Are you a person that always has water with them and is always thirsty? Do you feel like you’re always running back to the bathroom?
Feeling thirsty is normal especially if it’s hot or after you did a workout.
But what if you’re constantly drinking water and yet you just can’t get enough there might be a deeper issue with your health and I want to kind of help you see what’s actually going on physiologically.
When our body gets out of balance our cells cannot properly be hydrated.
This means that all the water that we’re consuming is not really getting into our cells. It could be from a lot of different things but we’re going to look at thyroid imbalance, stress, and mineral imbalance.
Our adrenals glands regulate the availability of fuel in our body and the thyroid regulates the burning of that fuel.
That’s the kind of the relationship that exists between the two. The problem is that these things operate on a negative feedback loop. So when the adrenal glands secrete stress hormones it lowers our thyroid production.
When the adrenals are on go it can suppress the thyroid, so the cortisol that’s secreted from the adrenal glands actually slows down the conversion of that inactive thyroid hormone to active.
Basically, you’re not getting that active form of the thyroid that you need, and stress makes the thyroid receptors less sensitive to those thyroid hormones.
Thyroid hormone is protective against excess water retention which is part of the whole balancing system of Sodium and Magnesium loss.
But if it’s being suppressed it can’t do its job and thyroid hormone plays a part in this because it helps to regulate the water retention and loss. When we have a thyroid deficiency, being suppressed or underproducing, it impairs our cell’s ability to regulate water and salt.
When we are under stress, our body is producing cortisol and adrenaline and it’s relying on the adrenal glands to do so.
This process involves aldosterone which is the balancer when it secretes the aldosterone that’s the role it’s playing and too little or too much of this hormone can have a really big effect on our body. It is actually called a mineral corticoid which means it’s a corticosteroid that influences the balance between water and minerals or electrolytes. Aldosterone is involved in correcting and balancing extracellular and intracellular fluid (inside the cell or outside the cell). Electrolytes such as potassium and sodium are transported across these cell membranes along with water to keep the ratio of electrolytes to fluid balance on each side of the cell (inside the cell and outside) and aldosterone is required to keep this process functioning correctly thereby regulating fluid retention blood pressure and a lot of other functions in our body.
Fluids in the body are balanced through this self-regulating mechanism that stabilizes the blood volume and the electrolyte levels.
This process can be compromised when these stress hormones that regulate these processes become dysregulated. As we know that where sodium goes water follows… they’re always wanting to stick together! Aldosterone signals the kidneys to reabsorb sodium so that it doesn’t leave the body with urine.
When we’re under stress the adrenals are in overdrive to secrete more of these hormones such as cortisol ,aldosterone and adrenaline.
Due to the increased aldosterone levels, the extracellular blood volume increases and this is what makes blood pressure rise as well. It’s common for people to experience stress and have a higher than normal blood pressure. This is due in part to the high aldosterone levels.
When there’s not enough sodium in the diet is the more aldosterone that is synthesized, which we don’t really want because it can cause a lot of other imbalances. Aldosterone causes less sodium to be lost in the urine and sweat but it achieves it at the expense of increased loss of potassium, magnesium and sometimes calcium too.
When calcium leaves the bones and it goes into the tissues because aldosterone prompts it to do that
Increased calcium in the tissues creates a protective shell around the cell as it’s really a protective mechanism that your body is doing. However, this makes hydrating the cell (the intracellular part) of the cell more difficult.
When water is taken in orally and all of the above things are going on, it just dilutes the blood and doesn’t hydrate the cell.
The water doesn’t actually get in your cells and so that’s why you’re just excreting it out. And you still feel thirsty because your body saying your cells are thirsty but water is not actually getting into the cells.
Tips on how you can quench your thirst:
- Work on some of your stressors if we’re constantly having these stress hormones being secreted in our body this whole system is going to be at play.
- Add a pinch of salt to your water. Crucial four is my first pick for the most clean, mineral rich salt. Redmond real salt is my second! I also use Relyte from Redmond for an electrolyte support as well. Use code KCPHARMD to save from either site.
- Listen to your thirst cues and listen to your body
- Not drinking water so fast so your body can actually absorb it
- Work to balance your minerals
I address this issue and explain a few of the root issues that may be contributing to it in the video below!
Do you struggle to have the energy you need to do all God has called you to each day? Check out the free PDF resource I put together with 3 steps to support daily detox for better energy that actually gets to the root of the issue when it comes to fatigue!