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Sudden anger or other mood swings.

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Its later stages can bring on: l

Absence of sweating when it should be expected.

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Increased heartbeat and lowered blood pressure.

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Delirium.

The final stage is unconsciousness, followed quickly by death. The cure for dehydration is water. Lots of it. Once you are into its later stages, the curative process of re-hydration can require several days of serious fluid-pounding and rest. In the final stage, urgent intravenous medical treatment is required to prevent death. You can readily see that, even in its early stages, dehydration can seriously compromise your ability to think clearly, and therefore your ability to cope effectively with the challenges of a crisis. The three days part of the rule for water provides you with an absolute, outside parameter only. It assumes that you are starting out hydrated; that you are average sized and in reasonably good health; that you are in a temperate (nottoo hot and not-too cold) environment; and that you are not engaged in any particularly strenuous or stressful activities. In a crisis situation, however, you can’t afford to wait that long.

II: How Much Water? Once again, the biology of human water consumption is pretty basic. Your body is about 75% water. You need to regularly take in water, because your body requires a lot of it in order to function properly, and you’re constantly giving it up. A human being typically loses the most water through respiration, perspiration, and urination. What you give up you need to replace. How much depends on a lot of factors, but the most important ones are generally: l

Your size

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Your health

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Your environment

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Your activities

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