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Dehydration: How exactly does it kill you? (self.askscience)

submitted 1 year ago by thebestaquaman to c/askscience

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I mean, I've heard that you can typically only survive about three days without water, but what exactly causes your body to fail when you dehydrate too much?

I guess one point is lack of salts (if you sweat a lot) but I'm specifically wondering about lack of water (although a closer explanation about how lack of salts will kill you is also appreciated)

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[–] Foggyfroggy 7 points 1 year ago

As water level decreases, the total amount of sodium stays the same. So, essentially it is increasing in concentration. Too much salt interferes with heart cells’ ability to contract together. So less water = more salt = less heart coordination.

Cardiac arrhythmia due to hypernatremia and hypovolumenia can be fatal. There are many changes that occur, but the effect on the heart will kill ya.