3 ms·

I just remember reading that adults start to lose their ability to sense thirst. Wikipedia says 50: In adults over the age of 50 years, the body's thirst sens

by m463 1y ago

I just remember reading that adults start to lose their ability to sense thirst. Wikipedia says 50: In adults over the age of 50 years, the body's thirst sensation reduces and continues diminishing with age, putting this population at increased risk of dehydration. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirst#Elderly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirst#Elderly

tasuki 1y ago
Tangential: I remember when I was a kid, adults always told me to drink more. Apparently I never drank enough, but I don't think it's ever caused me any problems. As an adult, I started drinking a lot of water - I drink easily 4 liters a day. Not even sure why. And now I always tell my kid to hydrate...
- benchly 1y ago
  I remember the same. As I approach 50, I do notice that I feel much more tired and mentally foggy when I fail to remember my daily water bottles. I've had to develop specific routines that help me remember to fill/drink my water bottle which goes pretty much everywhere with me. For being such a necessity, it sure is an oddly hard thing to remember to do. I think adults tell kid-me to drink more water was a way of trying to get me to just develop a habit with it, since they understood the seemingly paradoxical struggle of keeping hydrated at their age.
- TimorousBestie 1y ago
  > As an adult, I started drinking a lot of water - I drink easily 4 liters a day. Not even sure why. Excessive thirst and urination is a potential symptom of diabetes, might want to get that checked out.
dghughes 1y ago
I'm 56 now and I'd agree. I bike in the summer for exercise and I drink while on the go as needed. I always got a headache after exercising. A regular headache not a migraine (never had one). My discovery was Pedialyte it's meant for children but it's like the adult version or Gatorade. I drink it before I exercise and also drink as needed. I feel normal no headaches not dehydrated. edit: I also have hypothyroidism so my hypothalamus must also be crap at regulating my thirst maybe?
williamdclt 1y ago
It's a big problem for the elderlies, it snowballs into serious issues. Don't feel thirst -> be dehydrated -> UTI -> hospital. And having to be stay at a hospital for a length of time for any reason is very much Not Good for an elderly person. Other illnesses, muscle atrophy, disorientation, loneliness, cognitive decline...
- johnisgood 1y ago
  You are correct. Hospital -> Social home, then what you have said ... and then death. As someone who has a relative working in a hospital and another in a social home (for the elderly, but these days we get 50 years olds with dementia which is crazy), they experience it. It is not necessarily about dehydration, but that plays a huge role, too. Sometimes a simple yet unfortunate fall is enough.
walthamstow 1y ago
If my mum wasn't English she would have shrivelled and died of dehydration many years ago. There's a lot of water in 15 daily cups of tea.
IAmBroom 1y ago
Purely anecdotally, but I'm over 60, and have recently realized that I'm not as sensitive to dehydration feedback as I used to be. It's enough of a problem that I catalogued it as something to consider in my daily life.

by m463 1y ago

tasuki 1y ago

Tangential: I remember when I was a kid, adults always told me to drink more. Apparently I never drank enough, but I don't think it's ever caused me any problems. As an adult, I started drinking a lot of water - I drink easily 4 liters a day. Not even sure why. And now I always tell my kid to hydrate...

benchly 1y ago
I remember the same. As I approach 50, I do notice that I feel much more tired and mentally foggy when I fail to remember my daily water bottles. I've had to develop specific routines that help me remember to fill/drink my water bottle which goes pretty much everywhere with me. For being such a necessity, it sure is an oddly hard thing to remember to do. I think adults tell kid-me to drink more water was a way of trying to get me to just develop a habit with it, since they understood the seemingly paradoxical struggle of keeping hydrated at their age.
TimorousBestie 1y ago
> As an adult, I started drinking a lot of water - I drink easily 4 liters a day. Not even sure why. Excessive thirst and urination is a potential symptom of diabetes, might want to get that checked out.

dghughes 1y ago

I'm 56 now and I'd agree. I bike in the summer for exercise and I drink while on the go as needed. I always got a headache after exercising. A regular headache not a migraine (never had one). My discovery was Pedialyte it's meant for children but it's like the adult version or Gatorade. I drink it before I exercise and also drink as needed. I feel normal no headaches not dehydrated. edit: I also have hypothyroidism so my hypothalamus must also be crap at regulating my thirst maybe?

williamdclt 1y ago

It's a big problem for the elderlies, it snowballs into serious issues. Don't feel thirst -> be dehydrated -> UTI -> hospital. And having to be stay at a hospital for a length of time for any reason is very much Not Good for an elderly person. Other illnesses, muscle atrophy, disorientation, loneliness, cognitive decline...

johnisgood 1y ago
You are correct. Hospital -> Social home, then what you have said ... and then death. As someone who has a relative working in a hospital and another in a social home (for the elderly, but these days we get 50 years olds with dementia which is crazy), they experience it. It is not necessarily about dehydration, but that plays a huge role, too. Sometimes a simple yet unfortunate fall is enough.

walthamstow 1y ago

If my mum wasn't English she would have shrivelled and died of dehydration many years ago. There's a lot of water in 15 daily cups of tea.

IAmBroom 1y ago

Purely anecdotally, but I'm over 60, and have recently realized that I'm not as sensitive to dehydration feedback as I used to be. It's enough of a problem that I catalogued it as something to consider in my daily life.