Contents:
- Medical Video: 11 Ways Dehydration Could Be Making You Fat And Sick
- Get to know dehydration and its causes
- What happens to the body when dehydrated
- Signs and symptoms of dehydration
- How to prevent the danger of dehydration
Medical Video: 11 Ways Dehydration Could Be Making You Fat And Sick
Three years ago there was news, a runner on the show half-marathon collapsed in the middle of the event. After an examination, it turned out that the 45-year-old man was dehydrated due to lack of drinking while running under the hot sun. Not only in this case, there have been many case reports of people dying or collapsing due to serious dehydration. Therefore, the danger of dehydration cannot be underestimated.
Get to know dehydration and its causes
Dehydration is a condition in which the body's fluid balance becomes negative, which is more fluid coming out than the one entering. This causes you to lack fluids and cannot perform normal bodily functions. If you do not immediately replace the lost fluid, then you will fall into a state of dehydration. This condition will be very dangerous, especially in young children and the elderly (elderly).
Dehydration can be caused by various things. In children, dehydration is usually caused by severe diarrhea and vomiting. While basically the elderly have a smaller amount of fluid so they are more prone to dehydration.
Excessive sweating during exercise can also cause dehydration. If added to the hot and humid environment, it will increase the amount of fluid lost.
Certain diseases can also cause dehydration conditions such as diabetes mellitus, mild illnesses such as lung infections, and burns.
What happens to the body when dehydrated
Negative fluid balance that causes dehydration occurs due to lack of fluid intake, increased fluid discharge (both due to diarrhea, sweat, or urine), and the transfer of fluid in the body (collection of fluid in the abdominal cavity or lung cavity). Reduced total body fluids (total body water) causes reduced volume of fluid in the cells of the body and in the blood vessels.
The symptoms of the danger of dehydration will appear when the amount of fluid in the blood vessels decreases, causing hypovolemic shock and ending in organ failure and death. When shock occurs, blood flow to the organs decreases so that the body's cells lack oxygen and nutrients needed. As a result, the organs of the body die.
The kidneys and brain are examples of organs that most often experience interference when a person is severely dehydrated.
Dehydration can cause acute kidney failure which if not treated quickly can cause severe kidney damage and end in chronic kidney failure requiring dialysis every week.
When dehydration causes damage to the brain, patients will experience decreased consciousness and permanent brain damage. This is what happened to the 45-year-old runner who was told. Of all parts of the brain, leaving only the brain stem that can still work well.
In addition, electrolyte balance can be disrupted when dehydration occurs. There can be deficiencies or even excess electrolytes, depending on the cause of dehydration. This disruption of electrolyte balance can cause nerve disorders such as seizures.
Signs and symptoms of dehydration
People who are dehydrated will usually feel heavy thirst, dry mouth, urination less and urine color dark brown and concentrated, and emerge feeling overwhelming weakness and dizziness.
In severe conditions can cause patients to experience disorientation alias dazed, sunken eyes, dry skin, fever, decreased blood pressure, increased pulse rate, to experience a decrease in consciousness.
How to prevent the danger of dehydration
Prevention is the most important thing for dehydration. Consider the following preventative steps, yes.
- Drinking and eating foods that contain lots of water such as fruit and vegetables should be enough to prevent dehydration in most people.
- For people who do activities in very hot weather or exercise, be more careful. Always remember to return the fluid lost by drinking. Always provide enough drinking water.
- For children and the elderly, because they are very at risk of dehydration, it must be considered whether their fluid intake is sufficient or not.
