Dehydration has been considered to be one of the factors to affect the weight of a person. Studies have shown a great significance between dehydration and weight gain. However, dehydration affects the human health in numbers of ways. So, it does not only causes you to be fat, but it also can take a toll on your health in general.
What is Dehydration?
Dehydration is when the human body is not getting sufficient amount of water as it should or as it needs. The amount of water entering the body should be greater than compared to the amount of water leaving the body.
It can occur in certain levels from mild to sever dehydration. All of this will depend upon the amount of water that your body is deprived of.
The human body is composed of mostly water, with an average 60 percent composition. With that being said, it is indeed just as important to ensure yourself that you are getting the enough amount of water that you need.
In addition, the amount of water in our bodies can vary. Studies have proven that babies have more water in their bodies as compared to adults. Furthermore, female adults have lesser water in their bodies as oppose to male adults. Elder and obese people are the ones who have the lowest amount of water in their bodies due to certain health-related factors.
We lose water from our bodies everyday. This happens through talking, sweating, breathing, peeing, pooping and crying. Not to mention, that there are a number more of reasons as to why we could get dehydrated. We can also lose the water in our body, more than usual, when vomiting, having a fever, diarrhea and excessive sweating.
Normally, the lost water is replaced by drinking water or fluids and eating food that contain watery components. If we do not or forget to basically just drink water on a regular basis, then you can get dehydrated.
How can Dehydration make you Fat?
There have been multiple studies showing the relationship between dehydration and its effect towards a person’s weight. As far as we can be concerned, there is indeed a significance between dehydration and becoming fat because of it.
Dehydration and Metabolism
People who loves working out or exercises regularly, with the main purpose to lose weight, knows that in order to help you shed those unwanted pounds, you must improve your metabolism. In order for that to happen, they make sure that they always stay hydrated because dehydration can negatively affect your metabolism.
Having a full-functioning metabolism that is in its optimum state, is the one responsible for turning your fat and calories in to energy. If it slows down or has a poor performance, the easy it is for your body to store those fats and calories. Thus, the faster your metabolism is, the the more calories and fat you can burn and turn to energy. That can only be achieved through staying hydrated.
Water is vital to ensure that our body stays healthy and functions properly. It is the main component to every organ we have, including the muscles, skin and bones. In the subject of metabolism, water helps the body to burn the calories it intakes through eating. With dehydration, your metabolism slows down, making it unable to burn the calories and turn fat in to energy.
Studies have proven that drinking 2 cups of water before every meal, increases your metabolic rate by 30 percent.
Dehydration and Weight Gain
The main idea of how dehydration can make a person gain more weight, is its ability to slow down the metabolism of a person. It all boils down as to how the body is unable to burn calorie and turn fat to energy due to a metabolic rate that is slower than it should be.
You tend to find yourself twice as hungry than normal when you are dehydrated. Therefore, this leads to an increase amount of fat and calorie consumption. You might mistaken the rumbling motion in your stomach as hunger. Wherein as matter of fact, it might just be asking for water. Actually, water is a great appetite suppressant. So, the more you drink water, the less you tend to be hungry and the faster your metabolism can work and burn those unwanted calories and fats.
Dehydration and Muscle Performance
As mentioned above and as proven, water is responsible for the body’s ability to function to its fullest potential. That includes the ability of the muscles to work properly. If your body is not getting the amount of water you need, your body tends to be tired all the time and is unable to perform physically challenging tasks better.
If you get tired all the time, your first instinct is to just relax, stay put and sleep. Take note, sleep is one of the factors that can help you gain weight. Generally, if your muscles are not able to function to its optimum level, then you are not getting enough exercise, even just through minimal and ordinary works can definitely make you fat.
Also, if you are tired all the time, there is no energy that needs to be converted for the body, and instead it just stores stubborn fat.
The Bad Effects of Dehydration to Human Health
Aside from getting extra, unwanted pounds, it is also important to keep yourself aware of the other health effects that dehydration can do to the human body.
Headache, Migraine and Poor Brain performance
The Human Brain is composed of at least 70 percent of water. Only with that number being laid out, it is already clear that drinking water is important and must be done regularly. Headaches, Migraines or the Brain’s poor performance is main cause of fatigue. As mentioned above, dehydration can lead to feeling tired all the time.
High Blood Pressure
The blood is composed of mainly between 80 to 90 percent of water, that is if the body is getting the amount of water that it needs. If you become dehydrated, the water level in the blood drops, which causes the blood to thicken. As a result, the blood becomes resistant to its regular flow and leads to an increase in blood pressure.
Asthma and Allergies
Histamine is a biologically active compound that is the primary contributor to allergic reactions of the body. When the body loses more water than it should, the amount of histamine being produced by mast cells and basophils increases.
Skin Impurities and Diseases
Our skin is mainly composed of at least 80 percent water when the body is hydrated. If the body is dehydrated, it decreases the body’s ability to eliminate toxins through our skin. Also, having a sufficient amount of water keeps our skin moisturized which prevents us from developing wrinkles, or experiencing early aging in general. Furthermore, dehydrated skin just means that the skin is vulnerable to developing certain skin disorders.
Kidney Troubles
The human kidney is considered to be the filtering machine of the body. It is responsible for filtering the blood and turning it into urine that is composed of waste, toxins and extra fluids. Water serves as the extra boost of the kidneys to filter blood better.
The Signs and Symptoms of a Dehydrated Person
How do you know if you are dehydrated? These are the signs that you should pay attention to, in order to be alerted that you might be in need of more water in your body.
- Thirst
- Dry or chapped mouth
- Irregular or little peeing
- Dark-colored yellow pee
- Dry, cool skin
- Headache
- Muscle cramps
Now, we could all agree that it is indeed important to stay hydrated. If you notice, everything is just interconnected. Aside from the fact that dehydration can make a person fat, having excessive amount of calories and fats in your body also affects the health the same way that dehydration does. Such as, high blood pressure and kidney troubles.
So, the important lesson to keep in mind is that in order for you to stay healthy and keep your body from functioning properly, always stay hydrated!
EcoBlueLife.com is a replacement water and air filter company located in the United States. The views and opinions contained herein are solely those of the original author and do not represent Eco Blue Life or its affiliates. This article was originally published on TheBerkey.com
