Water makes up approximately 60% of the total body weight of a healthy 70kg (11 stone) adult male. If that male becomes leaner, the percentage of body weight of water increases (less muscle/fat, more water) and if the male becomes bigger, the percentage of water weight reduces (more muscle/fat, less water). Obviously the same goes for adult women but their total body water weights are lower percentages due to oestrogens and naturally higher body fat.
You may therefore ask – what does that mean?
The fluid in our body – all through our cells, has to maintain a specific mineral and chemical composition dependent on what the cells are doing. This is a finite process and can be easily upset. If you have a higher percentage of body fat and lower water volume, that fluid balance may be more difficult to maintain, leading to it being easier for heavier people to become dehydrated.
Where do we get our water from?
Mostly as you can imagine from drinking but our body removes water from our food as well obtaining it by oxidation – which is when the body chemically alters substances within to generate water.
How do we excrete water?
Not just as urine or sweat. It comes out in our stools as well as by water vapour from our breath.
What are the symptoms and signs of dehydration?
- Feeling hungrier than usual
- Savoury food cravings
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Lethargy
- Very yellow urine
- Dry skin
Why does the body show these signs?
Hunger: As mentioned previously, we get fluid from our food as well as drinking. Whilst the mouth may feel dry in some people, others get a feeling of hunger instead. That is why it is always better to reach for a glass of water if you are hungry when you are not expecting to be – you may just need water instead of food!
Savouries: Salt and minerals will deplete from your body as fluid levels decrease. One of the processes that moved fluid into and out of cells is osmosis – a process using salt to pull water into cells. To keep cells healthy salt is needed to move fluid and therefore your body may crave salty things to help the fluid keep moving. Eating salty food also encourages a demand for a drink so this is quite a clever way of getting more water into you!
Headaches/dizziness: can occur when the brain temporarily shrinks from fluid loss. Why would it do this you may ask – surely the brain should not lose fluid over other parts of the body? The body will use what it needs to keep the body moving. As an example: in a stressful fight or flight situation, your bowel or bladder may evacuate in an effort to stop parts of your metabolism working in order that the energy that would be used can go to muscles – so you can use them to fight or run. In this instance with fluid, your cells will need fluid to keep your heart pumping blood and your blood moving oxygen so it the fluid is taken from where it can be accessed easily first. The brain is surrounded by fluid and fluidic membrane so this is an abundant source for use. If you feel yourself getting a headache, reach for a glass of water instead of the pain killers. If you think that the pain killers are the things that actually help, consider it may actually be the water that you drink when you take them!
Lethargy: There are theories that water plays a part in the speed at which muscle fibres work, therefore less water = less speed and more effort. It is also known that lack of essential B vitamins causes lethargy. B vitamins are water soluble so if you have less water you have less available space for B vitamins and therefore less B vitamins for your cells to use and for any energy to be created.
Very yellow urine: As simple as the difference between concentrated and diluted orange juice!
Dry skin: If there is no water for sweat to occur then skin will dry. Equally if you have sweated so much there is an excess layer of salt (from the sweat) on top of your sebaceous (oil) glands, they won’t work as well and the skin will dry.
Coping with water loss
Hot weather will make you sweat and breath heavier than usual, making you lose water. The normal required water intake for our average adult male is between 1400ml and 1800ml from drinking, 700ml – 1000ml from water in food. All of this water intake is used and expelled in the ways mentioned above. We therefore definitely need a really regular water intake.
Being that quite a large proportion of us are not our average male, we will need to take in more than this to keep dehydration at bay. As you will know, healthy living media pushes that we drink 2 litres of water a day. This is great – if you definitely take in the other third of your fluid requirements within water filled food. I need to draw your attention to the average human diet – busy lives, quick food choices.. are you actually aware of the fluid you are taking in from food? The answer is probably no and to be honest, I have no idea either. We can all make a fair assumption that processed food is more dehydrated and therefore fresher fruit, vegetables and meat are definitely the best option.
To drinking then – a high proportion of people drink tea and coffee very regularly so the question is, does this count as part of the fluid intake or does the caffeine have an effect? In a nutshell – YES! Studies have shown with athletes there is no detrimental effect on electrolyte levels which would impair their performance or health with intakes of caffeine. Studies also showed that caffeine intake didn’t prove any significant increase in urine production – essentially showing that caffeine is not as diuretic as people think. These studies also showed that tolerance to caffeine reduces any detrimental effect to athletes leading to a supposition that this would relate to the average person as “if you drink caffeine, you won’t dehydrate quicker”.
For me, being aware of the body’s ability to break down components of food and drink and take and make water from these items, I see no need to change to drinking water instead of my beloved tea in an effort to make me more hydrated.
How do you keep hydrated in the hot weather?
Yes, drink more but please don’t worry if that means more tea because you just can’t stomach water. 2 litres is a good amount to drink and as the average cuppa is 300ml, you will need about 7 mugs of tea a day. Just remember if you have lots of milk or sugar in your tea then this may have an effect on your waistline.
Eat more fresh food – this will have more water in but please don’t think this counts for the suggested 2 litres of water. Equally, as you take in 1/3rd of your daily requirement via food, make sure you drink more if you decide to eat less. If you are dieting, drink more to make up the difference. Drinking more won’t flush fat out, it will however enhance your cell health and help everything work better. If the research mentioned above is true and water volume helps muscles move more efficiently, keeping good water levels in your body is essential for ease of movement. If muscle work rate increases then energy requirement is higher, more fat is used and you have managed to lose weight with minimal effort. (The latter is my hypothesis and not specific fact).
What if I still have symptoms after drinking?
Mild dehydration symptoms should stop very quickly after drinking even half a pint of water. Dehydration symptoms are also on lists of symptoms for quite a large number of conditions so you will really need to see a GP if you are experiencing any medical issues that are out of the norm.
How can osteopathy help?
As mentioned, there are a crossover of symptoms for many conditions and it is the job of health professionals to recognise these. If you have not been able to see a GP or are seeing an osteopath before you get a GP appointment, we can talk through your symptoms with you.
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