In survival mode, does tending to needs before they reach critical levels make any difference?

I've been playing survival mode and it frustrates me to no end that I can't keep an eye on how thirsty, hungry, or tired I am. There is no way to know just how bad off my needs are until I am so deficient in one of those areas that I start taking penalties.

There's nothing like running a long way with intent to clear out a point of interest for a quest only to arrive and suddenly get drowsy because I haven't slept in a real bed for an arbitrary number of hours (and then there's no way to fix the problem because the only thing available nearby is a dirty mattress on the floor).

So, I wonder: Will drinking before you get parched, eating before you get peckish, and sleeping before you get tired stave off the negative effects before they can occur? Will performing these actions reset the timer in the game code that counts down until the negative effects happen, or will performing these actions before they are "necessary" just waste the effort?

Solution 1:

(this answer assumes that Bethesda didn't try and reinvent the wheel: that F4 survival mode is built off of what existed in NV, and my own personal experience)

The only thing tending to needs before they reach critical level does is keep your health bar at full utilization.

Yes, doing the other thing that keeps the first thing from happening, will keep that thing from happening.

There isn't a timer in the game code that counts down until the negative effects happen, it's a cumulative stat, specific numbers at which negative effects happen. The only timers involved are whatever the script says for e.g., every X minutes add Y to HUNGER.

And then e.g., at Z HUNGER, minus 1 from [stat] and so on.

You can test it yourself by having just a bit of [radiation poisoning] thirst, but before you're dehydrated, and then drink some water (dehydration doesn't cause incremental HP loss; radiation does). You'll see a gap between the green in the health bar and the red. That amount of HP is what you're missing out on while under an unnotified negative effect.