75% Are Chronically Dehydrated And Need To Drink More Water by Ken Jorgustin for Modern Survival Blog
I’ve read that 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. The lack of hydration is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue. This is a problem that most people don’t realize — sometimes mistaking what they think are hunger pangs for what is actually thirst. Older people often do not recognize that they’re thirsty.
I’ve also read that losing just 2% of your body weight in water compromises overall judgment by 25% and severely limits physical endurance. And since water weighs 8-pounds per gallon, it doesn’t take much to lose 2% or to be ‘chronically low’.
That’s just a quart and a half low – for a 150 pound person (for example).
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Here’s a list of ways how the body loses water as we become dehydrated – and symptoms:
How We Become Chronically Dehydrated
A person who is doing nothing, at rest, loses more than half a gallon (2 quarts) of water in a day. Once you add in exertion, climate, and other factors, this number goes much higher…
For every quart of sweat that escapes your body, your heart rate increases by about 8 beats per minute and your system becomes more stressed.
Dehydration can be cause by:
Simply not drinking enough water!
Physical activity and exertion / sweating
Illness / fever
Hot temperature environment, sunlight
Excessively high humidity or low humidity
Breathing through the mouth more than the nose
Diarrhea
Vomiting
High winds
Cold temperatures (yes, during Winter too)
High protein, fat, and sodium diet
Coffee, Alcohol
Early Signs & Symptoms Of Water Dehydration
Headache
Irritability
Dizziness or lightheaded
Nausea / loss of appetite
Dry mouth, cracked lips
Mild disorientation and confusion
Fatigue / lethargy
Decreased urine output / dark colored urine
Muscle weakness
A simple way of telling that you’ve become dehydrated (even if you do not believe that you are) is dark-colored urine. The best way to know if you have enough water in your body is the color of your urine. Ideally it should be clear, with little or no color at all.
Here’s a color chart to illustrate level of dehydration:
