Many people are and never realize it. Contrary to popular belief, a dry mouth – or feeling thirsty – is by no means the first sign of dehydration. Our bodies require at least eight glasses of water per day – more during exercise, illness, and hot weather. People often think that even if they don't actually drink water, they're getting enough by drinking coffee, tea, soft drinks, juice, or beer. The truth is that many of these drinks have a diuretic effect, encouraging the body to excrete water through urination, rather than retaining it.
Think about a grape versus a raisin. The one is plump, full, and juicy, containing all its natural water. The other is small, dry, and shriveled – its water gone. Although a grape in dehydrated condition is still a valuable and nutritious fruit, the human body when dehydrated does not function at its best and may be at risk for many ailments.
The body is composed of about 70 percent water, and water is required for many of its essential functions. Water is utilized as a solvent and also provides the means to transport nutrients, hormones and other vital supplies. It's used to produce hydroelectric energy, especially in the brain. It's essential for maintaining cell structure. Water is also necessary to enable proteins and enzymes to function more efficiently. Chronic dehydration can lead to a loss or decease in all these functions and may ultimately result in disease or can worsen an existing condition.
Most of the body's water is found within the cells, and the next largest amount is in the fluid surrounding the cells. If water is not replaced frequently, this surrounding fluid may continue to accumulate waste material and other contaminants. The pumps in your cell membranes may not work as efficiently because allowing dirty water into the cell can cause cellular damage or cell death. You wouldn't bathe in the same bath water without first cleaning the tub and adding fresh water. Why would you allow your cells to be surrounded by an accumulation of waste material?
Water
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Angina
Heart pain – angina – is a sign
of water shortage in the heart-lung axis. It should be treated with increased
water intake until the patient is free of pain and independent of medications.
Medical supervision is prudent; however, increased water intake is angina's
cure.
Arthritis
Another possible complication of dehydration is
joint pain. The cartilage
in your body, including your joints, is composed mainly of water. As cartilage
surfaces glide over one another, some exposed cells become worn and peel away.
New cartilage is normally produced to replace the damaged cells. But due to the
lack of blood vessels in
cartilage, water is needed to transport the nutrients required for maintenance
and repair. Dehydration may increase the abrasive damage and delay its repair,
resulting in joint pain.
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Not recognizing asthma as an indicator of dehydration in the body of a growing child not only will sentence many thousands of children to die every year, but also will permit irreversible genetic damage to establish in the remaining millions of asthmatic children.
Cholesterol
High cholesterol levels are an early indicator of drought management by the
body. Cholesterol is a clay-like material that's poured in the gaps of some cell
membranes to safeguard them against losing their vital water content to the
osmotically more powerful blood circulating in their vicinity. Cholesterol,
apart from being used to manufacture nerve cell membranes and hormones, is also
used as a "shield" against water depletion of other vital cells that would
normally exchange water through their cell membranes.
Colitis
Colitis pain is a sign of water shortage in the large intestine. It's associated
with constipation because the large intestine constricts to try to squeeze the
last drop of water from the excrements – thus the lack of water lubrication.
Constipation
Dehydration causes constipation. When water is in short supply in the body, the
colon will act to restrict unnecessary water loss through the stools. Colon
muscles will contract to squeeze out and subsequently reabsorb water back into
circulation. This can
result in harder stools that are not only more difficult to pass, but may also
irritate and weaken the walls of the colon, resulting in small pockets known as
diverticuli. Since the water that the colon reabsorbs back into circulation is
not filtered water, but wastewater that was originally due to be excreted, the
liver and the kidneys must then filter it. This may place additional strain on
these overworked organs.
Diabetes
Diabetes is also another disease that's strongly influenced by water
consumption. Adult-onset diabetes
is brought on by severe dehydration of the human body. In order to have adequate
water in circulation and to meet the brain's priority water needs, the release
of insulin is inhibited to prevent insulin from pushing water into all the body
cells. In diabetes, only some cells get survival rations of water. Water and
salt will reverse adult-onset diabetes in its early stages before it becomes an
autoimmune disease with a destruction of insulin-producing cells. Not
recognizing adult-onset diabetes as a complication of dehydration will, in time,
cause massive damage to the blood vessels all over the body. It can cause eye
damage and even blindness. It's capable of causing loss of the toes, feet and
legs from gangrene. And the diabetes industry is a multi-billion dollar industry
of sickness treatment and prescription drugs. Why would that industry want to
tell people that all they need to do is drink more water, avoid
soft drinks and cut down
on caffeine in order to greatly improve their health?
Depression
Depression can be another symptom of
chronic dehydration.
The amino acid tryptophan is required by the brain to produce the
neurotransmitter serotonin, which in turn is needed to make melatonin. An
adequate amount of water is required for tryptophan to be transported into the
brain. Dehydration may limit the amount of tryptophan available to the brain –
and to worsen things, high histamine levels (also triggered by dehydration) may
actually stimulate tryptophan's breakdown in the liver.
Dyspepsia
Dyspeptic pain, which can range from simple
heartburn to
gastro-esophageal reflux disorder (GERD), may be one of the early signs of
dehydration. During the early digestive process when food enters the stomach,
hydrochloric acid (HCl) is secreted to activate the enzymes to breakdown the
proteins found in meat and dairy. The acidic contents of the stomach, called
chyme, are then pumped into the small intestine by passing through a valve,
called the pyloric sphincter. This acidic chyme must be neutralized before it
damages the intestinal lining. The pancreas is responsible for secreting the
bicarbonate ions, which neutralize the acid. A large amount of water is required
to produce this bicarbonate solution. If sufficient water is not available, the
digestive process may be delayed and food may remain in the stomach longer than
necessary. Over a period of time, the stomach acid may rise and if allowed to
enter the esophagus, will produce the sensation known as heartburn. Ideally,
water should be drunk half an hour before meals, during meals and again a couple
of hours afterwards.
Migraines
Migraine headache is a sign of water need by the brain and the eyes. It will
totally clear up if dehydration is prevented from becoming established in the
body. The type of dehydration that brings on
migraines might eventually
cause inflammation of the back of the eye and possibly loss of eyesight.
Weight gain and loss
There's another fascinating point about chronic dehydration and
weight loss that's worth
mentioning here: Many people who are attempting to
lose weight end up in a
state of chronic dehydration because they don't want to drink water for fear
that it will add "water weight" to their bodies. Consequently, they actually
impair their body's ability to metabolize fat because they're afraid to drink
enough water on a regular basis. In reality, being fully hydrated is a
prerequisite to weight loss. If you want to lose weight, you have to give your
body enough water so that it's no longer in a state of emergency. When the body
is in a state of chronic dehydration, it will not let go of fat supplies easily:
It wants to hold on to everything it can eat or drink. The only way to convince
your body to let go of and start metabolizing body fat is to drink a lot of
water – enough water so that your body feels safe in letting go of unneeded
calories. Remember: Water has zero calories, is low-carb and has zero grams of
fat, so drink up!
It's also interesting to note that many people who go on short term diets and who think they're losing five or 10 pounds over a couple of days are really only losing water weight. They haven't lost any body fat at all but they've managed to put themselves in a state of chronic dehydration that will inevitably lead to weight gain once they return to normal habits of eating and drinking.