time concentrating if you need to pee bad enough, and you may be more twitchy and nervous than is good for your brain. There is such a thing as "needing to pee too much" to obtain the benefits mentioned above!

The Dangers of Needing to Pee

If you have a full bladder for too long, there is a very real risk that you will damage your bladder. At the very least, you will increase your risk of urinary tract infections. There is a risk of long-term scarring on the wall of your bladder if you hold your pee in too long. The benefits are only obtained when you feel the need to pee, but not to the extent of being about to burst.

[Brian]

Some interesting points in that article.

The paragraph titled "Increases Focus" can possible be a little misleading in my opinion, because it can be seen as the opposite of what we later read in the "Downsides", namely that it is distracting. I think it's pretty well known that needing a pee is very bad for concentration when you are driving or operating heavy machinery: indeed, you are distracted by your full bladder, and you are not focussed so well on the dangerous task. Is this a paradox? When exactly does needing a pee help you focus on a task, and when does it have the opposite effect?

[Fred]

Some interesting points in that article.

The paragraph titled "Increases Focus" can possible be a little misleading in my opinion, because it can be seen as the opposite of what we later read in the "Downsides", namely that it is distracting. I think it's pretty well known that needing a pee is very bad for concentration when you are driving or operating heavy machinery: indeed, you are distracted by your full bladder, and you are not focussed so well on the dangerous task. Is this a paradox? When exactly does needing a pee help you focus on a task, and when does it have the opposite effect?

Like most sensory input, it's a matter of degree. When does pleasure become pain? One chocolate is delicious but ten may make you sick. I imagine that the threshold varies with the individual.

[Brian]

Like most sensory input, it's a matter of degree. When does pleasure become pain? One chocolate is delicious but ten may make you sick. I imagine that the threshold varies with the individual.

Ahah, I hadn't thought of it that way. Yes, I can see the logic of that. So mild bladder pressure focusses, but desperation distracts.
I think that agrees with my own experience.

[Tytn]

A friend is doing an apprenticeship with a large tech organisation. It involves long periods of time in class rooms learning 'stuff'. They have free drinks available during the day from various sources.

He has grown up being a lower priority in the family setup due to a disabled family member, and being a young male is often left to 'look after things' and as such has developed quite a large capacity for, um, well, liquid content.

He has already reported to me that whilst he has no problems in knocking back up to 6 cups of tea between 0830 and 12 noon, his colleagues who try to 'keep up' often are left somewhat distracted and restless as they eagerly await the next official 'break' so that they can dash respectively to the facilities at either end of the long corridors in the building.

Most have toned down their liquid intake now, but he still sticks with it. And yes, sometimes it is like turning a hosepipe on and leaving it running for a few minutes...

[Brian]

A friend is doing an apprenticeship with a large tech organisation. [...]

The experiences of your friend's fellow trainees being distracted sound much more authentic to me than any possible "focussing" effect of needing to let all the tea out the other end. I guess a full bladder is much more likely to be distracting in any situation where you have to learn something.
Or does anyone think needing a pee can sometimes help focus attention on something to be studied?

[Fred]

Tytn's friend sounds like he is "one of us".

Re focusing, there have been times when I was working on a project, and the need to pee kept me on task because I wanted to finish what I was doing before I left it. If you know you can use the toilet as soon as you're finished, you won't waste time!

[Tytn]

Tytn's friend sounds like he is "one of us".

No, but we have discussed such things and become quite close friends. But it is good to have a grounding rod in this lifetime. His fiance used to visit the old LP site quite a lot to read up

Re focusing, there have been times when I was working on a project, and the need to pee kept me on task because I wanted to finish what I was doing before I left it. If you know you can use the toilet as soon as you're finished, you won't waste time!

uh huh

[Bowbow]

Needing to pee is a focusing event but once a bladder gets so full that you're pee dancing then I'd say it was not focusing your ideas but distorting. Loving the chocolate analogy

[Adrian6970]

I think Tony Blair once said that he was at his best when operating on a full bladder, be it speaking Parliament or addressing a meeting. Whether that's a recommendation or not is a different matter! I hope it's a risk he didn't take during audiences with the Queen.