By Dorothy Dobbie
When old people become confused, the first inclination is to blame it on early signs of Alzheimer’s or senility or a tumour, but the cause could be as simple as dehydration.
As we pass age 60, many of us stop feeling thirsty and so don’t take in enough fluids. This can be serious even at age 40 when the proportion of water to overall body weight drops to about 60 per cent in men and 52 per cent in women. After 60, though, that ratio drops again to 52 percent in men and 46 per cent in women. The reason for the gender difference is that men tend to have more muscle than fat and muscle holds more water.
Kidney function also deteriorates as we get older as they become less efficient at removing toxins from the body, so it takes more water to remove those toxins.
Confusion is not the only symptom. A signal that you need water is a dry mouth, gummy tongue or thick or little saliva. Early symptoms include irritability, breathlessness, and inattention. You may feel dizzy, weak or have an unexplained headache. Limbs can suffer cramps. You may feel sleepy. Blood pressure may drop. Certain medications can also contribute to this.
In serious cases, the person may suffer heart palpitations, and chest pain. If not rehydrated in time, coma can result followed by death.
This is no exaggeration. A friend has twice ended up in emergency thinking he was having a heart attack when the symptoms were due to lack of fluid in his body.
Try to get some liquid replenishment every two hours. Juices, teas, milk, soup, many fruits and vegetables all deliver a healthy dose of water. Keep a glass of water beside you at all times – fill it with ice to keep it refreshing.
When you are well-hydrated, life gets better. Constipation is reduced and you have a reduced risk of bladder infections or other colorectal and bladder complications such as cancer. Staying well hydrated can even reduce the risk of a fatal heart event.
The general recommendation is to drink 40 ounces of water or other liquids each day. Or to break it down to your personal needs, calculate your weight in pounds, divide by three and drink that many ounces each 24 hours. So if you weigh 150 lbs, you will need 50 ounces of fluids a day.
Does that seem like a lot? It’s not, if you break it down by hour. Assuming you are awake at least 16 hours a day (and you should try to get eight hours of sleep a night) and you need 40 ounces of liquids for the day, it works out to 2.5 ounces an hour or about the same as what would be delivered by eating an orange or an apple.
In fact, most vegetables are more than 80 per cent water and even eggs and bananas are 75 per cent water. Cucumbers contain the most water at 96 percent, but celery, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers – they are all up there in the ‘90s. Soup for lunch can deliver another punch of fluid.
It is not that hard to stay hydrated, but you need to be conscious of the requirement!