What is Dehydration & What are the Signs of Dehydration

What is Dehydration & What are the Signs of Dehydration

Introduction

Feeling lightheaded, dizzy, and tired?  Do you have dry skin, chapped lips, dry mouth? If your answer to the above questions is yes, then you are showing all the dehydration symptoms. It is vital to raise awareness of dehydration because it’s becoming a significant factor in the development of a range of short-term and long-term conditions. The human body mostly consists of water 50%- 65% in males & 45%- 60% in females (Royal College of Nursing and National Patient Safety Agency, 2007). So, in this blog, I will be discussing how dehydration affects people’s lives, the symptoms you can look out for, who are affected by this the most, when you should consult a doctor, and preventive measures you can take to help this condition or avoid the condition altogether.

What is Dehydration?

According to the Oxford dictionary, dehydration means the condition of having lost too much water from your body, to elaborate when someone’s day-to-day action causes their body to lose water and other fluids and they don’t provide enough fluids to the body to replenish what was lost. But some underlying conditions can also cause dehydration symptoms.

How Dehydration affect your day-to-day life?

Most people don’t realize that a dehydrated person can contract further complications, for example, if you are exercising vigorously and ignore drinking water in between the exercises it can cause heat cramps, and at most it can cause heatstroke as well. Prolonged exposure to this condition can cause UTIs (Urinary Tract Infections), kidney stones, and even kidney failure. It can cause seizures if your electrolytes are misbalanced. The most serious complication that a dehydrated person could face is Low blood volume shock, which sometimes can be life-threatening as well. This happens when there is a drop in the level of oxygen present in the blood.

-  Dehydrated in the winter

Another thing I wanted to add to this is how weather can affect your judgment and cause dehydration. Sometimes it’s easier to stay hydrated during summer than staying hydrated in the winter. In winter you won’t be that thirsty because of which you might forget to drink water, but your body still losses water and other fluid through respiration, perspiration, and other bodily functions regardless of the weather outside.

Signs of dehydration to look out for

Some of the symptoms to keep an eye out for are as follows:

• Thirst 

The interesting part about this is you won’t be too thirsty when don’t have dehydration but once get dehydrated you will be thirsty all the time. This makes it hard to detect dehydration before symptoms start to show.

• Urine color

This symptom is easy to detect since it turns your pee is dark yellow color and has a strong smell to it. And the amount of urine decreases as well and you pee a lot less

• Tiredness

This condition also makes you very tired and lethargic because your body needs fluid to function.

• Dry mouth, lips & eyes

It’s very self-explanatory, because of the low level of fluid dryness that occurs in several parts of the body.

Who is affected most by this, and what you can do to prevent dehydration?

• For New Born

Infants lose fluids and electrolytes just like adults, so make sure your child has plenty of water and fluid-rich foods. Particularly if they are physically active or it is a hot day.

• For the Elderly

Dehydration is very dangerous in older adults since their bodies don’t hold as much water. Don’t wait to feel thirsty, drink water anyways throughout the day. Make sure water is always within reach. Don’t skip meals because much of the fluids are in the food you consume daily.

• For Exercising Adults

Drink a cup of water 4 hours before working out, have half a cup of water every 10 to 15 minutes while exercising. Drink water after you are done, when your body produces light-colored urine it’s a good sign.

Closing

Following these general rules, you will stay healthy and your heart rate will stay normal. In case you see any signs and symptoms of dehydration you should immediately consult a doctor and follow the steps he/she suggests.