Hunger is a relatively straightforward bodily mechanism, with this sensation being dictated by the amount of food filling your stomach. As you digest the food you’ve already eaten, your tummy will slowly empty and ready itself for further consumption, and this will be reflected by the way you feel. Thirst is too essential for your body to rely on real time measurements, though. Instead, your body has to predict how long it will take for you to need more water, using the array of sensory organs inside you to figure it out.
The ability to predict future thirst is quite remarkable. Your body has to use the nutrient levels in your blood, the water in your stomach, and your surroundings to determine whether or not you will need a drink in the future. This is why bacon and other salty foods will make you feel thirsty; they trick your body into thinking it’s dehydrated, making it think it will need water sooner than it really does.
Always thirsty? Avoid Salt & Spice
Most people are aware that salty and spicy foods can make them feel thirsty, but won’t understand why. The part of your brain in charge of controlling thirst is known as the hypothalamus. When the hypothalamus records high levels of sodium in your blood, it will begin to make you feel thirsty, even if you don’t need to drink. Your kidneys struggle to filter salt properly when they don’t have enough water for the job, making dehydration a common cause of high sodium levels, often tricking the brain into thinking salty food has made you thirsty.
A more detailed explanation for this can be found on HowStuffWorks, giving you the chance to learn more about your body’s relationship with thirst and salt.
Always Thirsty? Chew Gum
Before entering desert environments, adventurers will be taught to keep their mouth closed when they breathe. Your mouth is one of the wettest parts of your body, and the fluid inside can easily evaporate, leaving you dehydrated if you don’t drink to make up for it. To combat this, explorers will often keep a mouthful of water when they are in arid areas, keeping their mouth moist. While gum may not have other health benefits, it can provide relief from a dry mouth, causing some people to feel less thirsty.
This article from Bupa explains the benefits of chewing gum when you have a dry mouth. You might not be in the sahara, but dehydration is still a real threat.
Always Thirsty? Eat Fruit & Vegetables
Being used to the bold and often overwhelming flavors found in modern drinks, a lot of people struggle to be satisfied with water. Its neutral taste and lack of carbonation is enough to make it very boring. Instead, fizzy drinks and other beverages are consumed, but these beverages won’t hydrate you as well as water. Fruit and vegetables contain a tremendous amount of water, with some examples being almost entirely made from it, making them an excellent candidate when you’re looking to reduce your thirst.
This post from the Healthline can be very helpful when you’re trying to choose fruits and vegetables which will provide the most hydration.
Always Thirsty? Proper Nutrition
The food you eat has a noticeable impact on a wide range of your bodily functions, from energy storage to the quality of your hair, though not a lot of people realize that nutrition can impact your ability to manage water correctly. Digesting the food you eat will use up a lot of water on its own, and this is before you consider the other parts of your body which will rely on both nutrition and water to perform their own tasks. Eating properly is an excellent way to maximize your fluid efficiency.
Always Thirsty? Medical Treatment
When something is designed to improve your body and make you feel better, the idea of it causing problems will make most people confused. Unfortunately, though, most medical treatments will come with some side-effects, whether they are noticeable or not. Dehydration and dry mouths are often brought upon by the other medicines you have to take, with treatments for issues like depression and pain being common causes. You can solve this by talking to your doctor and drinking a little more water, and there may even be an alternative medicine which can be used to improve the situation.
It’s easy to overlook the medical treatments you’re taking, but this WebMD article can give you a clear insight into which tablets and injections are best avoided.
Always Thirsty? Medical Conditions
Along with medical treatments causing thirst, there are plenty of conditions out there which can have a similar impact on your body. Diabetes, thyroid issues, and diarrhea can all have this impact on your body, with thirst being used as a tell-tale sign of them when you visit a doctor. Solving this will usually take a balance, with medication helping with your condition, and regular water intake ensuring that you’re not being left feeling thirsty all the time.
Charities like Diabetes UK have invested huge amounts of time and effort into researching the symptoms of a condition like this, making their resources useful to anyone suffering.
Always Thirsty? Add Supplements
You may have heard about energy drinks on the market which make promises that they can hydrate you better than regular water. Of course, in reality, statements like this are usually false, as the supplements which they have added are merely used to help your body to use the water more effectively. Electrolyte mixes, like Hydrant, can be added to the water you drink to achieve a similar result. This can help to keep you from getting thirsty as often while drinking the same amount of water as you used to.
Always Thirsty? Treat Injuries
Not a lot of people realize that something like sunburn can cause them to feel more thirsty. Injuries like this, and typical burns, will cause your body temperature to go up, forcing you to produce more sweat in the process. This will dehydrate you very quickly, leading to symptoms like a dry mouth. It’s always worth having extreme burns treated immediately, or you could risk falling to other health conditions, and may even have to deal with the burn becoming infected.
The Burn Injury Resource Center has done a lot of work exploring the issues which come with serious burns, and dehydration is something they focus on.
Always Thirsty? Exercise Smart
Your body relies on sweat to cool itself down. As the fluid on the surface of your skin evaporates, it will lower the temperature of your skin, using physics to provide natural relief from the heat. It doesn’t just take a hot day to kickstart this process, though, with heavy exercise being an easy way to work up a good sweat. When you’re putting your body through this sort of work, it will be crucial that you are thinking about what you drink. Products like Hydrant can help you to avoid carrying too much water with you, but you will still need to keep yourself topped up, and this will mean taking regular sips.
Always Thirsty? Drink More Water
While it may seem obvious to some, the idea of only drinking more water when you feel thirsty is an option which far too many people ignore. It’s not always easy to force yourself to drink enough, with the taste of water being very bland, but this is something which can be improved without impacting the health benefits you receive. Hydrant adds some flavour to your water, while also improving its effectiveness, making it an excellent option for those who struggle to swallow the plain stuff.
Good Calculators have an excellent calculator which can tell you how much you should be drinking each day, based on the exercise you’re doing.
Water is one of the few things your body desperately needs every day. You can live for a long time without food, sleep, and sunlight, but you will quickly become very unhealthy if you deprive yourself of water. Unfortunately, products like carbonated drinks and fruit juices aren’t a replacement for water. They will often contain acids and other chemicals which will trick your body into thinking that it is hydrated, taking away your thirst, but leaving you without the precious water you need.
If you need more help with this part of your life, there are several different types of expert you can talk to. Doctors can help with the medical side of things, ensuring that there is nothing which can be done to improve your thirst. Along with this, though, you could also talk to a personal trainer or nutritionist, as this can help you to make sure that it isn’t another aspect of your life which is impacting your hydration. It’s always worth drinking when you feel thirsty, with the damage which can be caused by over drinking being incredibly hard to trigger.
