Contents:
- Medical Video: How Much Water Should I Drink? Stay Hydrated Drink Water | Check Dehydration Is It Bad For Health
- Symptoms of dehydration that need attention
- Various ways to deal with dehydration
- 1. Natural flavored drinks
- 2. Eat foods that contain water
- 3. Other ways
- Signs the body gets enough water intake
Medical Video: How Much Water Should I Drink? Stay Hydrated Drink Water | Check Dehydration Is It Bad For Health
Dehydration is a condition when your body lacks fluid intake. This condition can affect the balance of salt, minerals, and sugar in the blood. As a result, body functions will be disrupted. If not treated immediately, dehydration can cause harmful effects such as organ damage and even death. So, how do you deal with dehydration? Find out all the information in this article.
Symptoms of dehydration that need attention
Dehydration occurs when the body loses too much fluid or doesn't get enough water. Symptoms of dehydration are as follows:
- Dry mouth
- Thirst
- Dizzy
- Headache
- Feel weak, lethargic, and not powerful
- Low blood pressure
- Cannot chew and swallow dry food
- Difficulty speaking
- Dry skin
- The skin is swollen and cracked when pinched
- Fever is characterized by a decrease in body weight, dark urine, and muscle fatigue
Fever, diarrhea or severe vomiting that occurs over a long period of time can cause loss of body fluids. Loss of body fluids can result in the loss of electrolytes including sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium that the body needs.
Other causes of dehydration are increased output to the ileostomy or colostomy bag (faecal bag in the body), excessive use of diuretic drugs, the occurrence of ascites (accumulation of fluid in the stomach), or edema. Therefore, drink more water to avoid this cause of dehydration.
Various ways to deal with dehydration
Hydration or maintaining the amount of fluid in the body is very important for everyone, both healthy and those who are undergoing medical treatment such as cancer treatment. Hydration is also very good for health in the long term.
Besides drinking lots of water, here are some ways to deal with dehydration that are important for you to know.
1. Natural flavored drinks
If you don't like drinking water like water, try drinking a flavored drink by adding pieces of fruit such as lemon, lemon, orange slices, or making it into juice. Another alternative that can be used to replace fluid intake is:
- Pure fruit juice
- Carbonated drinks but caffeine free
- Fruit flavored drinks
- Herbal drinks
- Broth
2. Eat foods that contain water
The water content in food is needed to replace the amount of fluid in the body that will be taken every day. Fruits that naturally contain lots of water include watermelons, melons, grapes, and tomatoes.
Drinking juice, water or liquid containing other calories can help keep the body from dehydration so that it can provide energy to the body.
Other types of foods that contain lots of fluids are:
- Ice cream, frozen pieces of fruit, or popsicles to moisturize a dry mouth
- Sorbet
- Gelatin (regular or sugar free)
- High protein health drinks
When the body feels better and the appetite has returned to normal, keep the balance of solid food and drinks so that the body can receive the nutrients and fluids needed by the body.
3. Other ways
Here are some other ways to deal with dehydration that you can try at home:
- Paste the wet cloth on the body, especially on the neck, face, back, chest or abdomen.
- Reduce the causes of dehydration such as vomiting, diarrhea, or fever.
- Apply lip balm on dry lips.
- Place coolers, ice, and healthy drinks in close proximity so that the body gets a more comfortable condition.
Signs the body gets enough water intake
One simple way to find out is to do a urine color test. When urine is clear or yellow, it's possible that the body has enough water. Whereas if the tapered water is dark yellow, then increase the amount of healthy fluid intake for the body.
