One of the most annoying things ever is when you’re sleeping peacefully and feeling super comfortable wrapped in your blankets, and you suddenly wake up dyingfor a glass of water. You feel so thirsty that it’s basically impossible for you to ignore the urge to drink something, so you’re forced to get yourself out of bed and walk, zombie-like, into the kitchen, so that you can pour yourself a glass of water that you then gulp down like you’ve never had a drink before. What does this mean, and is it something you need to be worried about?
You might assume that this feeling of thirst has something to do with being dehydrated — after all, that would make the most sense. And sure, that could be one explanation, but there are plenty of people who drink the recommended eight glasses of water a day (or more) and still have this happen to them. As it turns out, there are a few different reasons that you might wake up feeling like you immediately need a drink, and you’ll want to figure out what the culprit is for you.
According to Healthline, there are many different causes of extreme thirst, and they range from no big deal to pretty serious. If you ate something spicy for dinner, your body might react by making you feel super, super thirsty throughout the night. Unfortunately, it could also be a sign that you’re sick.
Excessive thirst is a top symptom of diabetes.
According to Healthline, it could be a number of different strains: there’s diabetes mellitus, which refers to a spike in blood sugar that causes you to crave liquids; diabetes insipidus, which is when you have an imbalance in water content because your body can’t regulate liquids; or dipsogenic diabetes inspidius, which means there’s a defect in the body making you that thirsty. So if this is something that’s happening to you on the regular, head to your doctor.
If it only happens once in a while, consider your actions before bed. Are you drinking alcohol before going to sleep each time it happens? If so, that could be the culprit. Alcohol has a diuretic effect in the body that makes you need to use the bathroom more often, dehydrating the body. One sign you’ve had too much is if you wake up extremely thirsty.
You should also pay attention to the way you’re sleeping.
According to Sleep Bubble, excessive thirst at night could be because you’re sleeping with your mouth open. While you sleep, your body doesn’t require saliva production, so it slows down. When you sleep with your mouth closed, your body doesn’t need to produce saliva, so it doesn’t affect you. But if you sleep with your mouth open, the lack of saliva leaves your mouth very dry and can result in you desperately needing a glass of water.
Lastly, if this is something that has only recently started to happen, you mightwant to make sure you aren’t pregnant. Excessive thirst can be a symptom of early pregnancy!
Before you jump to conclusions, try drinking more water throughout the day. And if that’s not it, then consider seeing a doctor about the issue — it definitely can’t hurt.
