by Jaden McLendon
We know most of what we need to do to keep our bodies healthy, alive, and working. I’m going to talk about what happens when you don’t do only one of these tasks, and that is keeping yourself hydrated. You might be wondering: how is hydration important?
One we know about hydration is that a person can go longer without food than water. This is because 70% of your body is water, and we need the constant intake of water to keep our body functioning properly. Another reason is because if you stop drinking water, you will stop urinating and your body will not be able to process waste. Another effect is that your brain will shrink…literally.
Some ways that we lose water every day are when we go to the bathroom, sweat, and even when we breathe. We lose water even faster when the weather is hot or when we are really active. Even when you have a fever, vomiting and diarrhea can lead to rapid water loss; if you don’t replace the water you lose when these things happen, you can become dehydrated.
In many parts of Africa, there isn’t much water; this called “water scarcity.” In these conditions, sometimes people have to have to drink muddy water because they don’t have access to good water. Eventually, they can die from this. Years ago, Jay Z went to parts of Africa that experience water scarcity, and what he saw was unbelievable. He saw a girl who had to walk a long distance just to get clean water for her family.
There are some parts of the world that don’t receive fresh, clean water. This can affect people’s health in many ways. We should build wells in certain parts of the world that don’t have clean water. We should try to make sure that everyone in the world has the ability to stay hydrated, so they can stay alive and healthy.
*FUN FACT: did you know that 30% of our bodies are made out of exploding stars, A.K.A stardust?