Feeling thirsty every now and then is normal. We’ve all been there after a good workout or on a busy work day when hydration just slipped our minds. But if you’re regularly asking yourself ‘why am I so thirsty’, chances are your body is trying to tell you something important. But what exactly?
In this article, we explain all of the different reasons why you might be feeling thirsty. We’ll also tell you how best to quench your thirst.
Why am I so thirsty?
Excessive thirst is oftentimes the result of dehydration. Not hydrating properly during exercise and failing to boost your water intake during hot summer days are the most common explanations for that super-thirsty feeling. But eating spicy food or going overboard with coffee can lead to the same outcome: endless thirst you can’t wait to quench.
Here are the nine most common reasons why you’re always feeling thirsty:
1. Dehydration
If you’re asking yourself ‘why am I so thirsty?’, the answer is that you're probably dehydrated. Dehydration is when you don’t have enough fluid in your body to properly function. Around half of our bodies are made up of water and we need to maintain our natural water balance in order to stay healthy.
We lose more water than any other essential nutrient in our bodies. On average, we can lose about four and a half pints of water a day. So, if you’re thinking ‘why am I so thirsty all of a sudden?’, thirst is our body’s early alert that we are already dehydrated.
Losing just 1% of our body water will make you feel thirsty. This also means that your memory function, attention-span, concentration and reaction time could decrease by about 10%. These are just a few of the most common side effects of dehydration.
You can easily tell how dehydrated you are by checking the colour of your pee. Clear or pale-yellow pee means your water balance is okay, but anything darker suggests dehydration. The darker your pee, the more dehydrated you are.
Whenever you start wondering why you’re always thirsty, remember that we need to replace all the fluid we naturally lose throughout the day and night by regularly topping up with water. Otherwise, we can easily get dehydrated.
2. Exercise
When we exercise our muscles generate heat. To try to keep our temperature down, our bodies get rid of that heat by sweating. Sweating uses up lots of our bodies’ water.
3. Hot weather
The same principle applies in hot weather - even when we aren’t exercising. Feeling really thirsty in the summer is a sign we need to top up our water intake. Our bodies are constantly perspiring, even when we don’t notice it.
In hot weather we’ll be passively losing more fluid than normal because our body temperature will be higher than normal.
4. Salty food
Eating salty food can make you dehydrated because your body has to flush out all that excess sodium. Like water, our bodies have a natural sodium balance so when there’s too much of it, our bodies will react to get rid of it - usually by peeing.
5. Spicy food
If you feel extra thirsty after your meal, you should know that spicy ingredients might be to blame. Eating spicy foods can raise our body temperature. Our bodies will sweat that heat out and therefore we’ll lose more fluid than usual.
6. Diarrhoea and vomiting
We lose lots of our bodies’ water and salt when we experience diarrhoea and vomiting. Sometimes we lose more than we can take in, therefore we can become dehydrated very quickly. It’s important to ensure we drink lots of pure, healthy water when we’re ill.
7. Drinking too much caffeine
Caffeinated drinks may dehydrate us as they could have a diuretic effect on our bodies - meaning that they might make us pee more often. Not everyone experiences the same effects though, so this can vary from person to person.
8. Alcohol consumption
Alcohol is another well-known diuretic. It has the ability to eliminate fluids from our bodies at a much quicker rate than water. So, always make sure you drink plenty of water whenever you’re consuming alcohol. Otherwise, chances are you will start feeling more thirsty than usual.
9. An underlying health condition
Excessive thirst is when your thirst is stronger than normal and you still feel thirsty even after drinking water. This could be a symptom of an underlying condition, such as diabetes, so it’s important to get checked out by a doctor.
How can I stop feeling thirsty?
As our bodies are constantly losing water, it’s important to keep topping up.
Pure water is always best to drink
Sip water little and often throughout the day. Make sure to check out if you should drink warm or cold water.
Low-fat milk, low-sugar or sugar-free drinks are also good
Avoid any drinks that contain lots of added sugar, such as fizzy drinks and squashes.
Limit fruit juices and smoothies
These contain lots of free sugar so you should stick to just a small glass a day. Here are our top tips to beat those sugar cravings successfully.
Limit caffeine intake
Beware of drinking lots of tea or coffee as they could make you pee more and therefore, more dehydrated.
Is feeling thirsty dangerous?
Dehydration can have a bad effect on us. Just two hours of dehydration may lead to cognitive decline and physical impairment. Becoming more dehydrated may make it hard for you to focus or unable to navigate tricky tasks.
Your hand-eye coordination could also suffer and you’re likely to be feeling tired, lethargic or lightheaded. Dehydration could also give you a headache, make you feel irritable or even aggressive.
Drinking water may have an immediate effect on all of these symptoms. Keeping a glass or bottle of water to hand will help you to stop feeling thirsty in the first place and keep dehydration at bay.
We’ve looked at why you might be feeling thirsty and how you can easily prevent dehydration.
Having a water dispenser at home is a great way of helping to keep you and your household healthily hydrated with great-tasting filtered water. Take a look at our home water system to see how it could benefit you and your family.
Then take a deep dive into all the amazing reasons why increasing your water consumption is the best decision you can make and check out what a personal trainer says on the importance of hydration!
