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Causes of Dehydration



Dehydration always occurs when the body loses more water than it replenishes. If you lose water but do not consume too much water, you end up dehydrated. Some of the most common causes of dehydration include:

• Diarrhea: This is a condition where you excrete loose, watery stools. This is one of the most common causes of loss of water from the body. With each of your bowel movements, a considerable amount of water is lost. If water is not replenished, diarrhea can be fatal, especially in children.
• Vomiting: This is another one of the common causes of dehydration. One of the major problems in this condition is that nausea prevents you from consuming too much water and replenishing your fluids, as you may not be able to tolerate consuming any fluids.
• Sweating: Sweating can also cause a loss of a lot of moisture from your body. This is the natural way for your body to cool itself off. Intense exercising or consuming hot foods can cause you to sweat. However, sweating in a controlled environment cannot cause you to lose too much moisture, but if you are not replenishing water and working in a hot environment, it could cause a fatal heatstroke.
• Diabetes: Elevated sugar levels in the blood often allow sugar to spill into the urine. This causes you to urinate more frequently. If you do not consume water continuously, it may result in dehydration, which is one of the first symptoms of diabetes.
• Burn Wounds: Since your skin acts as a barrier, it regulates loss of fluids. If you lose your skin, which occurs when burns are suffered, it becomes difficult for the body to prevent loss of moisture.

The effects of dehydration are many. There are also several risks of dehydration. Here are some of them:

• Arthritis: Dehydration can cause the drying up of the fluid in the joints. This causes a lot of pain in your movements as the joints start to grind against each other.
• Heartburn: Water is required to dilute the stomach acids and gastric juices that help in the digestion of food. When there is a lack of water in your body, it causes these acidic juices to flow, resulting in heartburn.
• Migraines: Dehydration can also cause migraines and inflammation in and around the eyes. This causes flare-ups of existing migraines as well. If you do not rehydrate, this can cost you your eyesight as well.
• Angina: Dehydration can cause chest pains known as angina.
• Back Pain: Dehydration may affect the spinal column, causing misalignment and back pain. Water is required to cushion the spinal column and replenish the spinal fluids. Dehydration may lead to spinal problems.
• Asthma: If the body does not get a lot of water, it can lead to the development of asthma. Due to the lack of water, the lungs do not get cleansed properly and this causes irritation of the airways, resulting in asthma.
• Colitis: When there is no water in the body, the intestine tries to absorb moisture from the colon, therefore reducing lubrication in the alimentary canal and causing pain.
• Cholesterol: Dehydration can cause a rise in cholesterol levels of your body. When there is lack of water in the body, the body uses cholesterol to act as a shield against further loss of moisture.
• High Blood Pressure: This is one of the most harmful effects of dehydration. Dehydration affects the functioning of the circulatory system and causes a rise in blood pressure.
• Urinary Tract Infection: You can experience such infections due to lack of water. As the water concentration decreases, the chance of contracting an infection due to overgrowth of bacteria in the urinary tract increases.