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Information about Drinking

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A lion drinking
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Cygnus olor (mute swan) drinking
Drinking is the act of consuming a liquid through the mouth. Water, for example, is required for many of life's physiological processes, and excess or decreased water intake is associated with health problems. "Drinking" may also refer specifically to the ingestion of alcohol, depending on the context in which the term is used.

Physiology

A daily intake of3-66 liters of water is required for the normal physiological functioning of the human body, depending on ambient weather conditions and diet (especially salt intake). The absolute minimum over the long term is about 1.6 liters (600 ml for urine, 200 ml for fecal losses, and 800 ml for losses via the skin and lungs). This includes water contained in food (i.e., it is not essential to drink 1-2 liters of water a day for survival, though it is often recommended for good health).

The sensation caused by dehydration of the body is called "thirst". The sensation of thirst is a dry feeling in the back of the throat and an intense desire to drink fluids. Thirst is regulated by the hypothalamus in response to subtle changes in the body's electrolyte levels, and also as a result of changes in the volume of blood circulating.

Role in disease

polydipsia is the medical term for consumption of large quantities of water and may be a sign of various diseases (diabetes mellitus, diabetes insipidus, and some psychiatric conditions).

Much of the world's disease is caused by the lack of clean drinking water. Lack of water in diet will eventually cause death by hypernatremia and dehydration, particularly when sweating consumes much of the body water.

It is also possible to overhydrate, which sometimes happens with athletes who consume too much water, thereby diluting the concentration of salts in the body.

Vessels

Drinking vessels may include glasses, cups, bottles, canteens, and bowls.

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An infant being fed by bottle
Fewer skills are required for drinking from a baby bottle or a cup that has a lid with a nozzle. Therefore, these are useful for small children and people with some disabilities. If neither eating nor drinking are possible, some alternatives are enteral nutrition and parenteral nutrition.

Alcohol

"Drinking" is also used as a synonym for the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Additionally, having "thirst" or being "thirsty" can metonymically express a desire for alcohol.

See also

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential to all known forms of life.[1] In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor.
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An alcoholic beverage (also known as booze in slang term) is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol, although in chemistry the definition of alcohol includes many other compounds.
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The hypothalamus links the nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary gland (hypophysis). The hypothalamus, (from Greek ὑποθαλαμος = under the thalamus) is located below the thalamus, just above the brain stem.
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An electrolyte is a substance containing free ions that behaves as an electrically conductive medium. Because they generally consist of ions in solution, electrolytes are also known as ionic solutions, but molten electrolytes and solid electrolytes are also possible.
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Polydipsia
Classifications and external resources

ICD-10 R 63.1
ICD-9 783.5

Polydipsia is a medical condition in which the patient ingests abnormally large amounts of fluids by mouth.
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Diabetes mellitus
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 E 10. –E 14.
ICD-9 250

MedlinePlus 001214
eMedicine med/546   emerg/134

MeSH C18.452.394.
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MeSH D003919 Diabetes insipidus (DI) is a disease characterized by excretion of large amounts of severely diluted urine, which cannot be reduced when fluid intake is reduced. It denotes inability of the kidney to concentrate urine.
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Drinking water is water that is intended to be ingested by humans. Water of sufficient quality to serve as drinking water is termed potable water whether it is used as such or not.
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Hypernatremia is an electrolyte disturbance consisting of an elevated sodium level in the blood (compare to hyponatremia, meaning a low sodium level). The most common cause of hypernatremia is not an excess of sodium, but a relative deficit of free water in the body.
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Dehydration
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 E 86.
ICD-9 276.5

Dehydration (hypohydration) is the removal of water (hydro in ancient Greek) from an object.
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Perspiration (also called sweating or sometimes transpiration) is the production and evaporation of a fluid, consisting primarily of water as well as a smaller amount of sodium chloride (the main constituent of "table salt"), that is excreted by the sweat glands in the skin of
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Water intoxication (also known as hyperhydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain function that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits, ironically by that which makes up the
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Glass is a noncrystalline material that can maintain indefinitely, if left undisturbed, its overall form and amorphous microstructure at a temperature below its glass transition temperature.
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The acronym CUP could be used to mean:
  • Cambridge University Press
  • Canadian University Press, the press association of Canadian student newspapers
  • The Committee of Union and Progress: a Turkish political party

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bottle is a small container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a "mouth." Bottles are often made of glass, plastic or aluminum, and typically used to store liquids. e.g.
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bowl, a common open-top container in many cultures, is used to serve food, and is sometimes also used for drinking and storing other items. They are generally small and shallow, although some, such as punch bowls and salad bowls, are larger and are sometimes intended to serve many
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A baby bottle is a bottle with a teat (also called a nipple in the US) to drink directly from. It is typically used if someone can not (as conveniently) drink from a cup, for feeding oneself or being fed.
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disability is a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired relative to the usual standard of an individual or their group. The term is often used to refer to individual functioning, including physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual
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eating (formally, ingestion) is the process of consuming nutrition, i.e. food, for the purpose of providing for the nutritional needs of an animal, particularly their energy requirements and to grow.
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Nutrition is a science that examines the relationship between diet and health. Dietitians are health professionals who specialize in this area of study, and are trained to provide safe, evidence-based dietary advice and interventions.
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Total parenteral nutrition (TPN), is the practice of feeding a person intravenously, bypassing the usual process of eating and digestion. The person receives nutritional formulas containing salts, glucose, amino acids, lipids and added vitamins.
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For the taxonomical term, see .


Synonyms (in ancient Greek, συν ("syn") = plus and όνομα ("onoma") = name
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An alcoholic beverage (also known as booze in slang term) is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol, although in chemistry the definition of alcohol includes many other compounds.
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In rhetoric, metonymy (IPA: /mɨˈtɒnɨmi/) is the use of a word for a concept with which the original concept behind this word is associated. Metonymy may be instructively contrasted with metaphor.
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The word drink is primarily a verb, meaning to ingest liquids. As a noun, it refers to the liquid that is ingested. It is often used in a narrower sense to refer to alcoholic beverages (as both a verb and a noun).
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An alcoholic beverage (also known as booze in slang term) is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol, although in chemistry the definition of alcohol includes many other compounds.
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Swallowing, known scientifically as deglutition, is the reflex in the human body that makes something pass from the mouth, to the pharynx, into the esophagus, with the shutting of the epiglottis.
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