How quickly does water you drink enter your bloodstream?

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For instance does it enter your bloodstream the moment it washes over your tongue/cheeks? Or is it only once it reaches the stomach?
Also, how quickly does it reach your brain (in the instance of a dehydration-induced migraine)?

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4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

You start absorbing water as soon as it hits your mouth. Water gets absorbed through membranous tissue, it’s the same tissue that lets nicotine users chew tobacco, as the nicotine follows the water into your bloodstream from the mucosal membranes of your inner lips.

Water is also absorbed in the stomach and small intestines, but most of it is absorbed in the large intestine. The main reason for this is surface area. If you think of it another way, imagine you lay out 3 trays out in the sun on a hot day, and you want to see which one can evaporate the most water overall. One is the size of a cupcake, another the size of a cookie sheet, and another the size of a blanket. You could evaporate a lot more water in the largest cookie sheet, because there is more surface for the water to be.

That example sounded better in my head before I wrote it, but I’m too lazy to think of a better one. Hope this helps!

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