: Why is it that it takes few seconds for our body to decide that it’s had enough water not to be thirsty, but several minutes to recognize that no more food is needed cuz it’s not hungry?
In: Biology
Sensory neurons in the mouth and throat immediately detect water entering your body. They tell certain regions in the brain responsible for blood plasma concentration to slow their roll on telling you you’re thirsty.
It takes about 30 to 60 minutes for water to start being absorbed and distributed throughout your system. At this point, your blood volume goes up, blood pressure goes up, plasma osmolarity goes down, stomach expands, etc. Good things when you were just dehydrated. Now, these things are all sensed by baroreceptors in various regions in your vasculature. They eventually further inhibit your thirst sensation.
If we didn’t stop drinking until the body decided it had adequate blood pressure, we would overhydrate very easily.
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