Dehydration. Nedd help with this?
Monday, September 28th, 2009 at
8:08 PM
o Why is water essential to health maintenance?
o What are the functions of water in the body?
o What happens to the body when it does not get the water it needs?
o Compare and contrast how different electrolytes—sodium, potassium, and chloride—function in the body.
o What effects can alcohol and caffeine have on hydration levels in the body?
o What steps can people take to ensure they do not become dehydrated?
Filed under: Potassium and Being Sick
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Caffeine and alcohol both cause dehydration because they have a diueretic effect which causes you to expel water including electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride, lithium a well as others. The primary three mainly needed for brain cell functioning or neuraltransmission are sodium, potassium, and chloride ions.
Your body uses water in a chain reaction to produce energy with the exception of ATP and ADP energy. In the Kreb’s cycle, phosphoralytic amino acid chain transfer, and glycolisis water is needed by the cell for the mitochondria in the cell to make enrgy.
Wtih electrolytes, there is an influx of negatively charged sodium ions (depolarization) into the neuron (brain cell). This creates a huge negative electrical potential between cells (the one posively charged with sodium and the next slightly negatively charged cell.) Then there is an influx of potassium and chloride negative ions (hyperpolarization) and the sodium ions are pushed out of cell and the current of sodium ions are pulled into the next cell depolarizing it. After this occurs neurotransmitter chemicals are released between the neuron and the next neuron and they attach to the post synaptic receptors on the next neuron causing different sensations. Sorry if that is confusing or not completely correct. I took a neuroscience, 300 level class, at Purdue and a Drugs and the Brain a 400 level class also.
To stop dehydration people need to drink a lot of water and electrolytes. Gatorade and some juices (check nutrition labels on side) have fairly high amounts of the electrolytes sodium and potassium. If you are sweating a lot, having diahhrea, or urinating a lot you should be drinking lots of fluids with the three main elecrolytes in them. For babies and children pedialyte or some gatorade is good.