Are you constantly thirsty even after drinking the recommended “8 glasses” of water a day?
Considering your body is 60 percent water,
it can be quite disturbing to know that even after all this, you’re thirsty.
But hydration is not as simple as refilling your bottle. It's possible to still be dehydrated even
after drinking a lot of water. This may be discouraging for avid water drinkers,
but if you can pinpoint the source of the problem, you can become hydrated again. While it is nothing
serious in most cases, excessive thirst could indicate an underlying health problem. And
in today’s video we will tell you why you’re always thirsty. From diabetes, anemia, exercise,
chronic stress to pregnancy and more, watch till the end to learn about all of them.
Dehydration: The first major reason for feeling thirsty is your body may
be getting dehydrated. It does not mean that 60% of water dried up in your body,
it just means that your body needs more water after the amounts are used for body functions.
A case of severe dehydration can be life threatening. The most
vulnerable to dehydration are infants and young children. Dehydration can be caused by illness,
profuse sweating, too much urine output, vomiting, and diarrhea.
You have diabetes: One of the earliest and most common signs of diabetes is feeling
like you need to drink constantly but can't keep up with your thirst. This is because
people with diabetes typically have high levels of glucose in their blood. Usually,
the kidneys would just flush out any excess of chemical protein byproducts in the blood.
But when the sugar goes up too high, at a point, the kidney can't keep up with that.
Sugar also pulls water from the tissues,
so the person becomes very dehydrated and that triggers excessive thirst throughout the day.
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Your Diet Has Too Much Salt In It: Salt pulls water out of cells and forces the body to
conserve as much water as possible. This is why you urinate less when you eat too much salt. The
water deprived cells send a chemical message to the brain asking for more water, and you start
to feel excessive thirst. Cut down on your salt intake and make sure you’re drinking enough water.
You Went For A Morning Run: You’re going to need to drink more on days when you sweat more.
When you exercise, you lose fluids through sweat, and if you don’t replace that fluid,
you could end up with excessive thirst. There isn’t one formula as to how much
you should be drinking, but listen to your body for its water needs.
You're Missing Electrolytes: You may be drinking enough water but
still have feelings of dehydration if you have an electrolyte imbalance. Electrolytes like sodium,
chloride, magnesium, and potassium are necessary to deliver fluids to your cells.
Drinking water, especially in excess, can flush out electrolytes and fiber.
Similarly, excessive sweating from strenuous exercise results in a loss of electrolytes.
Focus on drinks with a lot of electrolytes, like coconut water,
and eating fruits and vegetables with a lot of fiber to combat these losses.
You're Drinking Dehydrating Fluids: Even if you're drinking lots of water, drinking the wrong drinks
can cancel it out: coffee and soda are particular culprits. While a small amount of coffee won't
dehydrate you, caffeine operates as a diuretic, meaning that it can cause you to lose liquid more
quickly. A study on rats found that rehydrating with soft drinks can actually make dehydration
worse. Stick to electrolyte rich drinks and plain water if you're feeling very dry mouthed.
Diabetes Insipidus: Although diabetes insipidus isn’t related to the diabetes we know and loathe,
it does share some of the same signs and symptoms, such as dehydration and a busy bladder. Diabetes
insipidus is characterized by a hormone imbalance in your body that affects water absorption.
Because you end up losing vast amounts of water through your urine and have no say in the matter,
thirst strikes as your body tries to compensate for the fluid loss.
Dry Mouth: Dry mouth is often mistaken for excessive thirst. It’s an abnormal dryness
of the mucous membranes in your mouth, due to a reduction of the flow or change in the
composition of saliva. If your glands aren’t making enough saliva, that can
lead to other pesky symptoms like bad breath, trouble chewing, and thick, stringy saliva.
Dry mouth can be a side effect of prescription medications,
allergy medicines and dizziness or motion sickness medications.
Anemia: Anemia is a health condition in which the red blood cells in your body do not carry
enough oxygen to the body’s tissues. Being anemic can make you feel lethargic and weak. Although
mild anemia does not cause more thirst. It is common for patients with severe conditions
to feel thirstier than usual. The thirst may also be accompanied by dizziness and sweat.
Chronic stress: Chronic stress causes adrenal glands to under-perform, which
may result in low blood pressure when the stress is severe. This can cause dizziness, depression,
anxiety, and also extreme thirst. Thirst is your body’s way of adding more water to
your blood in an attempt to raise your blood pressure. The only long-term solution for this
is to decrease and better manage your stress levels.
Pregnancy: There are several signs of pregnancy to watch for, including excessive thirst. Your blood
volume increases during your first trimester, which forces your kidneys to create excess fluid
that winds up in your bladder, meaning your trips to the bathroom may become more frequent. What’s
more, the nausea and morning sickness that comes with pregnancy can lead to a dip in hydration.
You're getting older: As you age, your thirst mechanism and thirst responses are not as strong.
That simply means that older people tend to drink less, and it's super common for those
in their later years to become dehydrated much faster than someone in their twenties..
Medications: Certain medications your doctor prescribes may cause certain side-effects,
including thirst. Lithium is a medication that is widely known
to possibly result in excessive urine output and therefore increased thirst.
A number of other medications can cause dry mouth and, therefore, trigger thirst.
Periods: If you feel the urge to glug down water during your period,
it’s totally normal. Estrogen and progesterone levels can both
affect fluid volume. Add to that blood loss from the cycle itself,
especially if your periods are on the heavy side. And the result is an increase in thirst.
You’ve been out in the sun for too long: When summer finally arrives,
you spend more time in the great outdoors, whether it’s in a park, on a beach, or in your backyard.
Even if you’re not running around, you can still become dehydrated, especially in the hot sunlight.
If you know you’re going to be outside all day, make sure you have a water bottle handy.
You have an autoimmune disease: Sjogren’s syndrome is an autoimmune disease that
affects the mucous membranes. The main symptoms are dry eyes and dry mouth,
which can leave you feeling thirsty. If you’re constantly drinking to combat dry mouth,
and you’re not taking any medications that may be causing it, Sjogren’s is a possibility.
Diuretic foods: Foods that have a diuretic effect can make you
thirsty because they cause you to urinate more. This includes foods like celery,
asparagus, beetroot, lemons, melons, ginger, and parsley.
Although these foods have a lot of health benefits, consider the effect yet another
reason to incorporate a wide variety of fruits and veggies into your diet: You’ll cover your
nutritional bases and keep your thirst in check. You can also balance the scales by eating more
fluid-rich foods, like porridge and brown rice, which soak up water during the cooking process.
Low-carb diets: Feeling thirsty is a common side effect of the keto diet,
since the eating plan requires you to significantly slash your carbohydrate
intake. Carbs absorb and hold onto more water than protein and fat. As a result,
you’ll have to pee more often, causing your thirst levels to spike.
Low Blood Pressure: Chronic stress causes your adrenal glands to underfunction, which
may result in low blood pressure when the stress is severe. This can cause dizziness, depression,
anxiety, and also extreme thirst. Thirst is your body’s way of adding more water to your blood,
in an attempt to raise your blood pressure. This means it’s time to better manage your stress.
Are you constantly thirsty? Is it because of not drinking enough water
or is there another reason for it? Let us know in the comments section below!