SCIENCE: The "Do I Pee, or Do I Sleep More" Debate is Worse than Puberty

Often times I wake up before my alarm. If it's still dark outside, it's easy to roll over and nod off again. In fact, if it's any time at all, it's pretty easy to roll over and nod off again...

...except, of course, when you sorta hafta pee.

There are times when the "do I have to sleep or do I have to pee" debate is simple - times when you wake up from a dream about bathrooms to a near-paralyzing cramp in the bladdal region, or, conversely, when you can locate the exact jackhammer that woke you up, but there's absolutely no reason to get OUT of bed, since your body feels better, in every single way, continuing to lay there.

But then there are those times, between 4:30 and 6:30 AM, 7:30 if you're me and lacking a "real" job, where you roll over, wake up, and just sorta need to go to the bathroom. Enough so that you wonder if you'll wake up another 12 times before your alarm, but not enough that you have any real desire to move.

While it may seem trivial, this is the sort of dilemma that can wreck an entire day. If you walk to the bathroom, you might not fall back asleep for minutes, even quarters of hours - if you use a light on the way, it might translate to an effective alarm.

But if you roll over when you should have just bit the bladder bullet and bathroomed-it-up, you may be doomed to repeat your mistake over and over again through the rest of the seemingly interminable night, like a personal version of Groundhog's Day without the hilariousness of Bill Murray, until you finally give, and go, and wake up, knowing that a few simple steps earlier in your personal dilemma could have given you a full (and empty) night's sleep.

Yes, this is what keeps me up at nights, both literally and otherwise. You can judge me...but only during those minutes when you lay in bed either deciding, or realizing you made the wrong decision, about your mind's abilities to overcome the needs of your body.

-Posted by Jilly