Judd Matsunaga
You’ve probably heard that the human body is made up of over 70 percent water. Water is your body’s principal chemical component and makes up about 50 percent-70 percent of your body weight. Your body depends on water to survive.
Drinking enough water every day is essential for optimal health. But despite everything we know about how critical water is for our health, statistics show that almost half of American adults do not drink enough water on a daily basis.
According to the Mayo Clinic’s website (www.mayoclinic.org), you lose water every day through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel movements. Not drinking enough water is the most obvious cause of dehydration. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired. Therefore, you must replenish the body’s water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water.
So, how much water is enough? You’ve probably heard the conventional wisdom that says eight glasses of water per day is the rule. But everything from your activity and hormone levels to your body weight can affect how much water you actually need.
Keep in mind that certain fluids and water-soluble fruits and vegetables count toward your hydration allowance.
It can be helpful to understand how the body normally works. As humans, we generally need to be drinking fluids every day, and it’s good for us to be eating every day as well. It’s also totally normal for us to be losing fluid every day. We lose it through urination, sweating and through our bowels. And if we’re having runnier or looser stools, we might be losing more of it than we otherwise would.
A normal, healthy, functioning body keeps us hydrated by taking in fluid through what we eat and drink. So, the body is actually designed to go through these shifts and has sensors to bring things back to the way it should be. When it comes to maintaining your fluid status, your body does have systems to sense low hydration and make adjustments.
Older adults are also especially likely to be at risk of dehydration. This especially happens to older adults because as we age, our compensatory mechanisms, such as getting thirsty when we’re dehydrated and concentrating our urine, end up working less well as we get older.
So, why are older adults at risk? According to the Mayo Clinic, aging reduces the sweat response and thirst signals. Older people tend to have more events when the weather is hot because the heat stresses the body and its compensatory systems and can tip people over into acute illness. We see higher death rates among older people, as well as more emergency room visits.
Plus, older adults are especially likely to experience other issues that can often interfere with maintaining hydration. One big cause of this is medications. There are medications out there that tend to cause people to lose fluid or maybe don’t make them as thirsty like diuretics, which are often taken for heart failure and other conditions. There is also a more popular type of diabetes medication available now.
Older adults might also be drinking less because they are having urinary concerns. If people have been having some difficulty with leaks, accidents and wetness, part of the way they compensate is to drink less, especially if they’re going out. About 7 percent of adults admit to not drinking any water at all.
And during the summer months, hot weather not only increases the risk of dehydration but also of heat stroke. So, during hot weather, take steps to stay cool and avoid heat stress and heat stroke. The outward symptoms of dehydration are fairly obvious, from dry skin and lack of energy to brain fog and muscle cramps. But the effects of chronic dehydration reach all the way down into the cells. Some of the most common signs and symptoms of dehydration include dark urine, bad breath, muscle cramps, fatigue, headaches and low blood pressure.
According to Dr. Leslie Kernisan, board-certified in internal medicine and geriatrics (www.betterhealthwhileaging.net), try offering an older person more fluids and see if they noticeably perk up within 15 minutes. If they do, you may not need to bring them in to see a doctor. You can just keep them drinking and sort of keep an eye on them because for mild dehydration, the treatment is usually to just take in more fluids orally, if possible.
So, treatment depends on the severity. Mild dehydration is generally treated with oral fluids, but moderate might require IV hydration. If it’s severe, it might require even more than that to help the kidneys recover.
“If you suspect dehydration or are seeing symptoms, consider a medical evaluation,” said Dr. Kernisan, “especially if you don’t see visible improvement once you’ve given them some extra oral fluids and given it 15, 20 minutes or half an hour to kick in.” If you have access to a blood pressure machine, check the blood pressure and pulse if to see how it compares to usual numbers.
However, if the person has been vomiting or experiencing diarrhea for a while and is really weak, you should take them to the doctor (or Urgent Care) for a full health evaluation.
Judd Matsunaga is the founding attorney of Elder Law Services of California, a law firm that specializes in Medi-Cal Planning, Estate Planning and Probate. He can be contacted at (310) 348-2995 or. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Pacific Citizen or constitute legal or tax advice and should not be treated as such.
