THE INTERACTION OF MEAL-RELATED, RHYTHMIC AND HOMEOSTATIC MECHANISMS AND THE GENERATION OF THIRST AND DRINKING

One of the primary goals of the study of thirst is to understand why d rinking occurs under ad libitum or natural conditions. An appreciation of the experimental strategies applied by physiologists studying thir st from different perspectives can facilitate progress toward understa nding the natural history of drinking behavior. Drinking research carr ied out using three separate perspectives - homeostatic, circadian rhy thms, and food-associated - generates types of information about the m echanisms underlying drinking behavior. By combining research strategi es and methods derived from each of these approaches, it has been poss ible to gain new information that increases our appreciation of the in teractions between homeostatic mechanisms and circadian rhythms in the modulation of water intake and how these might be related to drinking associated with food intake under near natural conditions.