What Is Dehydration? Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, & Prevention

The heat is one thing we cannot escape in the summer, and it poses a high risk for dehydration. Make sure you drink enough water each day to stay healthy and properly hydrated. 


High temperatures cause the body to lose lots of water in an effort to regulate body temperature. While health practitioners recommend drinking about 15 ounces of water to maintain a healthy body, increasing your fluid intake in hot weather is essential to prevent dehydration. Dehydration can be severe and, if not treated, may lead to other health complications. 

What Is Dehydration?

Dehydration is a health condition caused by excessive loss of body fluids and electrons. Dehydration occurs when your body loses more fluids and electrons than it gains, impairing normal bodily functions. Organ function requires oxygen transportation and energy exchange between cells, which is possible through sufficient blood circulation. Without enough fluids in the body, all processes slow down, causing fatigue, among other complications such as:

What Causes Dehydration?

The body loses water in different ways, the most common being sweating and urination – a process known as excretion. While both processes are natural and necessary, if the rate at which you lose water is higher than the replenishing rate, you'll become dehydrated.

Some certain conditions and habits increase the amount of water lost from your body, such as:

  • Diarrhea

  • Vomiting

  • Excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis)

  • Excessive urination in the case of diabetic people

  • Taking diuretics

  • Alcohol/caffeine intake

If you're exposed to dehydration either through a medical condition, medication, or alcohol/caffeine consumption, it's essential to take lots of water to make up for what your body loses. This means taking fluids even when you don't feel thirsty. 

Signs of Dehydration

Getting thirsty is not a reliable indicator of your body needing water. Most adults don't feel thirsty until they are completely dehydrated, and you cannot know when a child is thirsty. 

Signs of dehydration in infants or toddlers include:

  • Restlessness or irritability

  • Dry mouth and tongue

  • Sunken eyes, cheeks

  • No tears when crying

  • No wet diapers for three hours

  • Pale, ashy skin

  • Sunken soft spot on top of the skull

  • Constipation or crying when having bowel movements

Signs and symptoms of dehydration in adults include:

  • Severe headache

  • Extreme thirst

  • Dark yellow and strong-smelling pee

  • Less frequent urination, fewer than four times a day

  • Dry mouth, lips, and eyes

  • Fatigue and muscle cramps

  • Dry, cool skin

  • Dizziness and feeling lightheaded

  • Confusion

You can test for dehydration at home through a pinch test. You have to pinch the skin at the back of your palm or on the stomach for children and watch how your skin responds. If your skin comes back to normal almost immediately, you are well hydrated, and if the skin takes a while, you are dehydrated and should take fluids as soon as possible. 

 Who Is at Greater Risk of Suffering From Dehydration?

While anyone can get dehydrated from not taking sufficient fluids, there are groups of people who are at a higher risk of dehydration, such as:

1. People With Chronic Illnesses

Patients with uncontrolled/untreated diabetes or kidney diseases are at a high risk of dehydration due to excessive urination--- a symptom of the underlying conditions. Less uncomplicated conditions such as tonsillitis and sore throat can also cause dehydration since they impair one's ability to eat, drink or swallow.

2. Infants and Children

Infants who haven't learned to speak yet cannot tell you if they're thirsty or help themselves to a drink, putting them at risk of dehydration. Infants and children's immune systems are weaker than adults, making them susceptible to vomiting and diarrhea, increasing the risk of dehydration. In addition, children have a higher surface area to volume ratio, which makes them lose a higher proportion of body fluids from a high fever or burns.

3. People Who Work or Exercise Outdoors

Spending time outside exposes you to harsh environmental conditions, such as extreme heat and humidity. Hot weather makes you sweat, while humidity makes it hard for sweat to evaporate; hence, the body cannot cool itself down.

Increased body temperature elevates the need for more fluids, leading to dehydration if not fulfilled.

4. Older Adults

Your body changes as you age; the thirst sense becomes less acute, and your body's fluid reserve becomes smaller. Over time, your ability to conserve water is reduced. When these changes combine with chronic illnesses and certain medications, the probability of getting dehydrated gets higher.

How To Prevent Dehydration

Drink a lot of water and fluids, and take foods with a lot of water, such as fruits and vegetables, to protect yourself from dehydration. If the hydration is severe, you might need IV treatment to provide instant fluids and electrons.

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