[bitwize]

It could have from Dr. Benjamin Batmanghelidj, author of Your Body's Many Cries for Water in which he claims that chronic dehydration is the source of most disease (and thus water is the cure). The 8x8 was a minimum threshold for his water treatment protocol as I recall. According to Dr. Batmanghelidj, feeling thirsty was not reliable as an indicator of need for water, as dehydration was more likely to manifest as pain or hunger than a feeling of thirst. His methods have been called into question. however.

[bamboozled]

Potential controversial opinion but what could really be wrong with: “When you’re hungry eat, when you’re thirsty, drink”.

Sorry but they just seem like such automatic functions I don’t see how it needs to be complicated any further.

[devtul]

I' am pretty sure my meter is broke, I don't feel thirsty at all and have to consciously keep track of my "thirst".

To the point of not being able to sleep for a good part of 2018 due to severe pain, I couldn't lie down in any position or my body would ache terribly. It only got fixed after my wife asked me how much water I drink during the day, I had to think about it and my response was baffling even to me "ehr... one glass?". The sleep issues went away after a couple of days drinking more water.

[onemoresoop]

I seem to get dehydrated quite frequently as well. I simply forget to drink water and rarely do I get the thirsty feeling.

[neural_thing]

Is anything weird going on with your serotonin levels? Genetic mutations? Antidepressants?

[kalleboo]

> Potential controversial opinion but what could really be wrong with: “When you’re hungry eat, when you’re thirsty, drink”.

That's how I got really fat.

The pop science consensus has been that the human evolved for a world of food scarcity, and when confronted with an unlimited supply of food, that system breaks down. That seems pretty plausible to me, looking at global obesity rates.

[badestrand]

I am sure bamboozled meant it as a lower boundary.

In my opinion it works with food for almost all people and with fluids for many. I also drink more than enough just be drinking when I am thirsty. Some friends and also commenters here mention that their thirst doesn't work as well. So key is to know whether you can rely on your thirst.

[swsieber]

Oftentimes what you think is hunger is thirst.

Babies who have stomach trouble sometimes over-eat because they mistake stomach pain for hunger.

So instinct/reactions aren't failsafe. Especially when we've loaded our diet with addicting things.

[Terr_]

> Oftentimes what you think is hunger is thirst.

Anecdotally, often my thirst is disguised as looking for something to snack on that will cause me to salivate, like chocolate.

When I make a conscious decision to have a big glass of water or two, the craving goes away.

[credit_guy]

It's possible that until very recently we didn't have that much salt in our food, and so we didn't have time to evolve a proper response to that. And by "very recently" I mean a mere 200-300 years ago. Consider that in many cultures spilling salt is considered a bad omen, that most likely means salt was scarce not long ago.

[dmitriz]

But many people prefer routine and automation. Routine helps avoid wasting time and mental efforts by staying alerted to how exactly you feel at all times, not to mention the ease to misread your feeling.

I can only speak for myself, and find it really challenging to reliably evaluate my hungriness/thirstiness. If I can get hungry just by looking at food, or if I end up eating way too much because I've thought I was hungry (I wasn't!), then how on Earth can I possibly rely on such elusive indicators?

[blackSnake]

A good way I found to gain more sensitivity on whether i'm thirsty or hungry is to separate the two during meal times. When I have breakfast or lunch, I don't drink any water or juice, unless i'm having trouble getting it down my throat. I either do it half an hour before or after. I've been doing this for years now and now I can accurately feel when i'm truly thirsty or hungry. shrugs try it..

[dmitriz]

> unless i'm having trouble getting it down my throat.

If you have to get that far, are you certain to do the best job for your health?

[coldtea]

>Potential controversial opinion but what could really be wrong with: “When you’re hungry eat, when you’re thirsty, drink

People forget to hydrate all the time, and can ignore their thirsty signals, or even not feel thirsty...

[anbop]

Along those lines you could say “when you want something sweet eat something sweet” but that wouldn’t be good for your long term health.

[i80and]

"Hunger" is more a function of time than a function of need, for one thing.

[dmitriz]

It is a variadic function of unlimited number of variables. :)

[tracker1]

Water + electrolyte imbalance are pretty big together. Unfortunately, people have been told to reduce salt, drink more water... etc. combined with refined, heavily processed foods. Confounded by the fact that too little of one electrolyte has similar symptoms to too much of others.

Most people don't even understand how to listen to their own bodies anymore, and doctors are more concerned with prescriptions that treating underlying issues.

[dmitriz]

> Most people don't even understand how to listen to their own bodies anymore, and doctors are more concerned with prescriptions that treating underlying issues.

Well said! It is the sad truth that doctors can be coerced by private companies into personal monetary benefits from selling their products.

[closeparen]

The pop-sci wisdom is that what you get from the hypothalamus is a generalized primal desire. It may be triggered by thirst, but you experience it as a longing for food, sex, or sleep instead. Sometimes all of the above.

When you feel like this, you can recognize that thirst is also a likely explanation, and reach for water quickly and cheaply as a debugging step. At least rule it out before making tradeoffs to placate more expensive needs.