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Full Bladder Improves Decision Making

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the can't-talk-now-gotta-go dept.

anymouse writes "What should you do when you really, REALLY have to 'go'? Make important life decisions, maybe. Controlling your bladder makes you better at controlling yourself when making decisions about your future, too, according to a study to be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science."

27 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. What if you can't get a full bladder? by devxo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm currently hospitalized for a longer period of time ( earlier post regarding it ) and I have a catherer, which also takes the urine immediately from the body. What should I do as I can't get a full bladder? On a side note, it's been great for playing MMO's as there's no need to get up to toilet...

    1. Re:What if you can't get a full bladder? by click2005 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I've been in a similar situation for years. I now have scientific proof that my being 'the most indecisive person people have ever met' isn't my fault... I think.

      --
      I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
    2. Re:What if you can't get a full bladder? by skids · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That doesn't exactly specify it was a full bladder that was causing the effect, it might just be urine production that stimulates better decisions.

      Or just better hydration. Though I could easily see that the researchers might have also conducted studies to control for that, and the journalist been negligent in mentioning it.

      --
      Someone had to do it.
    3. Re:What if you can't get a full bladder? by garompeta · · Score: 2

      What should I do as I can't get a full bladder?

      You see? It would have been easier to decide with a full bladder.

    4. Re:What if you can't get a full bladder? by TheLink · · Score: 2

      I've proposed:"How Do You Kill That Which Has No Life?" and "Mom! Bathroom!" for a title/achievment track in an MMORPG before... Didn't succeed :).

      --
  2. Yes it quite improves decision making. by unity100 · · Score: 2

    Also increases the urine that's not taken out of your bloodstream.

    and, if you keep it too much, the urine in your bladder may even get pushed back into your bloodstream and outright poison you.

    great researches come out, from the fine institutions of our scientific establishment, sometimes ....

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    Read radical news here
    1. Re:Yes it quite improves decision making. by h4rr4r · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Blood is mostly water. Urine is mostly water as well, so is vodka. Blood is not mostly vodka.

      The various fun things that end up in urine are not called urine until they are filtered out by the kidneys.

    2. Re:Yes it quite improves decision making. by h4rr4r · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It is also nothing that you cannot find a pharmacy, that does not mean pharmacies are full of urine. Nothing is called urine until after it gets filtered by the kidneys. Which means blood is not full of urine, it is just full of stuff that may one day become part of urine.

    3. Re:Yes it quite improves decision making. by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

      This thread is nothing but a pissing contest.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    4. Re:Yes it quite improves decision making. by geminidomino · · Score: 2

      Blood is mostly water. Urine is mostly water as well, so is vodka. Blood is not mostly vodka.

      Speak for yourself, tovarich. <hic>

  3. Everyone knows... by Bicx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Procrastination is a lot more enjoyable with an empty bladder.

  4. So... by Haedrian · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, do you want to use the bathroom or not? Take your time with this decision, we don't want you to take a rash decision on this one.

    1. Re:So... by Marc_Hawke · · Score: 2

      It seems to me that if you're sitting around thinking about various and sundry while you have a full bladder, then you've already failed at making the important decisions in life.

      --
      --Welcome to the Realm of the Hawke--
  5. Holding it increases your blood presure. by Loether · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've been going to the doctor with a family member often and they were constantly taking his blood pressure. So I've been curious about the things that affect blood pressure and according one nurse if you have a full bladder your blood pressure will go up significantly. (Couldn't quickly confirm via google, could a slashdot MD confirm or refute?)

    I wonder if the increase in blood pressure do to holding it gives your brain more blood so it functions better. I wonder if there is a way to control the experiment for the blood pressure difference.

    --
    TODO create witty sig.
    1. Re:Holding it increases your blood presure. by osu-neko · · Score: 2

      (Couldn't quickly confirm via google, could a slashdot MD confirm or refute?)

      I'm not an MD, but I'm an engineer, which as we all know, qualifies me to answer any question. ;)

      It makes sense. Nihil ex nihil, the liquid in your bladder is coming from your bloodstream, filtered out by the kidneys. If your bladder is full, then no more matter can be pulled out of your bloodstream (or at least significantly less than usual). The same blood system is going to have higher pressure in it if it contains more fluid than it normally would. Even if the kidneys don't stop sending matter to the bladder entirely, I would assume the higher fluid pressure in the bladder makes adding more more difficult, and thus the rate at which it is being added slows, slowing the process of removing it from the bloodstream, leading to some small elevation in blood pressure.

      (There are a number of reasons why this would be wrong -- overlooking alternate means of removal, expanding internal volume, etc. But I believe it's at least mostly right, because I've heard the same thing.)

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    2. Re:Holding it increases your blood presure. by sdguero · · Score: 2

      From http://www.fitnesstipsforlife.com/why-does-blood-pressure-change-throughout-the-day.html:

      "The Effect of the Bladder on Blood Pressure

      Curiously enough and for no good reason, the urinary bladder influences blood pressure. Pressure is lowest when the bladder is empty. As the bladder gradually fills, blood pressure rises. Thus a pressure of 130/80 on an empty bladder may reach 160/90 when the bladder is full enough to send messages of “Please empty.” During urination, the blood pressure then precipitously drops back to 130/80. People whose bladders are never quite empty may carry a pressure which is slightly higher. After treatment and with the resumption o£ complete bladder emptying the pressure falls to normal levels."

  6. Also good for road trips. by Xzzy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's also damn near impossible to fall asleep when you have to piss.

    Drink lots of water on road trips, to the point you more or less constantly have to go, and you will never doze off.

    1. Re:Also good for road trips. by Abstrackt · · Score: 2

      At some point you will sleep. The problem is that you will also urinate at some point. Personally, I prefer that those two facts don't overlap. If you're holding it in just so you don't fall asleep I strongly suggest pulling over on a side road for half an hour and taking a nap instead.

      --
      They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
    2. Re:Also good for road trips. by osu-neko · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you're in danger of dozing off, you shouldn't be driving. Doing some trick to prevent you from actually dozing off is putting yourself and everyone else on the road in greater danger. This isn't a binary condition: either fully alert or dead to the world unconscious. You're still more likely to cause an accident, even if you didn't lapse into actual unconsciousness.

      "I've done it -- it keeps me fully alert, too!" Uh huh. This is every bit as believable as the drunk who insists they're not too smashed to drive. You feel fully alert. Good for you. Now pull over, take a piss, and then take a nap, resume driving when you actually are fully alert and don't require any tricks to stay awake.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  7. Well, I guess I won't be posting my joke . . . by StefanJ · · Score: 2

    . . . about how MMO players wearing "Depends" are just putting themselves off their game.

    Best wishes for a fash recovery, devxo!

  8. Eh hemm.... by 2names · · Score: 2

    No shit.

    --
    "I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
  9. I must've been a genius! by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I served as the chairman of a not-for-profit board for a while. And our meetings just seem to be interminable.

    Finally, I offered to be the permanent refreshment-bringer. I purchased only spicy or salty snacks, and only caffeinated beverages -- actually, just a tiny non-zero number of non-caffeinated ones to prevent moaning from the "I can't have caffeine" board member.

    My idea wasn't to ensure good decisions, but just that something got decided and we didn't sit around all night trying to redirect back to the subject at hand.

    --
    I am not a crackpot.
  10. Re:Post-coitus lucidity by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Funny

    The best way (for males) to make decisions is when you blow your load either during sex or while masturbating. Right after orgasm suddenly everything becomes so clear because of sharp increase in dopamine. You let go of your inhibitions, fear, ego and able to formulate completely rational thoughts. But you need to make decisions really fast because the optimism fades away really quickly. I'd say it's 40 seconds to 2 minutes max.

    I'm just imagining a meeting where an important decision has to be made.
    The chairman says: "So, and now please masturbate ..." :-)

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  11. One problem.. by beatbox32 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I just know I'd end up deciding all over myself.

    --
    "The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live." - M.J. A
  12. Well, I knew that by dmomo · · Score: 3, Funny

    And this is why I am pissing my life away.

  13. On the edge of my chair by FencingLion · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My secret weapon in the music competitions of my youth was to forgo visiting the restroom until after the performance. I felt having to pee gave me the edge I needed.

    --
    Just keep swimming.
  14. Tycho Brahe... by olrik666 · · Score: 2


    Don't be too polite, and go if you have to!

    "According to Kepler's first hand account, Tycho had refused to leave the banquet to relieve himself because it would have been a breach of etiquette.[20][21] After he had returned home he was no longer able to urinate, except, eventually, in very small quantities and with excruciating pain. "

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe#Death