Introduction
The term “exsiccosis” originally comes from Latin and is derived from the words ex = “out” and siccus = “dry”. This explains the word actually already as good as by itself. Desiccation is simply a synonym for the commonly used word “drying” or dehydration (be careful here!
It is not dehydration, as often assumed, but dehydration. The former refers to the removal of hydrogen and is a technical term in chemistry or molecular physics. The second one means the removal of water, which is also what we are looking for here). Now that we have roughly arranged the terms, we can turn to the actual question: What is a desiccosis, how does it come about, what does it do and, above all, how harmful is it and what can be done about it?
Definition
To put it simply, desiccation is simply the state a human body enters when it loses more water, or rather liquid, than is supplied to it. Dehydration describes the lack of fluid and desiccation describes the dehydrated body and the consequences of the lack of fluid. Our human body consists of about 60-65% of water in men, 50-55% in women and 60-70% in children.
It is not easy to determine the percentage of body water in relation to body weight. It is usually an approximate estimate, calculated on the basis of body weight, sex and age. Of course, the so-called body water is not the kind of water that comes from our taps and flows in streams and rivers.
Body water is made up of several different fluid cycles, which are roughly divided into intracellular fluids (those fluids that are inside cells) and extracellular fluids (those that are outside cells). The so-called intravascular space, i.e. everything inside blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, is included in the extracellular space. Intracellular fluids and extracellular fluids differ from each other not only in their location, but also in their composition of electrolytes, proteins and their osmolality.
Among the most important electrolytes in the body are sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. It is immensely important that these substances are present in the body in a very specific concentration, because only then can all metabolic and other processes in the body run smoothly and the “human machine” can function. However, if too much fluid is lost, the fine balance between the individual electrolytes and other trace elements can no longer be guaranteed and a wide variety of symptoms occur. Important warm signs of dehydration or an imminent desiccosis are therefore:
