Water is vital, but many people drink too little. In hot temperatures, this can quickly become dangerous.
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- What does the body need fluid for?
- You might also be interested: This water makes you slim
- What happens in the body when you drink too little?
- What happens when we are thirsty but do not drink?
- You might also be interested in this: 7 Errors about drinking water
- How much should you drink?
- What happens if you constantly drink too little?
Germany is sweating and that is what causes dehydration in many people. Hardly anyone drinks enough during the day. And many people hardly notice it. But a dehydrated body is the first step to dehydration. Nobody wants to do that.
What does the body need fluid for?
In newborns, the proportion of water in the body is around 70 to 80 percent. In the course of life, the water in the body decreases. Older people only have about 40 to 50 percent of water in their body.
Every drain in the body needs fluid. Water makes our blood flow, with water our brain works and every cell could not exist without water. About 50 percent of the water in the body is in our cells.
Water also transports substances from the body and brings nutrients where they belong. The body loses around 2 to 3 liters of fluid a day. That should be compensated by drinks and food again. Because even the smallest changes in the water balance, the body reacts with disturbances.
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What happens in the body when you drink too little?
Even with a fluid loss of 0.5 percent, the body changes. It varies from body to body, when this fluid loss is noticed. Old people generally have less fluid in the body. They dry out faster.
You are the first sign of dehydration that you are thirsty . With prolonged dehydration, this can be really bad. Some people - for example, before surgery - feel thirst worse than pain. This warning sign usually causes everyone to drink. The elderly and children have no normal protective mechanism of the body and therefore feel too late or no thirst.
What happens when we are thirsty but do not drink?
The blood becomes more viscous and more salt is in the blood. The body dilates all vessels so that heat can be released through the skin into the air. Nevertheless, if we do not drink anything, the blood thickens further, the circulation fails and increasing confusion sets in. At some point you fall into a coma. With a deficit of about 20 percent of natural body fluid death occurs. Kidney and circulatory failure poison the body.
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How much should you drink?
You drink too little? Then you are like many people. Because especially older people do not make enough to drink. The body loses around 2 to 3 liters a day. Of course they have to be brought back. However, you do not necessarily have to drink that much fluid. About half are taken up by liquid in the food. Drinking 1.3 to 1.5 liters of fluid a day is recommended by the German Nutrition Society.
What happens if you constantly drink too little?
Since everything in the body needs water to function, you notice various things that you are drinking too little. The skin loses its elasticity. You get wrinkles faster. In addition, the skin dries up faster. If the body gets too little water, it removes it from the large intestine. The consequence: constipation. Serious illnesses that come through years of dehydration include kidney stones, high blood pressure or urinary tract infections.
