Re: [london.food] Thirsty

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On Mon, Feb 16, 2004 at 09:48:05AM +0000, Roger Burton West wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 16, 2004 at 09:28:33AM +0000, Simon Wistow wrote:
> >Not really that related but, due to the wonders of free bottled water at 
> >work I'm going through at least one 1.5L bottle of Highland Spring a day 
> >(along with my normal 2 pints of water over the cours eof a night) yet 
> >I'm thirstier than ever. Hmm.
> 
> The thirst mechanism can be triggered by lack of salt. It's increasingly
> common these days as people try to eliminate salt from their diets;
> drinking pure water just makes this worse as ionic concentration gets
> forced down. Another common symptom of this problem is muscle cramps
> (salt is crucial for nerve conduction). Make sure you're getting enough
> sodium.

How much is "enough" sodium, btw?  I am pretty certain I'm getting
plenty (I have a tendency to oversalt my food slightly; though I'm
probably still doing better than a lot of people because of not eating
ready meals & so forth, which AIUI have lots of salt in), but I'm
curious.  

Thirstiness: might it be partly that you're noticing it more?  I found
that when I first started trying to drink the recommended 2l a day
(having never really drunk water much at all before; don't like the
stuff much), I found it difficult; but after a while I started noticing
that I was thirsty more often.  I doubt this was a salt problem (see
above).  

Then of course there was last summer when I was drinking 5l upwards a
day, but then there was a *reason* for that i.e. it being absolutely
sodding boiling.  


Juliet

• Roger Burton West 09:48 on 16 Feb 2004
  The thirst mechanism can be triggered by lack of salt. It's increasingly
  • Juliet Kemp 09:56 on 16 Feb 2004
    How much is "enough" sodium, btw? I am pretty certain I'm getting
    • Roger Burton West 10:12 on 16 Feb 2004
      Enough that you don't get cramps or feel excessively thirsty. I don't
      • too deep to show
  • Martin Frost 10:37 on 16 Feb 2004
    And it's also the case that if you do drink enough water then mild overconsumption of salt is not too serious. That's what your kidneys are there for after all, as long as you give them enough water that they can do their job properly.
• Martin Frost 10:34 on 16 Feb 2004
  Could be air conditioning or excessive heating in a new office. At my current company's old office I used to get through four or five litres per day every day, because the air conditioning made the air so dry that my mouth was permanently dry.

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