ExRx.net

I know most people talk about electrolytes when they are talking pouring sweat out and whatnot but does your body sometimes loose electrolytes even when not profusely sweating? I ask because sometimes I get so thirsty and no matter how much water I drink it doesn't seem to quench my thirst, but then when I down a cup of fruit juice or gatorade I feel tons more quenched. And I mean this not on a day where I sweated a lot but I might have gone on a long walk for instance or a bike ride or something no exercise at all.

We lose some in the urine, but not much. The levels are usually pretty well-regulated by the body. When you are relatively short on one, the kidney limits how much is excreted, when you have more, the kidneys get rid of some. Generally, if you don't have diarrhea or vomiting (both of which can lead to major electrolyte losses) you don't have to think about it.

I don't have a good explanation for what you experience with thirst being quenched by electrolyte solutions and not by water.

I've been tested for diabetes many times throughout my life and haven't tested positive, cause that's the first thing people think of when I tell them I am always thirsty at times. I think it might have something to do with a lot of caffeine intake...cause on days when I don't get as much sleep it seems to be worse (and I drink more/stronger coffee in the morn on those days). Have you ever heard of caffeine having an effect like this? Too much caffeine causing water alone to not quench thirst...?

I haven't heard of that. We know that caffeine has a mild diuretic effect, and some people claim that coffee is dehydrating, but it probably usually puts more water into the body than it takes out.

Sorry I don't have a good answer for you. You know that thirst is a complex sensation, involving more than just your hydration level. Maybe the electrolyte drinks have a subtle psychological effect on you that leaves you feeling more satisfied. You can roughly assess your level of hydration by urine output and color.

Haha thanks for attempting. The last time after a doc tested me for diabetes and it came up negative, he was like well you don't have diabetes so see ya later. I was like but wait the problem is still not solved and he just shrugged his shoulders...everyone's baffled by this prob.

lol you will forever be thirsty.

Or, try adding mineral electrolytes to your water, such as sea salt.

Sometimes I think my Blog Reader follows me around the net and tells the people writing the blogs what i've been reading.

http://optimumsportsperformance.com/blog/?p=1182

The above is a very indepth and complicated look at hydration. Good Luck!

I read through this, deffinitly never understood all of it but, reading it made me very thirsty. No joke! Like when I see people do weighted twisting crunches I sometimes get back pain.

Admittedly not knowing all that much about it, I generally think that if you don't know how much water you drink per day, then you're not drinking enough. Do you know how much water you typically drink per day?

After reading an article similar to the above, I realised I wasn't drinking enough water. Was about 3 years ago. So, I would keep 1.5 litre bottled (still do), fill it, and gulp away at it all day, making sure I finish it atleast twice each day. When training I make sure it's full and I'm close to finishing it most sessions - sometimes need to fill it again during the session. This had a great effect on my workouts. I couldn't believe it, to be honest. So, on a non training day, I drink atleast 3 litres of water (i'm not counting tea or coffee or whatever else). On a training day, again not counting other things with water in them, I'll get atleast 4.5 litres. btw when I started doing this i had to pee like crazy but, that settled down with time and is still something I don't understand.

When I first started doing this I felt like I was drinking LOADS of water. After years, I realise I could easily drink a lot more. Not sure how much is too much though, or how little is too little. As per the above post, it seems to be individual. I've seen general goverment based recommendations of 1.5 litres per day but, the goverment has a great habbit of underestimating GOOD things (see RDA for various vitamins, minerals, fishoil,etc) and overestimating crap things (see food pyramid).

That's all I've got on the matter...

KPj

As long as the water has some reasonable mineral content, I don't think it's possible to drink too much. I think I average 4-4.5 liters a day including with meals, and I only do an extra .5 liters or so on training days (not counting the extra 1.5 L or so from 2 pre/post protein shakes.)

woah. You guys drink a hell of a lot more water than i do. I reckon maybe i should start drinking more

Yeah, I hardly drink any water too, except when lifting.

Don't they say to have atleast 8 glasses of water, assuming 1 glass is around 1-2 cups?

I think the recommendation is 8 8 ounce glasses a day, but that seems like a gross underestimate to me.

I typically down more than that within the first hour or so awake.

Well I haven't posted here in awhile but thanx for all the advice. But I went ahead and tried my own thought and it seems to be working- adding watery fruits and vegetables. I just thought I would share this with those on the board that might be downing a lot of gatorade or juice as I was- and if anyone has any suggestions on watery veggies other than cucumbers and celery (fruits are obvious which ones are watery for you in my humble opinion).

The 8 glasses thing is just made-up, and has nothing to do with physiology. Drink when you're thirsty.

You can definitely drink too much! We see it medically, not rarely. And one doesn't get significant mineral intake from water. Most minerals are from food.

Our bodies have wonderful, sensitive control mechanisms for water and minerals. Usually, if we make sure we have enough water, the body gets rid of the excess and keeps things in balance. If we are a little on the short side, our bodies conserve water, only making a minimum of urine, and making it concentrated. The body can also dispose of excess minerals, or conserve if there is a shortage, but there is some mandatory mineral loss with urine, so if you drink too much you can deplete minerals, and we occasionally see patients who are losing consciousness or having neurological symptoms due to water toxicity.

So just drink when you are thirsty, but don't push it much beyond that.

Having said that, many of us do get accustomed to being a bit on the dry side, and we don't pay attention to our thirst. We get used to being a bit dry. When this happens, you should notice that your urine is dark yellow. So I think that most of us could benefit from drinking more, but rules about 8 glasses per day, or whatever are totally unnecessary.