Our body consists of 60% water. If you lose just 1.5% of the water, you are already on the verge of mild dehydration and you may experience symptoms such as mood swings, reduced energy levels and a decrease of your cognitive functions. Besides the obvious reasons you can be dehydrated (a sunny day, exercise or not drinking enough fluids), there are other things that can cause dehydration, which are less obvious.
Menstrual cycle
Is it that time of the month? You should drink a few more glasses of water. Estrogen and progesterone affect the hydration levels in your body, and when these two hormones are out of their normal levels, such as during PMS or menstrual cycle it is a good idea to increase your intake of fluids.
Medication
You should always check the side effects of the medications you are taking.Many drugs act as diuretics, which increases the amount of urine you secrete, and thus the risk of dehydration is greater. A common example of this is medication for people with high blood pressure. On top of this every drug that has vomiting and diarrhea on its list of side effects can lead to dehydration. If you are taking medicines that contain these side effects, you should increase the intake of water and other fluids not containing sugar.
Diets low in carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are stored in your body along with fluids. So when you eliminate carbs from your diet, you lose a couple pounds of weight which mainly consists of fluids. You might look good on the scale, but the bad news is that your hydration levels are reduced. If you cut off carbs from your diet all together, you run the risk of dehydration.
Stress
When you are under stress your adrenaline gland releases more stress hormones. If you are under pressure, your adrenaline gland can be exhausted and can cause a lack of adrenaline. The problem is that this gland also produces the hormone aldosterone, which helps regulate the levels of fluids and electrolytes in the body. As adrenaline exhaustion in the body increases, the production of aldosterone in the body decreases. This results in dehydration.Increased intake of fluids can solve this problem in the short term, but managing stress is the only long-term solution.