How Does Dehydration Occur? Dehydration Can Adversely Affect Your Health

It's important to stay hydrated. In the end, over half our body is composed of water.

Water consumption helps you avoid getting thirsty and helps to cool off during hot summer days. However, staying hydrated can provide numerous other health benefits including managing bowel movements, and ensuring that joints are well-lubricated.

If you're not drinking enough fluids it is possible to be thirsty. Dehydration may cause several symptoms, therefore it's important to be aware of each one to get appropriate treatment. Find out more about dehydration and the reasons behind the condition.

What is the cause of dehydration?

Dehydration is when your body isn't getting the right quantity of liquids (primarily water) required to perform. If you're losing fluids or consuming more than you take in then you'll become dehydrated.

The human body sheds fluids through a variety of ways, like sweating breath, urination, breathing and defecation. This is also done through saliva and tears. If you're not actively and effectively replacing the lost fluids, you can suffer from dehydration.

Although the inability to drink enough fluids is a cause of dehydration, it may also be caused by other health issues including vomiting, diarrhea or excess sweating.

Everyone is susceptible to becoming dehydrated. People at greater risk however are children, infants and those over. Children and infants often aren't able to communicate when they're thirsty, which makes them more susceptible to dehydration. Similar is the case for older adults, specifically those with cognitive problems.

The condition can be exacerbated due to pre-existing health conditions that can lead to a loss of fluids for example, diabetes that causes frequent urine leaks.

The signs of dehydration

The symptoms of dehydration vary based on the person's age, according to experts at the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic.

For adulthood, dehydration symptoms may be a result of:

• Extreme thirst

• Less frequent urination

• Urine with dark-colored hues

• Fatigue

• Chills

• Constipation

• Dizziness

• Red (flushed) skin

• Appetite loss

• Muscle cramps

• Headache, and confusion

For infants and children the signs of dehydration can be a result of:

• Dry mouth, dry tongue and lips

• No tears during crying

• Sunken eyes, cheeks

• Soft spot sunken on top of the head of a baby

• Irritability

• Less frequent urination

• Dry skin

If you or someone else experiences any of these symptoms for an extended period of time you should seek medical attention.

Can dehydration cause high blood pressure?

Dehydration may play a part in the occurrence of hypertension.

If you're dehydrated, your sodium levels are likely to increase. When you lose fluids, the volume of salt and water within the body gets out of balance. In order for your body to be able to function normally and maintain the balance of homeostasis, it must have a certain amount of both substances.

To return to this degree, the hormone vasopressin is released in order to hold in water in accordance with the Cleveland Clinic. Vasopressin could cause your blood vessels to become tighter which causes an increase in pressure.

Is dehydration the cause of high blood pressure? What you must be aware of.

Can dehydration cause low blood pressure?

The dehydration of the body can cause low blood pressure.

Water is 60% of our body. The blood that you have is composed of about 90 percent water, according to the Cleveland Clinic. On average, a person has between 1.2 to 1.5 gallons which is about 10 units of blood in their body, as per The American Red Cross.

If you're dehydrated you're losing fluids throughout your body, and this includes the volume of blood. The volume of your blood is the total volume of fluid that circulates in the heart. The heart is responsible for supplying blood to the rest of your body.

If you're dehydrated, you might experience low blood volume. If you're experiencing lower blood volumes, it means that your blood isn't flowing as it should and might not reach your organs as it ought to. This could lead to low blood pressure.