Can you die if you stop drinking?

So, you’re wondering if it’s possible to die from not drinking water? Well, it depends. Your body is made up of about 60% water and every organ in your system relies on it for proper function.

But before we get into the details, let’s clear something up – when we talk about “not drinking”, we mean no fluids at all. No innocent cups of tea or coffee either!

Now that that’s cleared up, let’s dive deeper.

Dehydration: A Painful Death

Without adequate hydration, your body can start to shut down pretty quickly. The first thing you’ll notice is a dry mouth and throat (ahem) followed by headaches and dizziness.

As dehydration sets in further (gulp), fatigue becomes more severe as well as muscle cramps and even seizures! In extreme cases (keep reading), hallucinations can occur too!

The longer you go without replenishing lost fluids (there goes my glass of water) the worse it gets until eventually organs will begin to fail completely leading to coma (fancy term for deep unconsciousness) followed by death (yikes).

How Long Can You Survive Without Water?

Ok so we’ve established the unpleasantness which awaits us but what exactly are those timeframes like?

Well, it really does depend on factors such as age/weight/activity level. However,sources suggest that most people cannot survive beyond three to five days without any liquids whatsoever (hello panic attack)!

Now wait, there’s more – with no access to drinkable purified sources, this time period accelerates drastically since our insatiable thirst will soon drive drinkers towards seawater or even swimming-pool blue Kool-Aid…

And while these options might keep one hydrated temporarily they’ll also introduce salt toxicity flooding toxic minerals within non-excludable cells (fingers crossed, all our cells are excludable).

Action Item: Refill your glass with a fresh source of water

The Repercussions

If you do choose to forego hydration, there are going to be many shockwaves felt throughout the body (prepare my tombstone). Firstly (and probably most disconcerting) is any pre-existing conditions will also impact survivability – that includes kidney or liver disease.

The dehydrated state forces them into overdrive trying to balance electrolyte levels as they fight for their lives like us (unite!) and become highly stressed leading to failure often vitalizing directly due to dehydration exposure (cue trauma-inducing horror music)

Other potential fallout (wordplay intended here) from not drinking include:

Urinary tract infection

Not replenishing fluids means urine becomes more concentrated and offers an ideal breeding ground for bacteria which can lead to UTIs (they’re never a good time)!

Constipation & Bowel Complications

Fretful fans of poop emoji’s take notes – stool production requires significant moisture input- solidifying once stuck within intestines. May also result in rectal bleeding known as fissure since hardened faecal matter rips tissue lining during exit-passage (yes it’s just as painful as it sounds..ouch).

Cognitive Impairment

As well-nourished brain-tissue waves goodbye after too long without fluid levels begin was affecting cognitive processing deep affecting memory recall about what we have learned thinking patterns decision-making abilities & other critical functions being subservient when liquid-intake is insufficiently maintained(I think I went through this yesterday morning).

Action Item: Reach out for that bottle again

Final Thoughts?

By now you should realize that death by dehydration is some sort of twisted reality show nobody signed up voluntarily for (Step away from the remote control fam… We also know how to avoid the catastrophic nature of it by simply drinking enough water on a daily basis.

So unless you’re trying to win that Darwin awards competition(Please don’t!), keep yourself hydrated so your organs happy and ready for another day.

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