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| Credit: Petr Kratochvil |
As a child, we’ve learned that drinking water is
essential to live with prosperous health. Ideally, drinking 8 glasses of water every
day is often prescribed. Some may have followed this routine while others
haven’t. But, even if you drink 2 liters of water, dehydration may still occur.
This is due to various circumstances such as the weather, vigorous
activities, consuming beverages with diuretic effects, too much salt or an
ailment. During these situations, hydration is a top priority. Remember,
an average man can only last 3 to 5 days without water. If dehydration persists
longer than that time frame, serious consequences may occur. With that, how
would you know if your body is asking for more water? In this post, you’ll read
about the common signs of dehydration in
adults. Hopefully, after reading this, you’ll be able to discern if
you're drinking the right amount of fluids needed to live healthy.
Dry skin,
hair and lips
One of the most common signs of dehydration in adults is dry skin, hair and lips. Remember
that the human body is composed of about 60% of water. Hence, any loss of
moisture in your body will evidently manifest in your external body parts. But,
how will you know that your skin, hair or lips are dry?
Basically; a dry skin will look rough, flaky or
scaly, tight and with visible appearances of lines and cracks. As for your
lips, you’ll know that it's dry when cracks are visible and it’s prone to
peeling. Remember, licking your lips is
not highly recommended. This is because saliva can aggravate its dryness. And
lastly; a dry hair is dry, frizzy, brittle and prone to split ends and tangles.
If you’re not a fan of hair iron, blow dryers and other hair products but your
hair strands are still dry; you might want to increase your fluid intake.
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| Credit: Debora Cartagena acquired from Public Health Image Library |
Unexpected
drop in blood pressure and light-headedness
Have you experienced standing up swiftly and
feeling dizzy at once? This is actually medically termed as orthostatic
hypotension. Although not all the time, this condition is partly caused by
dehydration. To explain further, 55% of your blood is plasma. It is the water
component of blood. Once dehydration occurs, the plasma becomes viscous. This
will then result to slow blood circulation which would result in a sudden drop
of blood pressure and oxygen levels. As you know, dizziness is a classic sign
of insufficient oxygen circulating in your body. Hence, hypotension and
frequent light-headedness are also included in the list of the most common
signs of dehydration in adults. And, if you’re experiencing these conditions,
you might consider increasing your water or fluid intake.
Constipation
and dark urine
Medically speaking, constipation is the result
when your colon has absorbed too much water. Ironically, this is a common sign of dehydration in adults.
Why so? When a person suffers from dehydration, the automatic response of the
colon is to store and absorb excessive amounts of water from digested food.
This will evidently result to a dry and firm stool which are hard to purge. As
for your urine, if it is brownish in color, it can signify that your kidneys
are producing high concentrations of urine. This simply means that you're not
well-hydrated to dilute its concentration. Ideally, a healthy person urinates a
pale yellow colored urine.
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| Credit: Emilian Robert Vicol (Publicphoto.org) |
Thirst
Last in the list of the most common signs of
dehydration in adults is thirst, the most apparent one of all. A soon as you
feel dryness in your mouth, sore throat and tongue, water or any beverages are
imperative. This is your body’s way of telling you that it is on the verge of
dehydration. If you constantly disregard this, it will eventually result to the
other signs mentioned above. To avoid that, it is best to drink water whenever
you feel thirsty.
Before we end this topic, always keep in mind
that these common signs of dehydration in adults are also indicative of an
underlying medical condition. Hence, if you’re frequently experiencing these
signs, a visit to your physician is strongly advised to rule out severe medical
conditions. With that, you can now assess if you need more water or not.
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