Dehydration takes place when your body loses more fluids than you drink. If it’s not treated on time, it can worsen and lead to serious problems such as heat-related emergencies and kidney problems. And water is vital for every cell in the body to work correctly and is an essential energizing ingredient, without enough, your body can’t function properly. It can be mild or severe depends on how much fluid you intake and your body loses. You can treat mild dehydration at home, but severe one needs to be treated in a hospital.
Your body loses water every time by breathing, sweating, peeing, through saliva, and tears. Usually, you replace the lost liquid by drinking fluids and eating foodstuffs that contain water. But if you lose too much water or don’t drink and eat enough, this can lead to dehydration.
The most common causes include:
- diarrhea
- vomiting
- excessive sweating
- Frequent urination
vomiting or diarrhea
Illnesses that induce continuous vomiting or diarrhea can lead to dehydration. It’s because vomiting and diarrhea can cause an excessive amount of water to be lost from your body. Electrolytes are the essential minerals that our body needs to regulate blood chemistry and control muscles and organ processes.
Vomiting or diarrhea can damage these functions and cause severe complications, such as coma and stroke.
Sweating
It is a natural cooling process. When you become hot, your sweat glands stimulate to release moisture from your body in an attempt to cool. This process is called evaporation. The more sweat produce, the more evaporation occurs, and the more you’re cooling off. Sweating also maintains the balance of electrolytes in your body and also hydrates your skin. However, an excessive amount of sweating leads to dehydration when you lose a large amount of water.
Urination
Urination is the body’s usual way to remove toxins from your body. Your risk is developing dehydration increase if you don’t replace the fluid lost through excessive urination.
Symptoms
- feeling tired
- feeling thirsty
- dry skin
- headache
- a dry mouth, lips, and eyes
- feeling dizzy or lightheaded
- dark yellow and strong-smelling pee
- constipation
- low blood pressure
- rapid heart rate
Diagnosis of dehydration
Before doing any tests, your physician will go over observable symptoms. Your doctor will also check your vital signs, like your blood pressure and heart rate. Low blood pressure and rapid heart rate is the indication of dehydration. Your doctor may perform a blood test to check your level of electrolytes and creatinine, which can help indicate fluid loss and check how properly your kidneys are functioning.
How to reduce the risk of dehydration
One of the keys to preventing dehydration is to ensure that you’re taking enough fluid each day. But exactly how much water should you take per day?
You should drink at least eight glasses of water a day because water is an essential energizing ingredient that boosts your energy level. Drink fluids whenever you feel dehydration symptoms and a higher risk of dehydrating, such as if you’re sweating, vomiting, and have diarrhea.
