Why doesn't cold water quench your thirst in summer?

Krishna: There are several reasons to feel thirsty.

Image source: Research gate

Thirst is your body’s way of telling you that it’s running low on water, which it needs to work well. It’s normal to feel thirsty when it’s hot or after you’ve powered through an intense workout.

But if you’re constantly refilling your cup without relief, it could signal another health problem.

Dehydration means your body doesn’t have enough water to carry out normal tasks, and thirst is the main symptom. It can happen for a lot of reasons, such as exercise, diarrhea, vomiting, and too much sweating.

Besides wanting water, other signs can include:

1. Dark-colored urine, not needing to pee as often, feeling tired or lightheaded, headache

2. The other reasons could be diabetes (thirst you can’t seem to quench, what doctors call polydypsia, is one symptom of diabetes. When you have this disease, your body doesn’t make enough of the hormone insulin or doesn’t use it properly. It causes too much sugar (called glucose) to build up in your body. Glucose in your urine draws in more water, so you pee more often. That leaves your body wanting to replace the fluid you’re losing . So you feel very thirsty).

3. Dry mouth, 4 Anemia, 5. Hypercalcemia (means the calcium levels in your blood are above normal. Causes include overactive parathyroid glands (hyperparathyroidism), another illness (TB, sarcoidosis), and even cancer. Besides thirst, symptoms of hypercalcemia may include: more frequent urination, stomach upset, nausea and vomiting, bone pain and muscle weakness, confusion and fatigue and hear issues like arrythymia.

Causes of excessive thirst could be: dehydration, diabetes, diabetic ketoacidosis, pregnancy, certain medicines(Lithium is a medication that is widely known to possibly result in excessive urine output and therefore increased thirst), and Psychogenic polydipsia, also known as primary polydipsia, - it is a form of polydipsia characterized by excessive fluid intake without any physiological stimuli to drink.

Another reason could be drinking reverse osmosis water: drinking water from a RO purifier does not quench your thirst.This is because of imbalance in electrolytes can be a reason you are still feeling thirsty after drinking water.

You lose some salt through sweat in summer. If sodium and potassium are not replaced, electrolyte imbalance occurs. If you drink more water, the blood becomes more dilute.

Athletes occasionally may drink too much water in an attempt to prevent dehydration during long or intense exercise. When you drink too much water, your kidneys can't get rid of the excess water. The sodium content of your blood becomes diluted. This is called hyponatremia.

If you have any of these conditions, you won’t get relief from thirst even if you drink water.

Then coming to your question, why don’t you feel satisfied if you drink cold water?

What satisfies thirst over the long term is for water to be absorbed from the intestines and dilute the blood, until the blood-monitoring osmoreceptor neurons of the brain sense that the blood concentration (osmolarity) is within proper range. A cold drink stimulates the cold receptors (nerve endings) of the oral mucosa and activates the temporary satiety mechanism more quickly than warm water. So you drink less water than is needed and therefore you don’t feel satisfied if you drink cold water.