Absolutely!

I have been helping people with their nutrition for many years and the main issue that comes up every single day with almost everyone I see is dehydration. When I tell them "dehydration", they very often say "but I drink a lot of water".

When I tell them that drinking a lot of water can actually worsen the problem I get a look of total disbelief.

"So much salt’s lost in perspiration that men died from lack of it. The problem was first studied in a mine in England where it was extremely hot. The miners complained of continuous exhaustion, of cramps in their legs, back and abdomen. Several died of heat prostration (an abrupt failure of function or complete physical exhaustion).

"In spite of the heat, the body temperature of the stricken men was about normal. The more water they drank, the worse the cramps became. Finally the perspiration lost during a shift was collected in big rubber boots, and analysis showed that it sometimes contained as much as four tablespoons – 2 oz – of salt. As soon as the men were given salt water, the exhaustion and cramps disappeared, and there were no more deaths." Extracted from Adelle Davis "You Can Get Well".

Why Salt?

To make sure that we are all on the same page regarding what I mean by salt, I want to clarify this for you. Salt is NOT the refined, chlorinated stuff you buy in most supermarkets. Eating that salt is like trying to get your motor car to run on one piston. It’s just not workable and it can be harmful. However, if there is an emergency dehydration situation, even sodium chloride (table salt) can save a life too.

Salt is that important to our survival that our forefathers traveled thousands and thousands of miles circling the earth and were gone from their loved ones for years in the pursuit of this valuable commodity.

Real salt has all the other trace minerals and minerals intact. It is not refined and very often comes in the form of little rocks or pebbles that need to be ground in a shaker or similar device. Common table salt is pure sodium chloride. It does not contain any of the other naturally occurring minerals. It is purified, bleached to get it white and is utterly dead. Real salt is alive and beneficial to good health. In fact, without it you can die.

If it’s white, it’s not salt. It's the bleached, commercial stuff. Real salt is colored and the color depends on its source. It can be grey, brownish, reddish, etc.

Calcium and Magnesium

What have these two minerals got to do with dehydration? Calcium and magnesium are both minerals and also get lost in the same way as the salt depletion occurs through sweating and other body functions as well as stress and other causes of deficiencies.

Sweating

Sweating is vital for a healthy body. The skin is the largest organ and it’s a sign of good health if you sweat and not sweating can be a sign of danger.

Decreased or no sweating can be a serious problem because sweating is the body’s main way of getting rid of excess heat. A person who doesn’t sweat (or doesn’t sweat enough) can easily become overheated, and even have heat stroke — a life threatening condition in which the body temperature gets dangerously high.

This can be caused by dehydration and heat stroke. Don’t mess with this. Proper medical help should be sought.

Another thing that inhibits sweating is tattoos. Ask anyone who has a tattoo if they ever notice any sweat on their skin where they have a tattoo.

Sources of Dehydration

Here are my observations and conclusions about some hidden sources of dehydration.

• Drinking a lot of water without replenishing your minerals, specifically salt, will actually dehydrate you and/or worsen dehydration.

• Air conditioning on airplanes and in homes and offices are designed to extract moisture (humidity) from the environment. It’s the moisture that makes one very uncomfortable. The biggest moisture-carrying object in the environment is usually the human body so the air conditioning is literally sucking it out of you.The hotter it gets and the lower you turn the a/c, the worse the dehydration gets because it is just sucking harder. Have you ever noticed how the room gets hotter the more people in it? That’s because there’s more moisture and it’s sucking it out of more people and filling the room with increased humidity so it works harder to suck that moisture out.It is literally sucking the life out of you. You can do an experiment to see for yourself. Give a pot plant some water in an air-conditioned room and watch how quickly it dries out or if you have fish in a tank or bowl, watch how quickly the water level drops. That will give you an idea of what’s happening to your body.

• I have also found that a certain percentage of people on very alkaline water, distilled or reverse osmosis water also get dehydrated. Not everyone but enough people to draw my attention to it.Basically, the human body likes homeostasis*. An ideal range for homeostasis is between 7 and 8 pH. Your digestive system should be around 2 – 3 pH. You don’t want to alkalize it because that can cause digestive problems. For example, heartburn is caused by a lack of acid, not too much of it.

*homeostasis:the tendency of a system, especially the physiological system of higher animals, to maintain internal stability, owing to the coordinated response of its parts to any situation or stimulus tending to disturb its normal condition or function.

Suggestions for Staying Hydrated

i) Sea Electrolytes: These are the Rolls Royce of options. It is sea water in glass ampoules. The chemistry of the Sea Electrolytes is almost identical to that of the human blood chemistry. It works like magic to correct a dehydration problem. I have used them successfully to handle someone in less than half an hour who fainted and was vomiting from dehydration (normally this could mean a visit to the emergency room and several days of incapacitation).

ii) Cell Salts: The correct ones are the combination ones that have about 10 – 12 minerals in them. These are my second option and they also work like magic.

iii) Salt: Getting a good quality salt such as that supplied by Himalayan Living Salt is a good alternative. You can put some into your drinking water. There is no specific dosage. Just add it until the taste of the water is exactly right for you. Let your taste guide you. Carry a little baggie of it in your purse and add it to your bottled water.

iv) Water: Drink enough water. Coffee and soft drinks increase dehydration so if you’re drinking them, make sure you’re compensating with plenty of water and salt.

v) Calcium and Magnesium: Make sure you take enough of this daily. It is also important that you get it in the right form so your body can actually absorb and use it.

"Do not avoid salt unless advised to do so by your physician. …… let your taste for salt be your guide; salt generously rather than sparingly." Adelle Davis "You Can Get Well".

Signs of dehydration include: lethargy, lack of energy, inability to sleep, stuck in a "blue" funk, cry easily for no apparent reason, fainting, nausea, dizziness, headaches to name some.