What is water? What are its uses? Can we live without water?
Answers
Answer:
Humans can only survive a short amount of time without water because the body needs it for almost every process, including: regulating body temperature through sweating and breathing. aiding in digestion by forming saliva and breaking down food. moistening mucous membranes.
How long can the average person live without water?
The overall health of a person can determine how much water they need to drink.
The body needs lots of water to carry out many essential functions, such as balancing the internal temperature and keeping cells alive.
As a general rule of thumb, a person can survive without water for about 3 days. However, some factors, such as how much water an individual body needs, and how it uses water, can affect this.
Factors that may change how much water a person needs include:
age
activity levels
overall health
bodily factors, such as height and weight
sex
What a person eats may also affect the amount of water they need to drink. For example, a person who eats water-rich foods, such as fruits, juices, or vegetables, may not need to drink as much water as someone who has been eating grains, bread, and other dry foods.
The environmental conditions a person is in will also affect how much water their body uses. A person living in a very hot climate will sweat, causing them to lose more water. A person in a climate-controlled environment will not sweat so they will not use as much water.
If a person who has diarrhea or is vomiting has no access to water, they will lose water much faster than someone without these issues.
Effects of having no water
Humans can only survive a short amount of time without water because the body needs it for almost every process, including:
regulating body temperature through sweating and breathing
aiding in digestion by forming saliva and breaking down food
moistening mucous membranes
helping to balance the pH of the body
lubricating joints and the spinal cord
helping the brain make and use certain hormones
helping transport toxins out of the cells
eliminating waste through the urine and breath
delivering oxygen throughout the body
Without water, the body is unable to function correctly and will begin to stop working.
The effects of dehydration come on quickly, especially in extremely hot conditions when a person sweats.
The body uses water to produce sweat, which evaporates and lowers a person’s body temperature. Without water, the body cannot produce sweat. This can lead to a dangerous increase in body temperature and put pressure on the fluid in the body, including the blood.
If this leads to a drop in blood volume, less blood circulates in the body, causing a severe drop in blood pressure. This itself can lead to unconsciousness or death.
At the same time, the mouth dries, and the digestive system slows down.
Water helps the body remove the toxins from cells and excrete them through the urine and breath. Without water, the body cannot do this efficiently, causing toxins to build up. A toxic buildup harms the kidneys, which process the removal of the toxins from the body. If the kidneys fail, the toxins build up even further, causing widespread organ failure and death.