Sci 241 Dehydration Paper

Humans can live without food for months, a year without shelter, and only days without any water. Water is very important and this shows why. All water is life. Water is like oxygen because it's important to sustain life. It's needed in tissues, body cells, system organs, and the muscles. Without any water, there wouldn't be life. Water is not really a nutrient, however it's considered one. To maintain life it's highly needed. One of the most important things water does is that it's a component of blood. Another important part of water is that it maintains the temperature, and it eliminates the body's waste. It's required in metabolism and digestion, plus it functions by regulating the body's temperature. It acts by cushioning between joints, and keeps mucus membrane and tissues moist. Water also aids in the maintaining of body weight.

All through daily life, all of us feel thirsty. This is the brains signal that our body needs water. The brain is saying the body's dehydrated, and needs to be replenished. When your body doesn't get a great amount of water, your kidney function that eliminates wastes or toxins becomes altered. Not just this problem can occur, other major serious problems could happen. Body temperature can be no longer sufficiently controlled. You can end up with extreme temperatures, or be unable to bring your temperature up from a majorly cold temperature. Mental and physical sluggishness can happen, plus you could look groggy and drowsy or altered mental function can take place. Skin will be dry, saggy, or itchy, and muscle tone will look poor. Your metabolism and digestion process can be affected, plus fats that are stored in the body can't be metabolized. A common side effect of dehydration is inevitable constipation. You will end up having no perspiration, scanty urine, bad muscle tone or skin, and little to no saliva.

Electrical activities are what our body goes through to function. For our body to conduct electricity it needs to acquire electrolytes, which becomes ions within a solution. A balance in electrolytes is essential for the body's normal function of organs and cells. Important electrolytes can include; chloride, sodium, and potassium. Functions of electrolytes are explained and detailed below.

Sodium's a major positive ion or cation with extracellular fluids outside the cells. Sodium's an abundant extracellular cation, and is the main reason for most osmotic activity of our extracellular fluid. This has an important major role in our water distribution all among the cell membranes. Interlinked are the homeostatic mechanisms to the water and sodium. Regulation of water in the body is controlled by sodium.

Another major cation or ion is potassium, but it's located different from sodium because it's found inside the cells. A extreme amount of the potassium ions help in providing a reservoir for the extracellular compartments. Un-like the great effect it has on sodium, the water balance changes has little to no effect on the potassium concentrations. Through the kidneys, intestines, and other cell membranes potassium enters and leaves the body. Potassium enters the cells easier then sodium. Potassium level changes are mostly dependent on volume depletion instead on hemoconcentration.