Could Anxiety Be Dehydration? | Is Your Nervous System Actually Just Thirsty?

What if some of the symptoms you blame on anxiety are actually your body asking for water?

In this episode of The Anxiety Compass, Sammy and Nat explore the often-overlooked connection between dehydration, the nervous system, and anxiety-like symptoms.

From dizziness and brain fog to racing hearts and feeling "on edge," dehydration can create physical sensations that closely mimic anxiety, making it difficult to know what's really going on.

Together, they discuss:

💧 Why dehydration and anxiety can feel so similar

💧 The impact hydration has on the brain and nervous system

💧 How even mild dehydration may affect mood, focus, and stress levels

💧 The role of electrolytes and why hydration isn't always just about drinking more water

💧 Simple signs your body may be asking for more hydration

This conversation isn't about suggesting water cures anxiety. Instead, it's about learning to listen to your body and recognising that sometimes anxiety has multiple layers, emotional, mental, and physical.

Because before assuming every symptom is anxiety, it may be worth asking:

"What does my body need right now?"

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, it's Sammy and Natalie here, and welcome to the Anxiety Compass. Where anxiety isn't the enemy, it's our tour guide. We'll swap stories, share tools, and have a laugh while we find our way back to True North. Come along. I'm freezing Matt.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

I know it is really cold here in Brisbane today. It's even like a bit overcast and like almost foggy.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Oh, I'm shivering because I decided to eat a yogurt and it had frozen berries on top. So that just added to my fro my feeling of cold. It's not really the way for frozen. No, it really isn't. But my tea's cold too. Do you find that you are drinking less water in the winter than you would drink in the summer?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I try, I'm very mindful because obviously, being a clinical nutritionist, I know the benefits of drinking more water, but it is it's a more of a concerted effort to do that because we are naturally not as thirsty in winter.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

In the winter. Well, today I wanted to talk about uh could your body be sending mixed signals? Is your body dehydrated or are you feeling anxious? Because dehydration can actually cause symptoms that are similar to having a panic attack. So you can feel anxious, you can feel dizzy, you can feel foggy, you can get irritable, um, you can have a racing heart, and immediately your body starts to think there's something wrong, and so you jump to a bit of a panic. But in fact, what if it's just the fact that you are dehydrated? So we're gonna touch on that today, Nat. I'm very excited. And we're gonna be talking about water and drinking a lot. So I feel like I'm gonna be getting those cues to keep having a drink of water. I find when people talk about water, I drink water, it's like my brain's like, oh yes, I need to drink water. And I wonder if you're listening, if you've gone to go and get a drink of water, because you've realized that your body is just simply thirsty right now. So what do you do you think? And because it's winter, do you find that in the summer you would drink more because your body's sweating? So you naturally know that your body's, you know, removing waters like liquids from your body. Um, do you find that you don't carry your water bottle? I see I carry my water bottle around in winter as well, but some people would carry it more with them in the summer because it's hot outside and they know they need it. Um do you find that you would drink more coffee and tea in winter, which can actually, depending what kind of tea you drink, it can actually dehydrate you when you're drinking more coffee and hot drinks. Yeah, it's a diuretic, can be your diuretic. Yes, because in summer your body's screaming for water, but in the winter it has these silent little whispers. And I wonder how much people, how much people, how much water people are actually drinking right now in the winter. So I wanted to maybe you can do the little bit of science-y talk because you know, I don't know how you became the science lady on this podcast, but you're totally the you're actually the woo-woo lady. We've, you know, we're kind of swatching rolls a little bit. I'm both. You're both. We took I I just mentioned before some of the symptoms of dehydration. Um, but I thought maybe you could talk about what actually happens when we're dehydrating. Because it's dehydrating, dehydrated, because it's actually a nervous system connection, what's going on there? Like you're not just thirsty, your body's at a deficit. Something's happening. And it and we're saying anxiety is a messenger. So maybe it is making you feel anxious, and maybe it's it's telling your body, hang on, it's getting dangerously low levels of water here. My brain's not working, let's fix it. And uh, what's actually happening there?

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Right. Well, yes, when we're dehydrated, our um, first of all, our blood volume drops, which means that our heart has to work harder. Now, of course, when we you we all know when you've got anxiety, we're very, very conscious of our heart and whether it's you know, you know, pounding or whatever. So that could be what is going on. That also then increases our heart rate, which then makes our blood pressure can, you know, can then fluctuate as well, which again can happen with anxiety. This is where it can be like, oh, is it anxiety or is it just I need some water? And then, of course, because of that, we then get less blood flow to the brain. So then, of course, our brain perceives that there is this stress on the body. So then, you know, you've got to ask, is the brain noticing that the body is under stress? And could it interpret that as danger? So that can look like a racing heart, as you said, racing heart, dizziness, brain fog, fatigue, irritability, difficulty concentrating or just feeling off. You can also experience um headaches, like headache. Yeah, me too. Absolutely. And poor concentration, you know, which I find it happens in.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Yeah, I find for me, I like in the afternoon, I I might be maybe I might feel a bit tired. Tiredness is like fatigue is the biggest notice for me. Um, because I'll be like, oh, why am I so tired? And then I'll realize I haven't drunk water or any liquids all day. And um, I'm like, Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Yeah, yes, and also you might concentrate.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Yeah, absolutely. And then of course, because it's um affecting your blood volume and your blood pressure and your heart rate, um, that's when you can also start reaching for those snacks in the afternoon. Yes, yeah, and oftentimes when you're reaching for those snacks, yeah, your body is actually needing water rather than food. So that's a really good way to determine what's going on. It's just like if you're feeling tired and and snacky, go and have a big glass of water first. Wait 20 minutes and then see if you still need that snack or whether it was it's not actually hunger, it's it's your body telling you thirsty.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

They're very confusing, but if you if you actually slow down and listen, you can sort of realize that you were just thirsty. Interesting, interesting. So I mentioned a few dehydration traps, but some examples are, for example, if you are a go-go go do do do, I say that in nearly every episode. You know, sometimes I listen to our episodes and I'm like, I've said it again. Go go go do go do it's my it's my catchphrase. And uh I know, right? And you're having coffee like I don't drink coffee, let's be honest. Oh my gosh, can you imagine? Go go go Oh god, no. But some people drink coffee all morning and they forget their water bottle. And as we were saying, coffee is did you say a diuretic? It's basically making yeah, you're running around doing all the things for everyone. Perhaps you're sitting in the air conditioning all day. Oh, that's a big dehydration.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Very drying.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Yeah, I don't put my air con on, but I do find like sometimes uh I go into big offices or even like in the hospitals and things like that, even in the winter they have shopping centers running and it's dehydrating you. And a lot of people go, Oh, yeah, this makes my skin dry. And it's like, well, what's it doing to you internally as well? Like if your skin's dry, like I'm looking at my fingers now, and people get dry skin in the winter, it's you're body, you know, an extension of what's going on in the inside. Um, I find as well, I don't know if this is you, but for me, whenever I go on an airplane, an aeroplane, do you say airplane or aeroplane? Are they the same thing? Yeah, I say one of the same thing. I think officially it is aeroplane. But people say airplane. Yeah. I'm gonna say aeroplane. Aeroplane. I find I get so dehydrated when I fly, and I have to purposely drink a lot of water, which is annoying because you have to get up to use the toilet. Because if I don't, like, for example, if I go to Sydney or down south, or it's not that long you're on the plane for, um, I have a regular, I'm talking about poop here. I have a regular sort of toileting routine, and I find like I get so like there's not enough liquids, or it's so dehydrated in my um digestive tract that it's all pushed out of whack. And I the only thing I can think of is the fact that I sat on a plane. It just must really dehydrate you to sit on an aeroplane. It does.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yes, it does. I mean, I do a lot of flying because I'm flying backwards and forwards to my different clinics, um, you know, from Brisbane down to Canberra a lot. And yeah, I've always taken my water bottle on not just on the plane, but I pull it. It's the first thing I do when I sit down, pull it out, put it in the pocket in front of me, so that I've got that water to drink constantly. Because yeah, um, flying that that environment is very dehydrating.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Dehydrating. And even like um, when we mention hot weather, but drinking alcohol. So if you like to have a good drink, uh going to bed, like I when I used to drink, I don't drink that often now, but I would always make sure I'd have a big glass of like coconut water or some sort of electrolyte before I went to bed because you would wake up and feeling like your whole mouth was just dry and you'd be like, ah, so dehydrated. Yeah, yeah, that was gross. And being sick as well, like uh people get more colds and six, six sicknesses in the uh yeah, and in the winter time, and yeah, people you your body uses up a lot of fluids to to keep you. I mean, imagine all the fluids coming out of your body, ew, ew, ew. Um, you need to be rehydrating back there. Uh, what are some other signs that you're dehydrating? When we talk about all the symptoms, but what are some signs? Like you were just mentioning sandpaper mouth. I don't know if this is a sign because I've googled it before. But you know how you when you go in a pool for too long and you get those wrinkly old fingers? Is that a sign of dehydration? Something going on in there. My fingers are like wrinkly at the moment. Uh yeah, maybe it's got them curved.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I went again. I don't know. I mean, I know when you thought I must be dehydrated. Yeah, no, I think, yeah, it's it's got it's not, yeah, it is. I mean, especially if you're sitting in like in a hot hot bath. I just like no, it's literally it's it's it's actually one of my pet hates is those crinkly fingers after being in a put in a hot bath. Like, and I'm literally my brain is literally going, you can sit here. I'm sitting here doing this. It's it's like yeah, for some people, chalk uh nails on a chalk. I don't even mention that. Why would you mention that?

SPEAKER_00 11:35

I'm so well, so that you can join me in feeling that at the moment. Thank you. I think the worst dehydration I've felt is when I was in a spa drinking champagne. That's just not a good thing, especially if the spa's extremely hot. You get out and you're like, it's just sweaty. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Because you're sweating in that in a hot bath or a hot spa. You you are you're sweating a lot. So of course you are dehydrating a lot.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Yeah. One of the biggest signs is, and I noticed this for me, is thirst. Like if you are actually thirsty, you've gone beyond dehydration and it's to the point where you need to drink something. And quite often it will take a lot of time to get that, you know, that hydration back if you're feeling it.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Yeah, absolutely. And another one, the biggest one for me, is that yellow, like when you've got bright yellow and it's really smelly pee. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

That's how I tell my kids, because if they don't flush at all, I'm like, someone needs to drink water in this house.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Yeah, yeah, 100%. That's just that's the number one, you know, sign for me, apart from like thirst, is yeah, oh, I need more water.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it can play on your moods. Um, I find with the dizziness, if I stand up too fast, sometimes it can be dehydration. Um, absolutely. Well, that comes back to because it affects your blood pressure and everything. So yeah, yeah, you know, and you're seeing it, it's like you get a free buzz in another dimension. Like no, like we and yeah, as I said, with moods as well, like I often have blame it on my hormones when I'm really irritable and annoyed at people, but it can often be dehydration people. Um ladies, have you had a drink of water? Maybe it's not because you do for your period, maybe it's just because you're thirsty. Yeah, exactly. So can we rehydrate quickly? Like if I'm sitting here listening to this podcast, I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I haven't drunk any water. I'm exp I've got some of these signs and symptoms. Can I just go and drink a big drink of water and it'll go away? Not necessarily. Oh, not necessarily, no, and is is water the the thing that we want to drink? Like I find some people walk around just drinking water all day. Are they actually hydrating their body or are they just putting water in their body?

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Exactly. Well, you actually need the electrolytes so that the water gets into your cells because it's your cells that are dehydrated. Um, so just drinking water um is not going to get it into the cells. Um, and depends on the kind of water you drink.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

There's so many different like qualities of water as well.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Absolutely. Um, but like I said, you know, wait 20 minutes or so to see if you start to feel better. If having just water on its own is not really uh improving your symptoms, uh one thing I always recommend, and you know, we're gonna talk about mention it later, but having lemon water of the morning, I always recommend to my patients putting in a pinch of salt. So a good Celtic salt, or um, you know, the there's lots of salt. So like I've just built bought a salt from a particular company, um, it's a beautiful electrolyte salt, um, and so it's got the magnesium, potassium, um, and sodium in it. Um, that is going to that is what's going to get the water and high rehydrate your actual cells.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Yes. And it depending on the level of uh dehydration, it can take hours. Like I know for me, I got to the point where I was so dehydrated, I was thirsty, I had yellow pea, I was exhausted, I couldn't concentrate. And it got to the point where I was just trying to guzzle water and nothing was working for hours. It was like I'd gone beyond that. So I just had to lay down. It was like my body's like, nope, you just need to stop, and then we'll take some time. I guess that's why in hospitals, when they put you on the drip, is the quickest way to get electrolytes into your body if you've gone on a bit of a bender and had too much to drink and you've been throwing up, your body's like got no fluids, quickly get them in through the to the intravenous, like the boop, and that away we go. It's literally saline.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

You know, it's salt water.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Yeah, saline solutions. I remember years ago when Yeah. I was gonna say when my mum went into hospital uh years ago, and she came out because she was on the drip with like had magnesium and all sorts of electrolytes, potassium, and she came out, she goes, I feel better than I've ever felt before. And I'm like, You're probably always like walking around in a deficit, you're probably always a little bit dehydrated. She's like, I feel amazing. Like, you need to go to the hospital and get on a drip every day. Exactly. Recharge yourself.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Exactly. But on this, you can actually have too much water too. Yes, drinking too much water, flooding your body with a lot of water, can actually be incredibly dangerous.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

So it's all neutremia. Don't do a panic child like I did. I'm like, oh my god, I need to drink about litres of water. Make it up for the rest of the day.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Exactly. And what is actually happening is that you're flooding your body and you're consuming the water faster than what your kidneys can excrete it. So it's actually diluting your um sodium levels in the blood even further. Yeah, you can literally drown yourself.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Yeah, 100%. It's a thing. I mean, you have to drink quite a lot of water at one point, but you're drowning yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yes. It's probably electrolytes are important. I mean, you can drink uh heaps of water, but still feel pretty awful if you're if you're not getting the right electrolytes in as well. What are ways that we can easily hydrate ourselves? So if people are listening and are like, well, I just I don't feel like drinking water in the winter. I kind of have to force myself to that. That's drinking water again. Uh so using the skews. Uh, what are some ways that we can sort of hydrate ourselves in winter? I know one for me is warm soups. I love all the soups and stuff. Um, rather than drinking cold water all day. I don't like cold water anyway. I'm not a fan of cold water. No.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Um, herbal teas as well. Those beautiful, nourishing, warm herbal teas is another easy way to get water into you, fluids into you.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

What sort of herbal teas do you go to? Like, what are what are ones that you enjoy? Like, what are you drinking at the moment?

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Um, well, I just had like a green tea. I love green tea with jasmine.

unknown 18:35

I do.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

So you're getting the fragrance of the jasmine. Yeah, I yeah. I think everyone knows we've got green tea. I do not yeah, yeah. I do wear I look. Sometimes I, you know, it just depends on um, you know, if I'm out and about and I've made a cup of tea in a in a um heat cup thing, I've I've used um a bag, you know. I try not to, but you know, life, yeah, we don't need to be perfect. We can't be perfect, exactly. Can't obsess over it. No, and I love Tulsi tea. Tulsi tea is also really, really great for anxiety as well. So it's made from the holy basil herb. It is it's just so so warming and nourishing, and it is yeah, like it's it's I love Tulsi tea. Well, I love it too. Especially for anxiety.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

We've been making, I've been making a big pot of uh pumpkin soup. My kids love pumpkin soup. If I my kids love soup, if I put a dollop of sour cream in the middle and crusted bread roll, they'll eat anything that's in soup form. And so I often make a big batch and I'll freeze half of it in small doses, and then I pulled one out. So for tonight I've got to head out, but I pulled one out. They don't eat it as a main meal because my children eat a lot, but they'll have it when they get home from school before they have dinner, and it's just a way to get those um those veggies in as well. Um what are some water-rich foods? Like there's a lot of foods when I'm running my workshops. I often tell the kids, you know, when they've got blindfolds on, and I say this one's predominantly made of water, and like they'll be eating cucumber and stuff. There's a lot of veggies and fruits that are full of veggies. There really are.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Yes, absolutely. So, as you say, cucumber and iceberg lettuce, they have 95 to 96 percent water. So, you know, uh obviously, you know, if you're in the northern hemisphere, we have a lot of listeners over in the in the northern hemisphere. You're in summer. So, all those beautiful summer salads and wraps. Um in over here and water, but yeah, so celery. So I'm going through um so vegetables first, so cucumber and iceberg lettuce, 95 to 96 percent. Celery is 95% water, it's also high in fiber, you know, and it's great to add to with nut butter or hummus. So zucchini is 94% water, so it's you know, you can roast it, grill it, um, turn it into a pasta um substitute, so good. And tomatoes and 94% water. Um, the top hydrating fruits, yeah. You've got your watermelon and strawberries, they're both at about 92% water. They are also bursting with electrolytes. So that's a really great way to, if you want to get in, just to add that punch to your water, because a lot I have a lot of people say, I don't like the taste of water. So I always say add in some fruit, so some watermelon or strawberries, muddle that a bit into your water so you're releasing it. So you're not actually increasing the hydration, but increase increasing those electrolytes as well. Yeah. Instant, easy way to do it. Fruity water. Yes. Rock melon, or it's known as cantaloupe over in the northern hemisphere, that's 90% water. Um, it's also got lots of vitamin A, which is also really great for our skin as well. We were talking about that before. Peaches and oranges, um, which is covering both northern and hemisphere, uh, southern hemisphere. So peaches are so abundant in in summer. And here in um the southern hemisphere, with it being winter, oranges, they're also high in fiber, vitamin C and potassium. And also plain yogurt. It's about 85% water.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Yes. Oh, there you go. Yeah, because I've made my own yogurt, and that's what it's you've got to add the yeah, yeah, yeah. You're forgetting things out.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

No, so having some yogurt, which you know, we were we both just had some yogurt with some fruit. We've just got a whole Maybe not frozen fruit like I did. Yeah, don't no, don't have frozen fruit like Sammy. But of course, with the but um plain yogurt, you're also getting those probiotics, so that health for your gut, so that gut brain connection, and also some calcium, which calcium is our calming blanket as well on our nervous system.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

I love all these things, you're making me hungry. Yes. My kids have for breakfast, they have oats and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Porridge. Oh, porridge. Yeah, yeah. I that's what that's my go-to. I have oats in summer, and now in winter I have porridge. Beautiful. Love it. I love porridge.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Yeah, poor man's food. I find that all the poor men's food are the yummiest of all the foods.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

They are, and you know, you can add in all of the goodness to improve uh and increase the um nutrient um levels. Think of the word levels, yeah. That'll do so my brain. No, so number one, adding in um a teaspoon of cinnamon, really great for lowering um and regulating our glucose levels. Um, and then adding in some nuts and seeds, I always do. So things like your pumpkin seeds, papitas, they're really high in magnesium. Yes, sunflower seeds. Um, I chuck in go um goji berries, and then I also add in some blueberries and and some walnuts and stuff. So you can have such a beautiful, dense, rich, nutrient-dense um meal just through porridge.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

And using the whole oats, not the quick oats. Like I often will go to friends' houses, and they always are, I can always tell they're a little bit, don't look in my pantry because you're a nutritionist. I'm like, I'm not judging you. And then I see the box of quick oats. Now I'm judging you. It grows. Mind you, I think when I was younger, my mum used to buy them, and I used to have them when I was a kid. But you know, you only know what you know when you're younger, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:51

So exactly.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Or even as you're older, you only know what you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

When you know better, you do better.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

A little yeah, not good for your blood sugars. I mean, they're cut oats and they're not they're yeah. Anyway, bone broths, and I've got a friend, like I go to her house um to do some work sometimes and chat and stuff. She has a lot of bone broths to warm her up. But I find if I have too much of the brothy stuff, um, like we've mentioned in a previous episode, the glutamate, glutamine, like it's not great for that pathway for me. But I do love a good like chicken soup, or if I make it from and it hasn't been fermenting for too long, like if I you know make a nice brothy soup, I do love the saltiness of that. Sometimes I find when I'm dehydrated, I crave a little bit of saltiness as well.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Yeah, yeah. Because your body's needing that sodium, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

It's screaming out of the side. Yes, our body is always giving us signals of what it needs. And a lot of people don't realize like salt isn't just it's not table salt. It's the salts are all the minerals that your body needs. So your body has a lot that it needs, it needs a lot of minerals to run properly. And if you're lacking any, it causes like a cascading effect in your body. Um, we are chemical beings. That's what happens, there's chemical reactions happening in our body every day, every second, without us even realizing. And if you don't have the elements in there to make it work, it's not gonna work properly. So getting them in. I find habits as well. I rocked up at my appointment yesterday. I was getting my knee checked through the physio. And what I actually do, which has become a habit, is I always have my big one liter to 1.5 liter bottle in the side door of my car, and whenever I stop at the lights or anywhere, I'll have a big drink. And I've noticed that by the time I get to my appointment, I need to pee. And I feel bad. It's not I haven't got a toilet here, I've been drinking water, but it's a it's a habit that I've sort of gotten into. Yeah, absolutely. You have habits that remind you when to drink or absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

I think I've actually even mentioned this once before in a point coming. I just feel like you have in an episode. But yeah, and I learned this from my ma. So she always had a glass in a clean glass in the bathroom. Yeah. And she would, as after she'd gone to do a pee, after she'd washed her hands, she would literally fill it up and have a glass of water. So I naturally started doing it too because, you know, you see you learn from your parents. So it's something that I've always done. Um, and I also have another one at the kitchen sink. So if I'm, you know, even if I'm just rinsing out a my cup or something, I literally have a glass of water. And it's just automatic now because it's a habit. So every time I go to the toilet, I have a glass. Every time I'm standing at the kitchen sink, I'll have a glass. As well as I've always got my bottle, and I always start my morning with that um glass of warm uh warm warm water with the lemon and electrolytes, and then I follow that with another glass of water just to rinse out the mouth to get rid of the acidity from the um the lemon because you don't want to um you know damage your enamel. So they're there my habits.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

I I find sometimes though, depending on what I'm doing for work, I have to change it slightly because if I'm getting up really, really early and I've got to be in the car for a two-hour drive to get somewhere, like we're driving down to Jeringong soon, which is a 13-hour drive. I can't get up and have all my different hydration things that I have because then my hubby's like one hour into the road trip is like, do you need to pee already? I'm like, yes, why didn't you go before we left and I didn't need to go then?

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Oh no, even worse. I mean I did.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

I didn't need to go again. So I have to reduce the amount of water I'm putting in if I'm gonna be sitting in the car for that long. But when we I know like he'll say, Oh, we're gonna stop in about an hour, or like, okay, I'm gonna start drinking water now. By the time we get there, I can use the toilet. So I because I you know, you get dehydrated on long car drives. I I uh time my hydration um to when we're gonna stop. So um a good habit to get into as well is having a drink of water between every drink that you have. Like if you're going out clubbing, I don't know how many people go out clubbing that are listening to us, but if you're going out having a drink with girlfriends, um, whatever it is, you know, having that glass of water in between to keep yourself hydrated and or even after drinking coffee, like if you're going out with friends, sometimes I find like if I'm out with friends, I don't really drink coffee, but you know, you'll have one or two, even three sometimes, depending how long you're sitting there chatting with your mates. Oh, yeah, I'll have another coffee. Oh yeah, I have another one. Or even tea. Like I get pots and of black tea. And sometimes you can get three or four cups out of these pots, and you just keep refilling the next minute. You're like, oh my god, and you've got the shakes in the afternoon because not only are you dehydrated, but you um, you know, you've got too much caffeine in your body. So drinking water around then as well. Um, yeah, yeah. So I find a lot of people don't realize how dehydrated our bodies get during winter. Like people assume in the summer your body gets dehydrated. But just because you're not sweating, it doesn't mean that you're not losing fluids. We're still losing water through other methods, aren't we, Nat?

SPEAKER_01 30:22

We are, absolutely. So through breathing, people don't realize that we're actually dispelling when we're dispelling the air, there's actually water droplets within our breath. Hmm. Something's amazing about that.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

So you say if you're breathing, I hope they're breathing. If you're breathing, if you breathe. If you're breathing, be grateful, it means you're alive. And if you drink pee a lot, do you and there's some supplements or even medication that you can take that cause you to need to urinate more? Like it can be an illness that you have that causes you to, or even if you're pregnant, you're urinating more as well. Um, so you're still losing water that way, uh, through your skin. Like we our skin needs to be hydrated, it needs to have some sort of like it can't be dry and pasty. So you're constantly body's sort of pushing that hydration out into your skin from your body. So the drier your skin is, the more drier your insides are gonna be. So insides, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

And of course, digestion. Digestion. We need we need fluids, we need water to be able to have optimal digestion so that we're not getting constipated, and so that everything is is working. Just, you know, our our entire body is is, you know, our organs around it, we've got that that the fluids, you know, not just in ourselves, but surrounding ourselves. So we just need the water.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

And like in the summertime, we always talk about humidity. It's so humid outside. The humidity is the is the the hydr like the the fluid in the air, the hydration water in the air. In the su in the winter, it's the it the air is cold and dry. And so as you're breathing in, because you're talking about breathing before, you're breathing in that cold, dry air. You're not breathing in the humidity and the moisture in the air. That's the word I was looking for. Moisture, the fluid in the air, the moisture in the air. That's cold. I know what I meant. That's rain. And it, but you're not breathing that in, you're breathing in the cold, dry air, and then you get like the cold, dry, cracky nose and all the things. Yeah, things and the split lips, the cracked lips. Oh, I don't like the cracked lips. I haven't had cracked lips in a while, but I think that's because I'm very aware now of my hydration levels. So I purposely I found my lips were really dry and cracked as well when my iron and my B12 levels were very, very low and folate. So it's interesting. Like that. When I was very low in Big 12, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

I used to um back in my mid-20s when just just before I'd had my breakdown, like obviously my body was really struggling. But I had the tops of my fingers were used to split. And I was a uh a dancer and a choreographer back then, and I would notice when I was throwing my arms around when I was dancing, or or showing I was a choreographer at this stage, and I'd notice they would split just from the force of like you know, splicing my hands and moving them. And I'd look down your jazz hands, my fing my fing, yeah, my jazz hands. Um, but they were literally bleeding. Gosh, from the that was from low everything.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

Low, yeah, pretty much low everything, but definitely low B12 and full H. The split dry nails. Oh god, we could go on forever here. So a lot of people they go, Oh, my lips are dry, I need to put more lip balm on. Oh, they're dry again. I need to put more lip balm. What if it's something internally that's happening? Your body's always talking to you. Um, there are signs though, like if you are hydrating and you're getting electrolytes in and you're doing all the things, but those signs and symptoms are still there. Perhaps your urine is still really yellow, perhaps you're still feeling really dizzy. That could definitely be something else going on. So it's not always dehydration. Um, it can be something, something a little more sinister going on. And so being aware and getting that advice. Don't assume every symptom is dehydration. Um, and don't assume every symptom is anxiety.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

So I was just about to say that, yeah, exactly. If if you're concerned, you know, listen to your body and and go and get appropriate medical advice where needed.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Yeah, definitely. Well, I think this is a nice, short, and sweet episode compared to the last one we did, which was a long one. I know. Um it was. Do you do you want to throw a reflective uh question out there?

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Yes. Okay, so before assuming something is wrong with us, could there be something that our body needs? Mmm. I always assume there's something wrong with me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

I used to before, yeah. When I had inside, I think everything was me having a panic attack. Yeah.

unknown 35:19

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Yes. So look at though these sorts of things. Look at having maybe I need more water. Try having some more water. Maybe it's you need some more nourishing foods. Look at that first. So listen to your body. This message we have throughout our entire um podcast is you know, related to the compass points. And it's just like be stay curious about um what your body is doing, where it's it's pointing to on the compass point for in that particular moment, and see what it is that your body needs.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Yes, well, I have enjoyed this episode. Do you want to throw anything else in or shall we wrap it up? Let's wrap it up. Let's keep it short and sweet. Sometimes the compass points inward, but sometimes the compass points towards a glass of water. So perhaps you just need to hydrate today and your body will feel good. I often wonder, like, if you go to the hospital and ask for a drip 24 hours and you come out, you realize that all of your problems were because you were dehydrated. Oh, interesting. That's an interesting thought. All right, love you, Levius. We'll see you on the next episode. Bye. Thanks for joining us on the Anxiety Compass. If you love this episode, share it with a friend who needs a little love and a low calm. We'll see you in the next one. Keep following your true norm. Disclaimer time. Sammy and Natalie may be clinical nutritionists, but we're not your personal doctors. What you're here is for learning and laughing. Not diagnosing or prescribing. If things feel bigger than you, call your doctor or