Water Or A Sports Drink? These Brain Cells May Decide Which One We Crave

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Brain cells that monitor liquid, mineral and salt levels in the body influence what types of drinks we crave when thirsty.

Krisanapong Detraphiphat/Getty Images

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Stocker’s own research has found links between brain cells involved in thirst and those involved in blood pressure. And he says it’s likely that many blood pressure drugs act on the same brain areas that regulate fluid and salt intake.

Understanding how thirst cells work in the brain could also help certain sick people and athletes.

«Fluid balance is one of the top 10 factors that causes you to be admitted into a hospital when you show up to the ER, Gizowski says. Some of those trips might be avoided if scientists could develop a sensor that worked the same way the brain does to monitor fluid and salt levels.

Also, Gizowski says: «This would be super-helpful for athletes to know how much Gatorade they’re supposed to drink to have optimal performance.

Gizowski thinks the next frontier in thirst science is figuring out how the brain anticipates the need for fluid or salt.

«Sometimes you drink and you don’t even realize that you’re drinking or that you’re even thirsty because your body is just doing these things without you knowing, she says. That’s probably to protect you from «the consequences of not drinking water and not being hydrated properly later on.