I may be crazy, but it always seems to me if I’m thirsty that water doesn’t make much difference, while fizzy drinks or fruit juice/squash kill the thirst pretty quickly.
Is there a reason for this? Is it something which only happens to me, or a recognised phenomenon?
Because you’re not really thirsty, but rather hungry.
I find that water quenches my thirst better than any other kind of drink. (And the water around here is very nice.)
The sugars and salts may have something to do with it. I believe that’s the theory behind gatorade. I don’t know enough to say this with any real confidence.
My confidence level is low as well, but that is the lore of Gatorade. I just know that anything sweet makes me thirstier and beer and soft drinks were never for quenching thirst. I personally dislike the taste of Gatorade enough to avoid it.
I’m with Johnny L.A. - if I’m really thirsty, water’s the only thing that really works.
I recall years ago reading, I think, The Israeli Army Diet and one of the things that it encouraged was to lift your fluid intake. The book suggested that drinking sweetened drinks was better than drinking water because sweetened drinks were less thirst quenching and caused you to drink more. I think they recommended weak cordial drinks.
OT- Does anyone remember gatorade gum? If you were thirsty that used to quench your thirst. I wonder why they stopped making it?
Did it give you cancer or herpes? 
I haven’t noticed it being less thirst quenching, but drinking just water over the course of the work day seems to make me have to pee more often than drinking anything else. It could just be me, though.
A little of both for me, it depends. I’ve noticed that good cold water can quench my thirsts most of the time, but I need Gatoraid while skiing. Sometimes I just want something flavored.
I’m in the “plain water quenches my thirst more” camp. I recently gave up carbonated drinks for Lent, and stuck with plain water. I found I was less thirsty, and didn’t snack as much, either. I still snacked (bad kitten!) just not quite as much…i didn’t get into that eat salty/drink sweet/eat salty cycle.
I can’t drink more than half a glass of water at a time without feeling really sick. Doesn’t matter where it came from or what I’m doing. It makes me nauseas. Always has. My SO thinks it’s the strangest thing. I don’t find it thirst quenching at all.
I loved Gator Gum! Though I never felt like it quenched thirst since all it really seemed to do was force your saliva glands to output saliva at a ridiculous rate. It definitely moistened your mouth and would give you something wet to swallow if you were parched, though.
We used to chew it in the winter time and spit neon yellow saliva onto the snow. It was lurid and gross. We were young.
It’s not strange; I feel the same way. The only way I can drink water is if it’s REALLY cold (think melted ice cubes). If I’m really really thirsty the only thing that does it for me is extremely cold milk (preferably chocolate).
This question really belongs in GQ. I know the military has done studies on this, so you might want to do a lit search if you have access to a decent library.
The one study I remember running across (this was years ago, so I don’t remember the author or source) looked at the effects of flavor vs. drink temperature on fluid ingestion in hot weather. Flavor didn’t have an effect, but temperature did–the soldiers drank more when the drink was cold, but it didn’t matter whether the drink was flavored.
The fizzy drinks don’t do it for me as well as cold water. Too much syrup.
Put me in the Gatorade camp. When I’m working out in the yard, I will easily put away a gallon or two a day. I tried water for a week one time and it just didn’t cut it. Sodas and milk just make me nauseous.
It does the same for me.
When I’m really thirsty I prefer slightly sweetened iced tea to ice water. When I drink water, no matter how cold (or how purified), it leaves a metallic taste in my mouth and makes me feel nauseated. Sweet sodas don’t do much to quench and diet drinks make me feel even thirstier.
I have a mouth full of fillings. I wonder if that has anything to do with the metallic taste of water.
Oh, my word no. Water is MUCH more thirst quenching. Sodas and so forth I drink only for the flavor; when I’ve a **need ** for fluids, it’s water I seek out, accepting alternatives only resentfully.