I've faced this issue when listening to podcast and having to pee(I don't take my phone to the restroom).

There have been bulky headphones with built-in audio player for a long time and there are newer sports headphones  like these - https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Conduction-Headphones-Earphones-Spa%EF%BC%8CBlack/dp/B0865PFFW4?ref_=ast_sto_dp . They could solve the music problem, But for something like podcasts which are updated every day I don't think headphones with memory could address it unless it has built-in mechanism to download/sync podcasts as well.

As you've pointed out, Range of Bluetooth comes at the price of power but there are range extenders like these - https://www.architecturelab.net/best-bluetooth-range-extender/ which could address that issue. I haven't tried them, When I last explored that space it seemed like they were  catering to the enterprise problems like legacy IoT in large factories. But the ones mentioned in the link seems promising for a home use as well.