If quenching your thirst seems to be a frequent exercise during the day, take a break and pay some attention to what your body is trying to say. Your body gives you enough signals to understand the why you feel thirsty all the time. Feeling thirsty after a workout or when you’re sweating due to the heat is normal. But if you constantly feel thirsty, then the dehydration is probably a result of one of these:
1. Diet
What Happens: There are certain foods such as lemons, melons, ginger, etc that cause your body to urinate more often resulting in excessive thirst. These foods are observed to have a diuretic effect on the body. Also, increased intake of salt can result in your body to put extra efforts to maintain the sodium-water balance by increasing the need for water, thus leaving you frequently thirsty.
What To Do: You must ensure to include a wide variety of foods in your diet to keep the water level in your body balanced. Oats and brown rice are good inclusion as they absorb well and hence provide a lot of water.
2. Dry Mouth
What Happens: A very common case of excessive thirst is due to dry mouth. Your body may not necessarily be dehydrated but the dryness in your mouth gives you a similar feeling. This may occur due to several reasons such as ageing, medicinal side effects, hormonal changes or dehydration.
What To Do: Make sure you keep yourself hydrated, if you are taking medications then ensure you take extra fluids to avoid the side effect. Avoid foods that could increase the dryness like caffeine.
3. Anemia
What Happens: Anemia is a condition wherein the count of healthy red blood cells in your blood is low. When you experience heavy blood loss, for example, due to an injury or your periods, the body loses more RBCs that it can produce and triggers excessive thirst due to the fluid loss.
What To Do: A visit to the doctor which will include a physical examination, a blood test and after correct diagnosis, appropriate treatment for the type of anemia you’re suffering from.
4. Low Blood Pressure
What Happens: Low blood pressure as a result of chronic stress causes several problems in your body and can be a reason why you feel thirsty all the time. You may experience anxiety, depression, etc. and results in constant thirst too. This is a natural body trigger to increase the blood pressure by increasing the water level in your blood.
What To Do: This requires a long term commitment to consciously reducing stress in your lives and ensuring your blood pressure levels are on track.
5. Diabetes
What Happens: A basic function of your body is to break down the sugars in the food you consume and store it correctly. But when you suffer from diabetes your body finds it hard to perform this function effectively. As a result, your body naturally feels the urge to urinate frequently to get rid of the excess glucose. This often results in excessive thirst.
What To Do: If your water consumption level in a day is good and you still experience frequent thirst and constant need to visit the loo, you must get your blood glucose level checked as it may be a sign of diabetes.
6. Periods
What Happens: Apart from the terrible cramps and fatigue, your body also experiences estrogen and progesterone level fluctuations that can often result in thirst. Your body during the course loses a fair amount of water too along with the blood which may also leave you feeling extremely thirsty.
What To Do: Keep your bottle of water close to you at this time of the month. Constant hydration must be another thing you must keep track of during your periods.