Around 70% of human body is composed of water. Water plays very vital and essential role in numerous body functions like digestion, keeping joints lubricated, maintaining moisture of skin and eyes and disposal of body wastes and toxins through urination, defecation and perspiration. Also, substantial amount of water helps to maintains minerals, salt and sugar level in the body.
If the water content begins to
decrease, it distorts the fragile balance of the minerals, salts and sugars
level which can cause fatal effects to our body. This water content declination
in the human body is known as Dehydration.
You can have mild, moderate or severe dehydration depending upon how much water
have been decreased from your body.
What are the causes of Dehydration
The dehydration occurs when the
amount of water being consumed by the body is lesser than the amount of water
leaving the body. In our routine life, we loses the water due to:
- Breathing
- Sweating to keep the body temperature optimum
- Eliminate the body waste through urination and defecation
To overcome this loss of water,
one have to drink significant volume of water.
But there can be the factors like
hot climate, excessive physical activities, improper diet and illnesses like incessant
diarrhea and vomiting which generally lead to significant loss of body fluid
and water, causes the dehydration.
Symptoms of Dehydration
- Severe thirst
- Concentrated urine which is strong in color and having pungent smell
- Dry mouth
- Giddiness/dizziness
- Palpitation (if dehydration progresses further)
Treatment of Dehydration
The dehydrated person needs to
take plenty of fluid such as water, fresh fruit juice. Avoid taking caffeinated
drinks like coffee/tea and carbonated soft drinks.
Under severe vomiting and
diarrhea, it is difficult to hold down any consumed liquid. In such case
smaller sips should be taken. Also, vomiting and diarrhea can cause significant
loss of other minerals like potassium, salts and sugar along with the body
fluid. In case of children and infants, taking only water to get them hydrated
can dilute the already low levelled electrolytes and necessary minerals. The
WHO (World Health Organization) recommends ORS (Oral Rehydration Salts) for
infants and children suffering from vomiting and diarrhea.
Immediately taken action is
necessary because severe dehydration can sometimes leads to the death.
Below chart shows the approximated
daily requirement of fluid/water that should be consumed by body.
Body weight |
Daily required fluid |
4.5 kg/10 pounds
|
443 ml/15 ounces
|
9 kg/20 pounds
|
887 ml/30 ounces
|
13 kg/30 pounds
|
1182 ml/40 ounces
|
18 kg/40 pounds
|
1330 ml/45 ounces
|
23 kg/50 pounds
|
1478 ml/50 ounces
|
34 kg/75 pounds
|
1626 ml/55 ounces
|
45 kg/100 pounds
|
1774 ml/60 ounces
|
68 kg/150 pounds
|
1922 ml/65 ounces
|
90 kg/200 pounds
|
2070 ml/70 ounces
|
Note: Consider ml for kg and ounces for pounds.
Readers, it would be great if you could add some helpful tips for the same for our other users because it is always good to listen from the experts. :)
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