According to a recent study, people with full bladders make better decisions. Dutch scientist Miriam Tuk tested her theory by asking one group of volunteers to drink five cups of water, while another group took only five small sips.
After forty minutes, Tuk asked each group several questions to test their self-control. Namely: each participant had to choose between being paid $16 after one day or $30 after one month.
When more full-bladder participants chose to wait for the $30 end-of-month payoff, Tuk concluded that urgently uncomfortable people are not as directly drawn to instant gratification as researchers have long believed.
When time is money, isn’t there something to be said for those optimists who believe that a properly invested $16 per day could yield $30 by the end of the month?
Scientists cite this study as evidence that self-control in one area can have positive effects on other areas — after all, human feelings of inhibition all stem from the same area of the brain:
This control spill-over may shed some light on the Type A fat-phobic obsession with dieting. The links between prioritizing, organization and self control are all pretty intuitive.
Just ask yourself before you drink up to prepare for your next big presentation: Is it a full bladder that streamlines decisionmaking? Because what this study may really suggest, is that merely staying hydrated helps decisionmakers focus on more nuanced benefits that thirsty compatriots have overlooked.
