Wee shall be free: Over 50% of Americans suffer from pee-xiety, poll reveals

Do you have bathroom anxiety? According to a new study, half of all Americans do, and a large majority put off going to the bathroom because of it.The poll of 2,000 U.S.adults found 92% have had to hold off on going to the bathroom so they don’t miss out on something exciting or important, and 51% have “pee-xiety” — anxiety that strikes when people feel stuck in a situation that keeps them away from the bathroom for a long period of time.A quarter (24%) said they frequently hold off from going to the bathroom so they don’t miss out on what they see as an exciting or important event. Thirty-five percent said they’ve missed important life moments because they needed to rush off to the bathroom.

Some respondents recalled missing their child’s first steps, an epic concert finale and once-in-a-lifetime photo ops.And a third have missed out on major sports moments because they were in the bathroom, including a winning Big Game play, World Series grand slams, NBA Final 3-pointers and even their own kid’s pee wee game wins.Commissioned by Angel Soft Toilet Paper and conducted by Talker Research, the study found the worst times to need a bathroom break are while stuck in traffic (40%), during long car rides (34%), while waiting in line (34%), during intimate moments (28%) or in the middle of a movie (24%).One in five even said they feel FOMO when they need to use the bathroom during a can’t-miss moment. Nearly two in three (61%) will rush themselves to make sure they don’t miss important moments, and 47% admit they’ve been late to events because of the bathroom.Most (64%) said they tend to strategize the “best” times to go to the bathroom before important events.But if there was ever a way to predict the best times to go to the bathroom during live events, 66% said they’d be interested to see the prediction.And as for “pee-xiety”: the study predicts it’s likely to strike during the Big Game this year, as 76% of the population will pot...