dehydration
Sign in to saveIn physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water that disrupts metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds intake, often resulting from excessive sweating, health conditions, or inadequate consumption of water. Mild dehydration can also be caused by immersion diuresis, which may increase risk of decompression sickness in divers.
AI overview
Dehydration happens when your body loses more water than it takes in, which disrupts the normal chemical processes your body needs to function. This can occur from sweating a lot, certain health conditions, or simply not drinking enough water.
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Key facts
- Medical condition (new).name
- Dehydration
- Medical condition (new).image
- Cholera rehydration nurses.jpg
- Medical condition (new).caption
- Nurses encourage a patient to drink an oral rehydration solution to treat dehydration caused by cholera.
- Medical condition (new).field
- Critical care medicine
- Medical condition (new).symptoms
- Increased thirst, tiredness, decreased urine, dizziness, headaches, and confusion
- Medical condition (new).complications
- Low blood volume shock (hypovolemic shock), coma, seizures, urinary tract infection, kidney disease, heatstroke, hypernatremia, metabolic disease, hypertension
- Medical condition (new).causes
- Loss of body water
- Medical condition (new).risks
- Physical water scarcity, heatwaves, disease (most commonly from diseases that cause vomiting and/or diarrhea), exercise
- Medical condition (new).treatment
- Drinking clean water
- Medical condition (new).medication
- Saline
Article
14 sectionsContents
- Signs and symptoms
- Cause
- Mechanism
- Diagnosis
- Definition
- Physical examination
- Laboratory tests
- Prevention
- Treatment
- Prognosis
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water that disrupts metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds intake, often resulting from excessive sweating, health conditions, or inadequate consumption of water. Mild dehydration can also be caused by immersion diuresis, which may increase risk of decompression sickness in divers.
Most people can tolerate a 3–4% decrease in total body water without difficulty or adverse health effects. A 5–8% decrease can cause fatigue and dizziness. Loss of over 10% of total body water can cause physical and mental deterioration, accompanied by severe thirst. Death occurs with a 15 and 25% loss of body water. Mild dehydration usually resolves with oral rehydration, but severe cases may need intravenous fluids.