# Nearing a toilet and the urge to poop. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearing-a-toilet-and-the-urge-to-poop/778485 "2017-01-29T04:52:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearing-a-toilet-and-the-urge-to-poop/778485/1 "2017-01-29T04:52:07Z")
Let’s say that you’re in a public park full of kids and soccer moms. You’ve been reading and then stand up, this makes you realize that you need to poop. No problem, the bathroom is at the other end of field, 100 meters away. You traipse over, pressure building all the way. You get to the bathroom and yank open the door, there’s a urinal and a stall. There’s a pair of feet and dropped trousers showing under the stall. Suddenly it’s: OH FUCK, 15,000 DAYS WITHOUT AN ACCIDENT AND NOW THIS. Why is that? It can’t be evolutionary; there are modern countries that have 'Don’t Shit in Public campaigns running right now. So. what’s the Dope? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearing-a-toilet-and-the-urge-to-poop/778485/2 "2017-01-29T04:57:20Z")
This happens to me when I have to pee. I know this is GQ but what I think is that you are subconsciously relaxing the sphincter/bladder muscles. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearing-a-toilet-and-the-urge-to-poop/778485/3 "2017-01-29T05:30:25Z")
I know this feeling all too well. I will be sitting down, and have the urge. The bathroom is 10 feet away. I’ve had a lot of close calls. I always attributed to the Tamsulosin I take. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearing-a-toilet-and-the-urge-to-poop/778485/4 "2017-01-29T05:32:12Z")
Not to get too TMI but you must suffer the worst just as you lift yourself . My most vulnerable is between sitting and a squatty potty. @Ambilavid, Hope I spelled this right. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearing-a-toilet-and-the-urge-to-poop/778485/5 "2017-01-29T05:46:02Z")
I’ve been experiencing this for decades (with both pee and poop), like my sphincters are timers, and know exactly how far away the nearest toilet is. It’s worse with “urge incontinence”. And **chacoguy** : no, you didn’t spell it right. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearing-a-toilet-and-the-urge-to-poop/778485/6 "2017-01-29T07:09:23Z")
Is this the same thing? Driving home, half hour away, and bowels start to rumble. Need to stop? No, it’ll keep. 15 minutes away and it’s more urgent, but I’ll make it. Dammit, slight traffic jam, but still fine. Hit the end of my street and it’s panic time. Pull up in the driveway and it’s a desperate duckwalk race against time which always (so far, thankfully) ends with a just-in-time buttocks on the seat. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearing-a-toilet-and-the-urge-to-poop/778485/7 "2017-01-29T10:29:02Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Let’s say that you’re in a public park full of kids and soccer moms. You’ve been reading and then stand up, this makes you realize that you need to poop. No problem, the bathroom is at the other end of field, 100 meters away. You traipse over, pressure building all the way. You get to the bathroom and yank open the door, there’s a urinal and a stall. There’s a pair of feet and dropped trousers showing under the stall. > > Suddenly it’s: OH FUCK, 15,000 DAYS WITHOUT AN ACCIDENT AND NOW THIS. > > Why is that? It can’t be evolutionary; there are modern countries that have 'Don’t Shit in Public campaigns running right now. > > So. what’s the Dope? This is relatively lose conjecture, but here’s a quick analysis. 1. We haven’t had dedicated bathrooms for long enough to matter evolutionary. 2. So this has probably more to do with anxiety and worry. 3. So it’s likely to be the same thing/related to soiling yourself with terror. 4. We don’t really know why that happens, but as with anything in evolution, it might be a side effect of something different and beneficial. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearing-a-toilet-and-the-urge-to-poop/778485/8 "2017-01-30T01:17:01Z")
Obligatory link [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=166577&highlight=my+bladder+knows](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=166577&highlight=my+bladder+knows) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearing-a-toilet-and-the-urge-to-poop/778485/9 "2017-01-30T11:36:01Z")
IIRC, it’s because there’s two sets of muscles involved with bladder & bowel control; one set consciously controlled, the other set reflexively controlled. The latter being why you can fall asleep without fouling yourself once you’re toilet trained. When you need to go bad and get near the toilet, the reflexive muscles let go as you’ve trained them to do; that leaves your consciously controlled muscles suddenly doing all the work of holding things in by themselves. So if you _can’t_ go that moment, it’s suddenly a lot more uncomfortable and urgent. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearing-a-toilet-and-the-urge-to-poop/778485/10 "2017-01-31T03:10:47Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > When you need to go bad and get near the toilet, the reflexive muscles let go as you’ve trained them to do; I would understand this if emptying myself was a complicated task involving a checklist of several items requiring a certain amount of time. (I’m not being snarky; some processes like giving birth or having an orgasm work like that.) But there’s no prep time required for peeing and not much for pooping. Exactly what have those “reflexive muscles” been trained to do when I am still 5 minutes from the toilet?