Dehydration: Causes, Symptoms, & Prevention

dehydration

What Is Dehydration?

When your body uses or loses more fluid than it takes in, dehydration occurs, and your body is unable to perform its normal functions due to a shortage of water and other fluids. If you don’t replace lost fluids, you will get dehydrated. Anyone can become dehydrated, but young children and the elderly are more vulnerable. Severe diarrhea and vomiting are the most prevalent causes of dehydration in young children. Dehydration is more likely in older persons due to a smaller volume of water in their body, as well as diseases or medications that enhance the risk of dehydration. This means that even small ailments in older persons, such as infections of the lungs or bladder, can cause dehydration.

There are two types of dehydration: mild and severe. Dehydration that is mild can often be managed at home. Severe dehydration requires immediate medical attention.

Causes of Dehydration

Dehydration can happen for a variety of reasons, including not drinking enough because you’re sick or busy, or not having access to safe drinking water while traveling, trekking, or camping. Let’s look at some other causes.

Vomiting and Diarrhea

Severe, acute diarrhea, or diarrhea that appears abruptly and violently, can result in a massive loss of water and electrolytes in a short period of time. You lose much more fluids and minerals if you have both vomiting and diarrhea.

Excessive Sweating

Sweating is a natural way for your body to cool down. When you are hot, your sweat glands react, releasing moisture from your body to try to cool it down. This is done through evaporation. You can become dehydrated if you engage in vigorous activity without regularly replacing fluids. Sweating and fluid loss increase in hot, humid weather.

Frequent Urination

This could be the result of untreated or poorly managed diabetes. Dehydration can also be caused by certain drugs, such as diuretics and some blood pressure medications, which cause you to urinate more frequently.

Illnesses

Dehydration can be caused by illnesses that cause constant vomiting or diarrhea. This is because vomiting and diarrhea might cause your body to release too much water. These processes also result in the loss of important electrolytes. Electrolytes are minerals that the body uses to regulate muscle contractions, blood chemistry, and organ functions. Electrolytes can be present in the blood, urine, and other bodily fluids.
These functions can be impaired by vomiting or diarrhea, which can lead to serious problems like stroke and coma.

Fever

fluWhen you have a fever, your body attempts to lower your temperature by losing fluid through your skin’s surface. The higher your fever, the more likely you are to become dehydrated. It becomes even worse when accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea.

Symptoms of Dehydration

Dehydration symptoms vary depending on whether the condition is moderate or severe and the symptoms may arise before total dehydration occurs. These symptoms can also vary by age.

Infants or Young children:

  • Mouth and tongue are dry.
  • When crying, there are no tears.
  • No wet diapers for about three hours
  • Eyes and cheekbones that are sunken
  • On the top of the skull, there is a sunken soft place.
  • Irritability

Adults:

  • Excessive thirst
  • Urination is less frequent.
  • Urine with a dark color
  • Fatigue
  • Rapid breathing
  • Shriveled skin
  • Rapid heart rate
  • Dizziness
  • Confusion

Risk Factors of Dehydration

Dehydration isn’t just a problem for athletes who are exposed to the sun. Bodybuilders and swimmers, for example, are among the athletes who frequently get the illness. It is possible to sweat in water, as strange as it may appear. When swimming, swimmers lose a lot of perspiration.

Some persons are more prone to dehydration than others; here are some:

Infants and Young Children

Infants and children are the most sensitive to dehydration because they are the most likely to develop severe diarrhea and vomiting. As they have a larger surface area to volume ratio, they lose a greater proportion of their fluids when they have a high fever or burns. Young children are often unable to express their needs or obtain a drink on their own.

People with Chronic Illness

Diabetes that is uncontrolled or untreated puts you at a high risk of dehydration. Kidney problems, as well as drugs that increase urine, raise your risk. You’re more prone to dehydration even if you have a cold or sore throat since you’re less likely to feel like eating or drinking when you’re unwell.

Doing Activities under the Sun

Dehydration and heat illness are more likely when it’s hot and humid. Because sweat can’t evaporate and cool you as quickly as it should when the air is humid, you’ll have a higher body temperature and need to drink more fluids.

Older Adults

As you become older, your body’s fluid reserve shrinks, your ability to store water decreases, and your thirst sense weakens. Chronic conditions like diabetes and dementia, as well as the usage of certain drugs, worsen these issues. Mobility issues in older persons may also restrict their ability to fetch water on their own.

Complications of Dehydration

Dehydration can cause a variety of problems, including:

Seizure

Electrolytes, such as potassium and sodium, aid in the transmission of electrical signals from one cell to the next. If your electrolytes are out of balance, the normal electrical messages in your body might become jumbled, resulting in involuntary muscle contractions and, in rare cases, loss of consciousness.

Heat Injury

You may suffer from a heat injury if you don’t drink enough fluids while exercising intensely and sweating profusely. Heat injuries can range in severity from moderate heat cramps to heat exhaustion or even life-threatening heatstroke.

Hypovolemic Shock

One of the most severe, and sometimes life-threatening complications of dehydration is a hypovolemic shock. Low blood volume causes a dip in blood pressure, as well as a decrease in the amount of oxygen in your body.

Kidney/Urinary Issues

Dehydration that is severe or frequent can lead to urinary tract infections, kidney stones, and possibly kidney failure.

How to Prevent Dehydration

drinking waterDrink plenty of water and consume high-water-content foods like fruits and vegetables to avoid dehydration. For most healthy people, following their thirst is sufficient daily guidance. If you have any of the following conditions, you may need to drink more fluids:

In hot or humid conditions, you should drink more water to help lower your body temperature and replace what you lose via sweating. In cold weather, you may need more water to prevent moisture loss from dry air, especially at higher altitudes.
The most prevalent causes of dehydration in older persons are mild diseases including influenza, bronchitis, and bladder infections. When you’re not feeling well, make sure to drink enough water.

Start offering extra water or an oral rehydration solution to your child if they are vomiting or have diarrhea at the first sign of illness. Don’t wait until the child is fully dehydrated.
In general, it’s advisable to begin hydrating the day before you engage in severe exercise. It’s a positive sign that you’re hydrated if you’re passing a lot of clear, dilute pee. Replace fluids at regular intervals throughout the exercise, and after you’ve completed, continue to drink water or other fluids.

When to See a Doctor

Even if they are having moderate dehydration symptoms, children and elderly individuals should seek medical attention right away.
If any of the following symptoms appear in a person of any age group, they should seek immediate medical attention:

  • severe diarrhea with blood in the stool
  • diarrhea lasting three days or longer
  • not being able to keep fluids down
  • disorientation

Now that you Know…

When you don’t drink enough fluids, you become dehydrated. Dehydration can quickly become dangerous, regardless of the cause, whether it’s due to exercise, hot weather, or disease. If you see early signs of fluid loss, drink plenty of water and take electrolytes to help prevent dehydration.