Large Bodies of Water

What percentage of the human body is water?
            
                      Are we all washed up

                                  or are we humans of substance? and who are those cute guys ^ (Source 3)?



Let's find out!  In today's Fun Fact du Jour!

(doo da doo dah doo da dooo da dadooo yeaaaaaahhhh)

Body Water: Your body water, a.k.a. the "water content of the human body" (Source 1) varies from person to person.  It depends on factors such as sex, age, amount of body fat, the type of population you are sampling, etc.

--
   ---
         ---> great blue heron says "this body of water suits me just fine" <----






Stats:  Let's see those numbers!

A man of average weight = 57% of his total body weight is water
A newborn infant = can be as high as 79%
In a person who is obese = can be as low as 45%
(Wikipedia didn't mention the women of average weight!)

More Stats:  Next, for some comparison, according to Source 2....

The average adult = 50-65% is water (about 45 quarts)
Average man = 60-65% water
Average woman = 50-60 % water
Infants = 70% water

Summary:  So both sources for the statistics show that the average adult is anywhere from 50-65% water, and that infants usually are more watery, which may explain why they are so fun to pinch and squeeze...
  

 but eventually they may learn to squeeze back...

What does it do?  So what's all that water doing in there, just swishin' around like inside a hoola hoop, looking for hidden desiccated crevices to make a little more squishy?  No!  These water molecules have important duties, like:

1. intracellular fluid

2. extracellular fluid

3. plasma

4. interstitial fluid

5. transcellular fluid

6. fluid inside organs, like gastrointestinal, cerebrospinal, peritonal, and ocular fluids


Variation throughout the Body:  Also, not all body parts are alike in terms of their water percentage.  Percentages of water:

-brain = 75%


-heart = 75%

-lungs = 86%


-muscle = 75%                     -liver = 85%                                             -kidney = 83%
   

-bone = 22% (! Them bones them bones them, dry bones!)

(them bones them bones gonna...rise again...)

-blood = 83%                                  -saliva = 95%               -perspiration = 95%
   

Drink Up and Be Healthy!  Keep those cells nice and lubricated, to enjoy the benefits of hydration and avoid dehydration, 'the excessive loss of body fluids' (Source 4), which can cause:

• headaches
• dizziness, fainting
• decreased blood pressure
• fatigue
• constipation (my favorite)
• darker urine than normal, and less of it
• being tired and irritable
• in moderate to severe, can also have seizures
• if it's severe and untreated you can experience faster breathing and heart rate, temperature rising, nausea, tingling limbs, sleepiness, muscle spasms, skin wrinkling, dimmed vision, delirium, go unconscious and eventually die.
• If you lose more than 15% of your normal water volume, you will most likely die. :(
• Also, after you're 50 years old you have less ability to sense thirst, so make sure you're hydrated because a lot of seniors suffer from dehydration, but they might not even know it.
• If you have vomitting or diarrhea, these can cause sudden loss of fluids so make sure to hydrate afterwards
• If you're dehydrated, don't drink seawater, alcohol, or urine (haha), because these will only make it worse.

...and always remember to drink safely and use a coaster!

Bibliography

1. "Body Water," Wikipedia article.  Wikipedia.org, 2012.  URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_water.

2. "What Percentage of the Human Body is Water?" question by Charles.  FunTrivia.com, 2002.  URL: http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question18791.html.

3. "Men Skinny-Dipping" Image from Blog by GasGuys.wordpress.com/create-a-group/, a group for "Christian Men who Love Skinny-Dipping" (wow sounds awesome :)).  URL: http://gasguys.wordpress.com/create-a-group/.

4. "Dehydration" Wikipedia article.  Wikipedia.org, 2012. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehydration