In short: When the temperature drops, thirst drops before the actual need for water. The body still needs the same amount, but it signals less and later. At the end of October, with winter time and shorter days, that weak signal gets lost even more among meetings and emails. The solution is not willpower, it is changing the cue that reminds you to drink.
Fluye Ceramic Pro 600 ml
- Ceramic interior: does not transfer flavors
- Cold for 24 h, hot for 12 h
- Leakproof lid
Why you drink less water in autumn without realizing it (and how not to lose the habit)
In July, no one forgets to drink water. It is hot, you sweat, you are thirsty, you drink. The body does almost all the work for you. In autumn that autopilot turns off, and the day of the time change finishes turning it off: it gets dark earlier, you spend more hours indoors and the day fills up with screen time. You do not decide to drink less. The cue that warned you disappears just when you spend more hours sitting down.
No one decides one day "I am going to hydrate myself worse because it has cooled down". It happens little by little, between the first coffee of the morning and the last meeting of the afternoon. And since there are no dramatic symptoms at first, it is easy not to notice for weeks.
Thirst drops with the temperature, the need for water almost not
Thirst is not a perfect internal thermometer. It is activated especially when the concentration of salts in the blood rises and when the mouth dries out, and both things happen more when you sweat. In autumn sweating decreases, and with it the frequency with which the body triggers the signal.
But we continue to lose water all year round through urine, skin, and breathing, and that baseline loss does not change that much with the calendar. The EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, sets reference values for water intake that do not distinguish between seasons. What changes in autumn is not how much water you need, it is how much your body warns you.
| What changes | In summer | At the end of October |
|---|---|---|
| Thirst | Appears quickly and strongly | Arrives late and weakly |
| Drinking occasions | Patios, cold drinks, more breaks | Coffee, infusions and consecutive hours at the desk |
| Reminder | The heat does it for you | You have to set it yourself |
| Water you need | The reference, plus what you sweat | Practically the same reference |
That is why in August you took the bottle everywhere and now a whole morning can pass without you thinking about drinking. When you finally do, it is because you feel a dry mouth or a mild headache, which is already a late warning. To find out if you are at that point, review the signs that you are not drinking enough water: many are confused with tiredness or with the change of season itself.
With the cold there is also a surprising effect. When the temperature drops, the body carries more blood to the internal organs and that can increase urine production, which is known as cold-induced diuresis. It is not dramatic, but it adds in the wrong direction: a little more loss just when thirst warns less.
Less light, more screen: the routine was your real reminder
To the physiological factor is added the calendar factor. In summer there are more breaks and more times outdoors, more natural occasions to have water nearby. Since the time change, it gets dark earlier before leaving the office, the day concentrates in meeting blocks and the body takes a backseat in front of the screen. If your workday revolves around a desk, see how hydration fits into office hydration and its effect on productivity.
What you drink also changes. Cold drinks and light meals with lots of water disappear, and hot coffee replaces lemonade almost without deciding. None of that is bad. An infusion or a glass of warm water also hydrates, and in autumn they are more appealing than cold water: take advantage of it instead of fighting it.
Fluye Cup 350 ml
For the mid-afternoon infusion at the desk.
How much water you still need, without depending on thirst
If thirst arrives late, it does not work as the only indicator. It makes more sense to start from a stable reference. In how much water to drink a day according to science we explain how to calculate it according to your weight, your activity and your context, and that number barely changes between July and November. What changes is how much you will remember to fulfill it without the heat reminding you.
How to maintain the habit when it is no longer hot
The simplest way is to stop depending on a sensation and start depending on an anchor: a fixed time of day to which you attach the habit so that it becomes automatic.
Some anchors that work well in autumn:
- Drink a whole glass when you sit down at the desk, before opening email
- Refill the bottle when leaving each meeting, not when you are thirsty
- Leave the bottle always in the same visible spot on the table, never inside the backpack
- Prepare an infusion when it starts to get dark, now that it happens earlier before leaving work
What they have in common is that they do not depend on the temperature or thirst. They depend on something you are going to do anyway, like sitting down, changing meetings, or getting up for a coffee. That turns a summer habit into an all-year habit.
The object helps, not because the water tastes different, but because a bottle you like to carry is one that you really carry from the table to the subway and back. In autumn, moreover, one that keeps what you put in it hot lets you have the infusion at hand all afternoon without getting up to reheat it.
Fluye Ceramic Pro 600 ml
Hot infusion all afternoon and, the next day, water without the taste of tea.
Written by the Fluye Bottle team