Dehydration Case

Humans can live for a year without shelter, four months without food, but only four days without water. That shows how important the water is. Water is life. It is next to oxygen in importance in sustaining life. The body cells, tissues, muscles and system organs need water. Without water, there would be no life. Water is actually not a nutrient but is considered as an important nutrient. It is highly needed to maintain life. The most important role of water perhaps is it's being a component of blood. It is also important in maintaining temperature as well as in elimination of body wastes. Water is required in digestion and metabolism and it functions in regulation of the body temperature. Aside from serving as cushion to the joints, it keeps the tissues and mucus membrane moist. And not to forget that water also helps in maintaining the body weight.

In our daily life, we feel thirsty. That is a signal from the brain that the body needs water. It is a way of saying a body has some sort of "dehydration" and needs to refill. When the body does not get the required amount of water, the function of the kidney to eliminate the body wastes and toxins will be altered. The problem will not be only in the elimination but it can lead to more serious problems. There will be no sufficient control of body temperature. The body can go up to the extreme temperatures or it will not be able to raise the temperature from an extremely cool temperatures. It can cause physical and mental sluggishness and can make a person look drowsy and groggy and the mental functions can have some alteration. The muscles tone will be poor and the skin can get dry, itchy and saggy. The body's digestive processes and metabolism will be affected and importantly the fats stored in the body will not be metabolized. As a common effect, there will be an inevitable constipation. And just imagine how the body will be if there is no adequate water there would be minimal urine, no perspiration, no saliva, and pretty bad toned muscles.

The human body undergoes electrical activities to function. The body's capacity to conduct electricity is acquired when the substances called electrolytes become ions in solution. The electrolytes balance is very essential for normal functioning of the body cells and organs. These important body electrolytes include sodium, potassium, and chloride. The functions of these electrolytes are detailed and contrasted below.

Sodium is one of the major positive ions in extracellular fluids or fluids outside the cells. It is the most abundant extracellular cation, which is accounted for the most of the osmotic activity of the extracellular fluid. It plays an important role in water distribution across the cell membranes. The homeostatic mechanisms for sodium and water are interlinked. Sodium acts in the regulation of the total amount of water in the body.

Potassium is another major positive ion but located differently from sodium as this is found intracellular or inside the cells. The large amount of potassium ions provide reservoir for the extracellular compartment. Unlike its great effect on sodium, the changes in water balance have little direct effect on the potassium concentrations. Potassium enters and leaves the extracellular compartment through the intestines, the kidney, and through the membranes of all other cells. It can enter the cells more easily than sodium. The changes in the potassium levels are more dependent on volume depletion or