Dehydration

Dehydration

Sharon Akers

Sci241

January 25, 2009

The human brain is made up of 95% water; blood has 82% and the lungs have 90%. It

takes as little as a 2% drop in our body's water supply to start to show signs of

dehydration. Men are more watery than women. A man's body is 60 to 65% water,

compared to 50 to 60% for a woman. This difference is because men have more muscle,

which contains a lot of water, and women have more fat, which has almost no water

(chapter9 water, and minerals pg. 282). Water is important to the mechanics of the human

body. The body cannot work without it. Water also plays a key role in the prevention of

disease. Drinking eight glasses of water a day can prevent the risk of colon cancer by

45%, bladder cancer by 50% and some doctors say water may even reduce the risk of

breast cancer.

English: A poster for drinking water security from...

Česky: Pitná voda - kohoutek Español: Agua pota...

(From source) This cholera patient is drinking ora...

Water works as a solvent for nutrients water also helps the body eliminate

waste products from the cells. Water also works to lubricates joints and acts as shock

absorbers inside the eyes and spinal cord. When a women is pregnant the Amniotic fluid,

which made up of mostly water, protects the baby in the womb.

Water also helps the body maintain a constant temperature almost as if it were a

thermostat inside the body(Neill 2008). When a person becomes to hot from being in a

hot environment or from intense physical activity such as sports, the body begins to

sweat. Once the sweat evaporates it lowers the body temperature and restores

homeostasis. Most experts agree that drinking eight eight-ounce glasses is a good

amount, but this mainly depends on the persons need. Most adults will lose between two

to three...