17 Signs of Dehydration: It's Late If You Don't Drink Water Now
Core Tip: Thirst is the warning signal our body sends when it is dehydrated. This is because we only feel thirsty after the body has been dehydrated for a considerable period of time. Sometimes, the body can be severely dehydrated without the mouth feeling dry. Therefore, one cannot judge the body's hydration level solely by the dryness of the mouth.
How can you tell if your body is dehydrated? Fortunately, our bodies have a very sophisticated dehydration alarm system. This system alerts us to the body's water shortage through various symptoms, but we just don't know how to read these signals.
1. Unexplained Fatigue
The process of energy production in the human body cannot be separated from water. Water is the central controller that regulates the osmotic balance of mineral ion pumps. Energy is produced as water operates this pump, sending potassium ions into the cells and sodium ions out of the cells. When water activates the pump protein, sodium and potassium ions attach to it, acting like "generator magnets." This is the same principle as how a hydropower plant generates electricity.
For this process to proceed smoothly, 75% of the cell's interior needs to be water. Only then can the water passing through the cell membrane operate the pump, completing the exchange of substances such as sodium and potassium ions.
The body cannot store water. The water we drink is used for digestion, absorption, energy production, waste removal, and many other functions. The remaining water is excreted through urine. Therefore, if you don't drink water frequently, the body won't have enough water to produce energy, and you will only feel tired.
2. Unexplained Irritability, Anxiety, and Depression
Feelings of irritability, anxiety, and depression are signals from the brain's frontal lobe that its area is lacking in water.
When the body is dehydrated, it cannot produce enough urine, so it has to divert some core substances to act as antioxidants to process toxic waste from metabolism. These core substances include tryptophan, an essential amino acid necessary for animal growth, and tyrosine, an amino acid essential for metabolism. Both are used as antioxidants to neutralize toxic waste in the liver.
In addition, tryptophan is the raw material for making serotonin, melatonin, tryptamine, and indoleamine, which are neurotransmitters needed to maintain and integrate the body's functional balance. Therefore, when the body is dehydrated, it continuously consumes some essential amino acids needed for metabolism, making a person feel weak all over.
Emotional depression indicates that the body's dehydration has worsened. When the body lacks tyrosine, a person may feel depressed. This amino acid is the raw material the brain uses to make neurotransmitters such as adrenaline, norepinephrine, and dopamine. If tyrosine is diverted to detoxify the body, the activity of neurotransmitters will decrease, and a person will lose vitality and become depressed.
If you feel unexplainedly irritable or depressed, slowly drink two or three glasses of water. This will help you calm down quickly and return to your normal state of mind.
3. Indigestion
After food enters the mouth, digestive enzymes in saliva soften it during chewing. As food passes through the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, proteins into amino acids, and fats into small fatty acids. Vitamins and minerals are also dissolved in water, becoming a form that is easily absorbed by the body.
Dehydration causes waste to accumulate in the body. Our body will treat this waste as it would a disease, using all its energy to remove the waste instead of performing daily cell regeneration work. Therefore, dehydration can cause many body organs, especially the digestive organs, lymphatic system, and kidneys, to lose their normal vitality. The digestive process, which constantly requires water from start to finish, is particularly affected.
The process of dissolving, crushing, and dispersing food in water is called hydrolysis. Water is also what delivers these broken-down nutrients to the cells. Moreover, converting absorbed nutrients into energy also requires water. Therefore, when the body is dry, digestion will naturally be affected.
Conversely, excessive water intake can also affect digestion. Drinking water before or immediately after a meal can dilute the digestive juices in the stomach, easily leading to stomach discomfort. Drinking water while eating can promote sugar absorption, easily leading to obesity. Therefore, the habit of eating watery rice or soup with meals is not good for your health. It is best to drink water 0.5 to 1 hours before or after a meal.
4. Constipation
After food is consumed, its nutrients are absorbed by the body, and the remaining residue is slowly compressed and moves to the large intestine. In the process of the food residue slowly moving to the large intestine, water acts as a lubricant; in other words, it softens the stool to facilitate excretion.
To prevent the body from drying out, the last part of the small intestine and the large intestine are good at absorbing water. If the body is dehydrated, the stool will become hard and round as it passes through the small and large intestines. Without enough lubricant, its movement speed will slow down. This leads to constipation.
If stool remains in the body for too long, harmful gases such as carbon dioxide and marsh gas in the stool will be absorbed by the body, causing problems like headaches, nausea, indigestion, and loss of appetite. The longer the stool stays in the intestine, the longer the carcinogens and internal waste are in contact with the large intestine. If the large intestine is frequently in contact with carcinogens for long periods, its cells are more likely to mutate, leading to polyps or diverticulosis, and in severe cases, even colorectal cancer.
People eat dietary fiber to improve constipation. However, if you only eat dietary fiber without drinking water, the stool will only become harder, worsening the constipation. When consuming dietary fiber, you should also pay attention to drinking water.
Drinking water while eating more soft, water-absorbent fiber is the most natural and easiest way to solve constipation. But coarse fiber may cause indigestion.
5. Increased Waist Fat
Dehydration not only reduces hormone function but also easily leads to constipation. Chronic constipation can cause poor circulation in the abdomen, leading to the accumulation of abdominal fat, which in turn further causes difficulty in excretion. This creates a vicious cycle of poor circulation and increased abdominal fat.
Hormone deficiency caused by dehydration in the body can easily lead to weight gain. A decrease in growth hormone and estrogen will increase waist fat. A lack of growth hormone will reduce muscle mass and increase abdominal fat, and the reduced muscle mass will lower the basal metabolic rate, trapping a person in a vicious cycle of obesity.
6. Body Odor
Removing toxins from the body is one of the functions of the skin. The skin is like a sieve with very fine holes. As water evaporates through these holes, body waste is expelled along with the water. The waste emits an unpleasant odor, and insufficient water will increase its concentration, worsening body odor.
When detoxification organs like the liver and kidneys are overloaded, the skin has to work harder to expel toxins, which can lead to skin rashes.
7. Inability to Sleep Soundly
Thirst can cause a person to wake up frequently from sleep, and dehydration can also make a person feel hot and unable to sleep deeply. Without deep sleep, a person will continue to dream or have nightmares, and the body may also ache faintly.
Even during sleep, our bodies continuously consume water. If you sleep for 8 hours, you will lose a lot of water through breathing, and you will also sweat during sleep, worsening dehydration.
Therefore, you should replenish enough water during the day and drink about 1/4 cup of water before bed. However, drinking too much water will lead to frequent trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night, so the amount of water you drink should be just enough to quench your thirst.
8. Reduced Memory
If there is insufficient water in the blood, leading to dehydration of brain cells, the brain will not get the oxygen and nutrients it needs, and the function of brain cells will decline. If brain cells do not get enough water, their recovery and information transmission abilities will decrease, and memory will naturally decline.
More seriously than this, poor blood circulation will lead to an inadequate water supply, and brain cells will gradually be damaged without realizing it. Forgetfulness is also caused by this.
9. Headaches and Heaviness in the Head
Brain cells produce metabolic toxic waste during their operation, but they cannot tolerate these acidic substances themselves, so they clean them up in a timely manner.
This is also why the brain has priority in water allocation. When water is insufficient, the brain instructs more blood to be sent to itself to clear the waste. The feeling of heaviness in the head is this signal.
Supplying blood to the brain requires passing through the carotid artery, which extends from the heart's aorta, through the scalp and face, the tongue, and finally through the skull. As the brain instructs more blood to be supplied to itself, the arteries begin to expand forcefully, blood circulation in the face and scalp increases, the pulse of the arteries around the temples strengthens, and a headache occurs. If the increased blood flow to the brain cannot meet the water needs of the brain cells, even migraines can occur.
10. Frequent Fever
Water in the body plays a role in regulating body temperature. If the body cannot regulate its temperature, this is another sign of dehydration.
A representative signal of the body's inability to regulate water due to dehydration is heatstroke. If you work or exercise excessively in the hot summer sun and sweat profusely, you can easily collapse from heatstroke. Excessive sweating leads to a large loss of body water, and dehydration in turn causes the body to lose its ability to regulate temperature and resist the extreme heat.
If a child's fever rises above 40°C, they may have febrile seizures. This is also a phenomenon caused by dehydration. Dehydration can cause the body to lose its ability to regulate temperature, leading to convulsions due to high fever.
11. Frequent Blinking
Frequent blinking indicates that insufficient tear secretion has caused dry eyes. Usually, people with dry eye syndrome blink frequently, and sometimes their eyes involuntarily close, with a stinging sensation in the eyes, followed by tears. This is a protective mechanism the body enforces to prevent the evaporation of moisture from the eyes.
If rubbing the eyes does not moisten them, drinking water can quickly relieve the burning and pain in the eyes. Using artificial tears or frequently washing the face and dripping water into the eyes can also help relieve the symptoms.
12. Face Flushing
85% of the brain is composed of water. The brain is always immersed in salty cerebrospinal fluid. Therefore, it is extremely sensitive to even the slightest dehydration. Among the many organs in the human body, the brain has priority in water supply.
When a dry body continues to dehydrate or body temperature rises, the brain will prioritize the blood supply to the cerebral blood vessels even at the expense of other tissues. When the water supply is insufficient, the brain will dilate the cerebral blood vessels to a certain extent, causing the face to flush.
The face is not only an organ that carries the facial features but also provides numerous nerve endings that act as receptors. Nerve endings continuously monitor the surrounding environment and transmit the results to the brain. In other words, the face is an extension organ of the highly sensitive brain, so the nerve endings in the face also need sufficient water to increase blood supply to the brain and blood circulation in the face.
Alcoholics often have red noses because alcohol causes severe dehydration in the brain. If a person's face is flushed and they have a red nose, it means their body is in a state of dehydration.
13. Impatience and Decreased Concentration
When you need to patiently focus on something, the brain consumes more energy than usual. If energy is insufficient, the brain will instruct you to finish your work as soon as possible. Therefore, when energy is low, a person will appear impatient.
The same is true for decreased concentration. When focusing on a topic or class, the brain requires a lot of energy. The more water the brain gets, the more energy it can produce to incorporate new information into its memory bank.
Excessive intake of carbonated drinks can lead to decreased concentration in children. This is because the caffeine in carbonated drinks has a diuretic effect, causing dehydration in the body, and other additives in the drinks can also cause emotional agitation.
14. Joint Stiffness
Joints are important organs that absorb the impact between bones and act as a buffer. All joint surfaces are covered with cartilage, and the synovial fluid in the joint capsule surrounds the cartilage and joint. The synovial fluid in the joint capsule acts like a lubricant to reduce friction between cartilages. When the body is dehydrated, the synovial fluid in the joint capsule will decrease and cannot properly absorb the impact between joints.
Everyone knows that without lubricant, a car engine cannot work properly. The same is true for joints. If the joint capsule shrinks, the joint will not get enough water and blood, the cartilage will become dry, brittle, and prone to cracking, and it cannot buffer friction and impact.
If a joint often hurts, it means the painful area is lacking in water and cannot clear the acidic or toxic substances accumulated in the joint.
15. Not Sweating
Both excessive and insufficient sweating can be troublesome. Hyperhidrosis, where hands and feet are often wet, not only brings inconvenience to the person but also affects their appearance. People whose feet sweat easily are prone to athlete's foot.
In contrast, some people's hands and feet do not sweat at all, and the palms or soles become dry or cracked. Both of these situations are caused by abnormalities in the autonomic nerves that control sweating in the hands and feet, and attention should be paid to regulating the autonomic nerves. A check-up can determine if the autonomic nerve function is abnormal.
When sweating excessively, sweating can be prevented through sympathectomy. However, the problem of not sweating at all cannot be solved by surgery. Frequent hand or foot baths, drinking plenty of water, and using moisturizers can help relieve these symptoms.
16. Dizziness and Lightheadedness
There are many causes of dizziness. If a person has no underlying diseases and their nutrition is balanced, it is very likely that low blood pressure caused by dehydration. Some people feel dizzy when suddenly standing up from a sitting or lying position. This is usually not a neurological problem such as anemia or balance disorders, but orthostatic hypotension.
94% of blood is composed of water. Insufficient water will lower blood pressure, which will reduce the amount of blood flowing to the brain, causing a certain type of cerebral ischemia. When the brain is dehydrated, a person will feel dizzy as if they are lacking oxygen.
Modern people can ingest various rich nutrients from their diet, so unless they are ill or vegetarian, anemia usually does not occur. Women, under the influence of hormones before and during ovulation, are prone to edema, which can lead to orthostatic hypotension. Therefore, women are more prone to dizziness than men.
Some people take iron supplements as soon as they feel dizzy. If you are not anemic but take iron supplements, it will only make the blood thicker, increasing the risk of cancer or stroke.
17. Thickening of the Blood
Excessive sweating causes a large loss of water in the blood, making it thicker, and the red blood cells in it are more likely to form clots. Moreover, an increase in blood concentration can easily lead to high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis. We can check the body's blood concentration and clotting situation through a blood analysis test.
Thick blood and clots blocking the heart can cause cardiac arrest, which is a direct threat to life. A deceased famous comedian was in this situation. Through weight loss, he successfully lost 30kg, but suddenly had a cardiac arrest while having a bowel movement and unfortunately passed away. Before his death, he had sweated a lot in a sauna and then again during exercise, which caused a large loss of water and made his blood too thick.
It is not uncommon for people to have a stroke while in a sauna. This is because thick blood can block cerebral blood vessels, causing cerebral infarction. Therefore, it is best to drink a glass of water 30 minutes before exercise and to rehydrate in small amounts multiple times after exercise.