Remaining hydrated is critical to your overall health.  Doing so is also as simple as carrying around a handly bottle of water, or even just eating your fair share of fruits and vegetables.  Learn more about dehydration, and the home remedies that will prevent you from drying up.

Getting Flush Again

Every cell in your body needs water in order to function properly. In fact, an adult's body weight is 60 percent water, while an infant's is up to 80 percent water. Other than oxygen, there's nothing that your body needs more than water. Water is so important because it has many critical functions in the body. Among other activities, water:
  • Lubricates your joints and connective tissues.
  • Helps digest food.
  • Liquefies mucus when you've got a cold. (This makes it easy to blow and cough it out.)
  • Eliminates body heat through sweat.
  • Carries oxygen, carbohydrates, and fats to working muscles, then carries away wastes such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid.
  • Flushes wastes from the body through urine.
  • Boosts endurance during prolonged exercise.
  • Dilutes and disperses medications and vitamins so they won't give you a bellyache.
  • Fights flight fatigue, often caused by dehydration from the dry air on the plane.
  • Wards off bladder infections by washing out harmful bacteria.
  • Helps curb your appetite.
  • Plumps up wrinkles. (We have water in and around every cell in our bodies, and when water around those cells decreases, wrinkles happen.)
  • Quenches thirst. (Thirst is our body's mechanism to alert us to insufficient fluids. If you're thirsty, it's time to restock.)

    Dizziness, headache and tachycardia can all be symptoms of dehydration.
    ©2007 Publications International, Ltd.
    Having a bottle of water on hand,
    particularly when exercising, will
    help you avoid dehydration.

The Great Escape

Each and every time you exhale, water escapes your body--up to as much as 2 cups per day. It evaporates invisibly from your skin -- another 2 cups a day. And you urinate approximately 2 1/2 pints every 24 hours. Add it up, and you could be losing up to 10 cups of water every day, and that's before you break a sweat.

Because water has so many life-sustaining functions, dehydration isn't just a matter of being a little thirsty. The effects depend on the degree of dehydration, but a water shortage causes your kidneys to conserve water, which in turn can affect other body systems. You'll urinate less and can become constipated. As you become increasingly more dehydrated, the following symptoms will develop:
  • diminished muscular endurance
  • dizziness
  • lack of energy
  • decreased concentration
  • drowsiness
  • irritability
  • headache
  • tachycardia (galloping heart rate)
  • increased body temperature
  • collapse
  • permanent organ damage or death
How Much Is Enough?

Obviously, you don't want to develop the problems listed above, so you have to ask: How much water do I need each day? Under normal conditions, the standard of 64 ounces a day is sufficient. That amount includes water from sources other than the tap. If you're an athlete or someone who spends a lot of time out in the sun, sweating, you'll probably need more. A good way to tell if you're adequately hydrated is by observing the color of your urine. If it's dark yellow or amber, that's a sign that it's concentrated, meaning there's not enough water in the wastes that are being eliminated. If it's light, the color of lemon juice, that's normal.

Here are more facts about your urine:
  • Some medications change the color, which means you can't keep an eye on your hydration level. Ask your physician about the medications you take, including over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, and minerals, that could change the color of your urine.
  • Urine is normally darker and more concentrated in the morning, but with adequate hydration it lightens to lemon-juice color and remains that way throughout the day.
  • Bathroom breaks should happen every two to three hours. If you don't need to urinate for longer periods of time, you're not drinking enough water.
The simple cure for dehydration comes from the tap. Turn it on and drink. But there are other kitchen helpers that will keep you hydrated, too. Check out the next page for some helpful home remedies to treat dehydration.

For more information about dehydration and how to prevent becoming dehydrated, try the following links:
  • To see all of our home remedies and the conditions they treat, go to our main Home Remedies page.
  • Learn more about physiology and how much water you need in How Exercise Works.
  • A big gulp of bottled water will help keep you refreshed. Learn how to choose a great one in How Bottled Water Works.
  • Believe it or not, a simple sunburn can cause dehydration. Treat it with Home Remedies for Sunburn.
This information is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither the Editors of Consumer Guide (R), Publications International, Ltd., the author nor publisher take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading or following the information contained in this information. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider. Before undertaking any course of treatment, the reader must seek the advice of their physician or other health care provider.