However, continuing to drink alcohol after that initial drink does not cause any more urine output than continuing to drink water. Here we see a single drink administered, followed by a single spike in blood alcohol the solid line , and a single spike in urine flow the black bars. One drink followed by one extra trip to the bathroom.
OK, so what about a number of drinks in succession? Well, the author of this same paper did that experiment, and this is what they saw:. The subjects still get the initial spike in urine flow after the first drink, but then urine flow dies down.
Basically, when you spend a night drinking alcohol, you pee just one extra time compared to if you were spending the night drinking water. These results have been repeated dozens of times in different populations, looking at all different kinds of alcohols and moderate vs. The results have continuously been the same. In summary, since at least and probably even longer, as Eggleton actually cites another study from the s , scientists have known and continued to confirm that alcohol does not cause dehydration.
The authors of another paper from looking at the biochemical effects of a night of drinking drive the point home:. They were not, however, in obvious fluid imbalance Even allowing for insensitive losses during the hour period, they cannot have been more than ml in deficit [of fluids]. They also had normal blood glucose concentrations, no evidence of electrolyte imbalance or liver dysfunction, and fairly low serum ethanol concentrations.
And you have normal electrolyte levels. Shockingly, the science is unequivocal and clear — and has been so for decades. Alcohol does not create the effects of dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, and vitamin deficiency that we grew up believing it did.
Beliefs and biases are resilient, though — even in the face of clear data. Consider a time you experienced actual dehydration.
Perhaps you dehydrated yourself while exercising or spending all day in the hot sun. One probably involved craving cold water and urinating a few shades darker than normal, while the other probably involved feeling like your head was in a vice and being unwilling to get out of bed.
But while we know these lucky people exist, scientists have no idea why this is the case, nor can they find any appreciable difference between these people and the general population. And for 80 kilograms, about 80 millilitres per hour, and so on. Third, we humans seem to prefer to drink our alcohol in 10 gram lumps.
Ten grams of alcohol is about So each glass of beer, wine, or spirits has about 10 grams of alcohol. So now, a little anatomy and physiology.
In your brain is a small gland called the pituitary gland. It is divided into two sections: the front; and the back. The back section is called the posterior pituitary. One of the hormones made by the posterior pituitary gland is called vasopressin, or anti-diuretic hormone ADH. Diuresis is a fancy word meaning urination. Now suppose that you are really dehydrated. So the volume of water in your body is low.
But you still have just as many salts floating in this reduced volume of water. So these salts are now more concentrated in the reduced volume of water that you have when you are dehydrated.
Your body has detectors that can sense both the saltiness of your water, and the volume of the water. If these detectors reckon that you are dehydrated, they send a signal to the posterior pituitary gland, which starts pumping out ADH. The job of ADH is to stop you urinating, so you hang on to your precious water. You reduce your normal rate of making urine. Alcohol does the opposite.
Yet one domestic brewery hopes to alter that if slightly with a thirst-quenching beer that, admittedly, doesn't go so far as to claim to actually hydrate you, which would go against all experiential wisdom about alcohol. But the idea of a quenching, or perhaps even hydrating potable got us wondering, what boozy drinks could we sip to stay hydrated —or, more realistically, help us not get too dehydrated? Turns out, some alcohols—and more accurately, how you drink them—can be less dehydrating that other booze-filled beverages.
Here's the scoop from our experts. You probably know dehydration as what happens to our bodies when we don't take in enough fluids. You can feel weak, dizzy, and thirsty. You might have dry eyes or a dry mouth. You can have a headache. But how does alcohol actually cause those unpleasant symptoms?
Alcohol—despite being a fluid—inhibits the release of vasopressin, an anti-diuretic hormone that rushes to our defense when our concentration of electrolytes rise above a certain level. With each drink, we prevent vasopressin from doing its job. And to top it off, both Zeitlin and Rumsey explain, drinking alcohol will also make you urinate more often.
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