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You May Be Dehydrated Even If You Drink Lots of Water: Dehydration Risks and Solutions

You know the statistic: your body is 75 percent water. So you try to carry a water bottle with you every day and drink water at meals. But just drinking more water is not the answer for keeping you well-hydrated. Two little organs hold the key.

If you experience high stress levels on a regular basis, you will weaken your adrenals and dehydrate your body.

Correcting dehydration and reversing its symptoms are not as simple as how much water you consume. Dehydration can be a sign of adrenal fatigue.

stevia-plain600x600_2

Mix Stevia Liquid Concentrate with water and lemon or lime juice to create your own delicious, refreshing flavored water that is alkalizing to your body.

Some common symptoms of adrenal fatigue are:

  • Cravings for sugar
  • Cravings for salt on food when you eat
  • Feel dehydrated and thirsty and require plenty of water
  • Difficulty falling asleep at night, sleep lightly or wake early or often
  • Difficulty relaxing, nervous, anxious or hyperactive
  • General exhaustion

Adrenal Fatigue Causes Dehydration? Blame It on Stress

Your adrenals are two small glands that sit on top of your kidneys, and along with your thyroid, create energy. They also secrete important hormones, including aldosterone. Aldosterone is a hormone secreted by your adrenals that regulates water levels and the concentration of minerals, like sodium, in your body, helping you stay hydrated.1

Your adrenals are also responsible for regulating your stress response. Stress is so common today that it has become chronic for most people, creating a state of adrenal fatigue. When your body is stressed, more aldosterone and sodium circulate in your system. Once the stress is over, aldosterone levels fall and sodium must leave your bloodstream.

The sodium passes through your kidneys and exits your body as urine, taking water with it.

If you experience high stress levels on a regular basis, you will weaken your adrenals and dehydrate your body. And even if you drink a lot of water, you may not be getting the hydration you need.

11 Tips for Nourishing Your Adrenals and Rehydrating Your Body

If you want to feel more energetic and improve your health, then you need to nourish your adrenals to improve hydration.

Here are some guidelines from Dr. Leonard Smith, renowned gastrointestinal, vascular, and general surgeon, on how to hydrate properly:

  1. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water daily. If you weigh 200 lbs. then drink 100 ounces of water each day. That translates to 3 - 4 quarts per day or one gallon.
  2. Sip water slowly, 2 to 3 ounces at a time, throughout the day. If you drink too fast, you risk diluting your blood, which may cause faster excretion of water by the kidneys.
  3. Drink only 2 to 4 ounces of water with meals, or you may dilute the gastric juices that digest your food. A small amount of liquid, especially if it is hot (like soup) or fermented (like any of Body Ecology's Probiotic liquids including CocoBiotic and Dong Quai or the juice of cultured veggies) will actually aid in digestion of your meal.
  4. After you exercise, make sure you replace lost fluids with water.
  5. Make your own flavored water with lemon or lime juice and Stevia that can alkalinize your body.
  6. Avoid coffee, soda pop, and alcohol. These beverages are very dehydrating and act as diuretics. They cause your kidneys to excrete pure water without ridding your body of any toxins. Again, probiotic liquids to the rescue. Replace soda pop with healing, bubbly probiotic liquids. Combine them with sparkling mineral water and a few drops of stevia and you have a delightful soda pop replacement that will give you energy AND provide your body with microflora and minerals.
  7. Use a good water filter. Try to avoid distilled or reverse osmosis water because most of the minerals are removed in those processes. If you do have a reverse osmosis filter add minerals. Fulvic minerals or liquid magnesium are excellent additions.
  8. If you live in a dry climate, be sure to drink before you get thirsty. Your body may not show signs of dehydration in dry climates.
  9. Be sure to control your blood sugar level. Elevated blood sugar causes osmotic diuresis, where the sugar exits through your kidneys and carries water out with it into the urine. As a result, your kidneys are unable to reabsorb the water. Body Ecology once again provides you with an excellent solution. Fermented foods and beverages that are naturally sour take away cravings for sugars. You'll find yourself feeling quite satisfied with the natural sugars in foods like carrots and fruit.
  10. Keep your blood alkaline. A diet high in sugar, processed foods and animal proteins and taking over-the-counter and prescription drugs can make your blood more acidic. This condition leaches minerals from your body and weakens your adrenals. Including Vitality SuperGreen mixed with filtered water is a great way to alkalinize your blood and hydrate, especially first thing in the morning.
  11. Take care of stress and get a good night's sleep. Sleep nourishes your adrenals and allows your body to repair itself.

We all need adequate amounts of water to live, and we need strong adrenals to keep our fluid and mineral levels stable.

If you're drinking a lot of water without feeling hydrated, or if you are experiencing symptoms of adrenal fatigue, start nourishing your adrenals now. Drinking high quality water is only part of the equation. Following The Body Ecology program, with its great-tasting foods and its 7 healthy-eating principles, will help you restore your adrenals with essential minerals and hydrate your entire body for a longer, healthier life.

What To Remember Most About This Article:

So many of us don’t realize that dehydration can be a symptom of adrenal fatigue, along with sugar and salt cravings, difficulty sleeping, difficulty relaxing, and general exhaustion. The adrenals are responsible for regulating the stress response in the body, but unfortunately, stress has become so prevalent today that dehydration caused by weak adrenals is commonplace.

You can nourish your adrenals and hydrate your body at the same time with these helpful tips from gastrointestinal, vascular, and general surgeon Dr. Leonard Smith:

  1. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day.
  2. Sip water slowly throughout the day, 2 to 3 ounces at a time.
  3. Drink only 2 to 4 ounces of water at meals to avoid diluting gastric juices. Sipping fermented liquids, like CocoBiotic and Dong Quai or the juice of cultured veggies, can help to improve digestion while eating.
  4. Replace lost fluids from exercise with plenty of water.
  5. Make your own delicious, alkalizing flavored water by mixing in lemon or lime juice and Stevia.
  6. Avoid diuretics like coffee, soda, and alcohol.
  7. Use a good water filter — distilled or reverse osmosis water filters that remove minerals should be avoided. Taking liquid minerals can help to replenish any minerals lost through reverse osmosis filtration.
  8. Drink before you feel thirsty in dry climates.
  9. Control your blood sugar levels to avoid osmotic diuresis, where excess sugar and water are flushed out through the kidneys into the urine. Body Ecology fermented foods and beverages can help to naturally reduce sugar cravings.
  10. Keep your blood alkaline. Mixing Vitality SuperGreen with filtered water can help to alkalize the blood and hydrate at the same time, especially in the morning.
  11. Relieve stress to get a good night’s sleep. Sleep is essential to nourish the adrenals.

REFERENCES:

  1. Lam, Dr. Michael, "Adrenal Glands," Tuberose.com.
    http://www.tuberose.com/Adrenal_Glands.html

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  • Debra Madden

    I feel dehydrated all the time and yet I'm drinking water. Have headaches itching peeing all the time and now have digestive problems. Constipated a lot have a lot of pain when I finally do go to the bathroom my doctor does not know what's wrong with me.

  • kterbo

    This is a good article. Adrenal fatigue is real, and I drink a gallon a day (water)). Everything except the "myth" that we need an alkaline gut. I use to believe that too, and still had problems, then I read the book "Why stomach acid is good for you." It turned my health around, and my rashes, eczema and everything went away!! Even my breath improved. Heartburn is caused by a decrease in stomach acid, those same myth teaches you to buy Tums, rolaids and pepto bismol. Throw that stuff away. It is deadly. The book is written by two doctors. It is valid and makes sense.

  • Sophie Loe

    > Drink half your body weight in ounces of water daily. If you weigh 200 lbs. then drink 100 ounces of water each day. That translates to 3 - 4 quarts per day or one gallon.
    So, I weigh 65 kgs wso i have to drink 32 litres of water daily. I'd be dead.

  • ace

    the solution to dehydration is simply to drink the WHO recommended dehydration solution, this is six tablespoons of sugar and one tablespoon of salt in a liter of water. or you can buy rehydration packets to add to water from the druggists, they are common in Europe but not in the US. I ordered some from Amazon called tri oral and that or making my own is the only thing that helped my dehydration problem

  • guidoamm

    I had a bit of an unexpected situation a few days ago.

    I went off to do a half marathon in the desert at night.

    Despite drinking water regularly prior to the race and during the race, I was not absorbing hydration. Half way through the race I began to experience cotton mouth, nausea and discomfort. I had to walk the remaining half of the race. At the finish line I was not well at all, nausea persisted. I decided to try to vomit and, when I did, huge amounts of fluids came out. Felt immediately better after that but have drank very large quantities of fluids in the 48 hours following the race and have not urinated that much.

    Some background info.

    The prior month I completed a sprint triathlon in an artificial lagoon. I felt good and did not think I over exerted myself. Within 24 hours of completion I came down with severe urinary tract infection both upper and lower.

    Went on a 4 day course of Levofloxacin followed by 3 days of Nitrofurantoin. I stopped taking these drugs 2 weeks prior to the half marathon

    Any ideas what may have happened that prevented me from hydrating during the half marathon?

  • Maria

    I can't believe this, this is amazing!! I feel such a huge relief as this is exactly how I have been feeling and I couldn't explain it. Thank you so much! Also I thik more people need to know about htis and simply know that drinking lots of water can relieve so much stress

  • Alice

    I wish there were more real tips here and the whole article wasn't just an advertisement. Idk where to find these special brands and I don't order stuff online, so telling me where I could get A probiotic liquid would be more helpful than saying I have to use this special brand from this special linked site.

  • Lori

    For HK-Was no one the least bit concerned about HK on April 11th? He/she said they were committing suicide by withdrawing from fluids. HK, if you are still alive, I want you to that I care. I came to this web site looking for answers for my own symptoms but saw your post and suddenly YOU became my thoughts priority. I hope that you did not succeed at suicide and I'm sorry that no one else seemed to hear your cry for recognition or acknowledgement about what you were doing. I don't even know if your post is 1 year old or more. If you ever get this post please contact me at lorituck53 at hotmail dot com. God be with you.

  • http://www.ehealthstar.com Jan

    You need to drink as much water as you lose it. This is not always a gallon per day. A sedentary adult can lose as little as 1.2 liters water per day and most people in a temperate climate probably lose between 1.2 to 3.5 liters per day (when not exercising).
    http://www.ehealthstar.com/dehydration/how-much-water-do-i-need-to-drink-per-day

    Alcohol and caffeine in usual amounts are not dehydrating.

  • http://Www.rockcreekspringsvenue.com Micki

    Hope I am 150 lbs and 75 oz. is no problem, especially over a whole day, just try it!

  • Joshua S

    Hey Kenneth, what does your diet look like? Make sure all or at least most of the veggies and fruits you are eating are organic(look up clean 15 and dirty dozen). STOP DRINKING CONVENTIONAL ORANGE JUICE AND MILK. That stuff is HORIBLE for you. If the Oj says pasturized or flash pasteurized, then your just drinking sugar water. If you want OJ, go get a cheap juicer, you can get one for like 30-100 bucks and juice your own fresh. Also, if you want milk, make sure it is raw, and goats milk is much easier for the human body to use then cows bc goats milk is similar to human breast milk. At the very least, the milk you drink should be raw, and free of antibiotics and hormones, and the feed should either be grass fed or non gmo/non soy grain. Educate yourself about this stuff. Get some magnesium chelate in your body, I personally like Magnesium Glyicinate or Magnesium Malate. Again, educate yourself, raw food vs cooked and processed food. Organic foods vs conventional, non gmo vs gmo, different water filtration(carbon block, distilled, ionized, reverse osmosis, and everything in between). The importance of a proper 2:1 calcium to magnesium ratio(don't suplement calcium, that stuff has the bioavailibilty of chalk). The importance of esentual minerals and nutrients in the human body. Also, if a food item has organic or made with organic ingredients, then by law, it can't have gmo in it.

  • Sean

    May I also add that you should avoid smoking cigarettes as well, it only makes dehydration worse. I know from personal experience, I've been trying to figure out why I've been so dehydrated lately, I'll drink at least a couple bottles of water a day and everytime i feel dehydrated i drink a bottle pretty much or 20 oz. I do indeed smoke cigarettes and actually think its probably why I'm so dehydrated mainly because I'd hate to hear that one of my organs is going out. Thank you though!

  • Mike

    I drink plenty of water. I use a good water filter that filters toxic fluoride. The brand is called Propur water filter, it has helped me a lot getting hydrated without getting sick.

  • Sandy Bottoms

    Help, I hate salt and lemon/lime & sweets - never touch the stuff - Are there any other natural alternative to put in water as I can not afford bottled water or fancy gizmos to make my water healthier? I take a multi and eat lots of fruit but still dehydrated after drinking at least 64oz of well or tap water a day......Thanks for any input

  • Malia

    This is a good article, I will add that guzzling water also dilutes your stomach acid. Stomach acid is very important for maintaining proper digestion. If you flood the stomach the body has no other alternative then to purge it as quickly as it can, thusly exacerbating the situation. My suggestion is to add a little natural acid to your sipping water. Like lemon or lime as suggested or even a drizzle of non-filtered apple cider vinegar.

  • HK

    I'm actually on a suicide mission; this is day number 6 with absolutely no hydration. I've developed a terrific hankering for grape flavored candy suckers and french fries. I feel tired, a tad dizzy, and some leg cramping every so often, but I feel surprisingly calm psychologically. I'm usually a basket case in terms of anxiety and depression; but since withdrawing from hydration I feel pretty good. I know I'll be able to hold out another 6 days or longer by abstaining from fluids until I have renal or heart failure and fall to my death :)

  • Brian

    I drink about 192 ounces of water, which may seem a bit excessive; however, I am rather large and under a lot of stress, so I think it may be an appropriate amount for me. However, I did not know that my chugging the water down, was a bad thing and I appreciate this article very much for pointing this out. I am going to try and sip my water over a period of time, as opposed to drinking 32 to 64 ounces in a few gulps over a few minutes.

  • Ginny

    I've found that drinking reverse osmosis water at work made me a lot more dehydrated. I started bringing my own filtered tap water to work and drinking that, and am much less dehydrated now. I've found that a little sea salt in my water helps, as well as a powder that my dr told me about: Tri-salts by Ecological Formulas. It contains potassium, magnesium and calcium carbonate , which help with water balance. He said just sprinkle a little in. Thanks for the tip about sipping water throughout the day. I will try that!

  • Angie

    This works! I have been healing adrenal fatigue for 2 years now and this is the last pesky little bugger I cant seem to get over. I eat uber healthy (80% raw) and have very minimal stress... now..... but find that I want to consum a lot of water. I guzzle. When I do I pee it right out... then I guzzle again. It wakes me up at night and then I guzzle more and find I am peeing the rest of the night instead of sleeping. When I do that for so long I start to feel more exhaustion symptoms. I am depleting my adrenal/mineral reserve because my body is working so hard at getting rid of all that extra water. When I guzzle I am deluting my blood at a fast rate and the body rushes to create homeostasis (balance) so it does what it is suposed to do and sends all that water on down the pee trail. Now I only drink just 2-3 oz at a time all day. I also add a pinch of sea salt to the water to hold it in. I dont find that I am extremely thirsty or dehydrated any more. Its like magic... oh yeah..... All of a sudden I can sleep :) Good luck my friends!

  • Mary Cavanaugh

    Check out microclustered water. Water is not water. Demos and water sharing going on all over the country and the world! Email me if you want to find out more! max4metals@aol.com

  • Mary Cavanaugh

    I am an autism mom and researcher. If you have a brain injury you are severely dehydrated. In my health journey for my daughter who is on the autism spectrum I have discovered microclustered water. This water is absorbed before it gets to your stomach. Check out www.kangendemo.com to see a demo of this lifechanging water. There are water demos going on all over the country! We are sharing this water all over the country! Email me and I will get you connected with one. This is LIVING WATER!
    Don't listen to the internet. Our competitors HATE Kangen water because we are the mercedes of water ionizers.

  • Kenneth Beartusk

    i'm an 18 year old college student taking 26 credit hours. I have been extremely stressed and am dealing with a break up with my girlfriend of 2 years. I exercies daily and have kept myself extremely well hydrated since I began running track in 7th grade. I am in pretty good shape and try to eat a well balanced diet of veggies and fruits. I drink alot of orange juice and milk, and i put salt on everything. I carry a water bottle around with me daily and drink over a gallon a day. I hardly drink soda, coffee or alcohol and don't really like sweet things except for fruit and juice. But i haven't been able to sleep lately, have been feeling light headed and have been experiencing random cramping. I fight wildland fires and need to cannot be passing out on the job this summer or cramping. Please, what should i do?

  • Bee

    Thank you Thank you and Thank you!!!! The more water I drink the thister I get. I can drink over a gallonof water and be thrist. My mouth stays dry no mattter what, my skin is extremly dry and I was begining to think something was wrong and you verified and clarified the culpurts--The Adrenals and distill water!!!!! WOW! I am on it!

  • Ani

    To Rae: How rude. Explain, don't ridicule.

    To Hope: One ounce is a very small amount of water. Take out your measuring cup and fill it to the 1 Cup mark. That is 8 ounces of water. 75 ounces is a little over 9 cups of water. Space that out over the whole day and you'll find that it really isn't that much water. If you drank it all at once, yes, you would have an uncomfortably full stomach, but as the article says, that isn't what you want to do.

  • Rae

    To Hope
    Yeah if you read what it says, 100 oz is 3-4 quarts... which is a gallon. And you're supposed to drink 75 oz.. if you can't drink LESS than a gallon of water in an entire day, then something's wrong with you. Drown? Really???

  • Hope

    I'm 150 lbs. How am I going to drink 75 oz of water a day and not drown. That'll give me a stomach ache and a half.

  • http://Body Ecology amy grant

    Hi My name is amy

    how are you? I 'm fine

    I would like to tell you I don't drink a lot of water int hot wearther. I know I should drink a lot of water when it is very hot out side. I'm skin gets really sticky and hot and I can't sleep I get tired
    and lot other things.

    Have a nice day
    Amy grant


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