There is no one thing that causes gout…but if there were, it would be the long term effects of dehydration.
Long Term Effects of Dehydration…on Everything!
The fact is, the USA is one of the sickest countries on the planet…with astronomical “health care” costs. IMHO, it has all been engineered and the global economy depends on the keeping the scam going. However, if we did want to bring it to an end, almost single-handedly, the way to do that would be to get everyone to monitor how much water they drink on a daily basis. If we could get everyone completely, consistently hydrated, the rate of chronic lifestye diseases would drop to record lows.
Gout is maybe one of the most obvious of all the arthritic diseases brought on by the long term effects of dehydration. But there are so many others besides arthritis:
- Asthma
- Heart Disease
- High Blood Pressure
- Poor circulation
- Depression
These are just a few and they are all, at least in part, the result of long term effects of dehydration. Chronic dehydration is an epidemic.
Long Term Effects of Dehydration and Gout
What I learned a long time ago, is that there are seven areas of health that need to be paid attention to in order to prevent gout from becoming a chronic problem. This forms the basis of my Kill Your Gout FOR GOOD video program. Not coincidentally, dehydration plays a role in causing dysfunction and imbalance in each of those areas.
1) Breathing
What became obvious earlier on, was the connection between gout and sleep apnea. That whole concept caused me to look deeper into how low blood oxygen saturation causing the blood to bcome acidic. When that happens, uric acid levels rise and that is the connection.
If we all learn to breathe more fully, deeply, and completely, (my theory) we build up reserves of oxygen in our tissues and we retrain our respiratory system to take in and make better use of oxygen during our sleeping hours.
How dehydration compromises breathing (among other things) is that it makes clearing out mucus more difficult. If the mucosal lining of the lungs becomes thick and sticky with mucus and breathing becomes difficult. When that happens, making use of the one most important nutrient we cannot live without, (OXYGEN!) is compromised. For some of us, gout is sure to follow.
That is a serious long term effect of dehydration.
2) Hydration
Of all the different body functions that are effected by dehydration, the one of most concern in regard to gout, is how dehydration effects the kidneys. Kidneys monitor and control how much uric acid stays or goes in the bloodstream. Hydration keeps everything flowing and the kidneys working like they should.
In cases of chronic dehydration, blood tests may be used to monitor electrolytes, kidney function, and acid-base balance in the body.
3) Food/Diet
The role of good hydration to maintain a good diet are twofold:
- A) Our digestive tract requires some amount of fluid (water) to help breakdown the macronutrients and faciliate the process of digestion,
- B) What we eat can add to our hydration maintenance.
If we eat mostly good live, fresh vegetables and some fresh fruit, the water content is very helpful to keeping a consistent level of hydration. Some of those fruits and vegetables are also loaded with healthy fiber that helps to clean bowels of toxic residue.
A personal theory of mine is the the water that the fruits and vegetables “process” as part of their growth cycle, is “better” water for us to be consuming. As an advocate of ionized water, my point of view is that the water in those plants has a more beneficial molecular structure to it – just a theory.
4) Stress Management
One of the easiest things you can do to combat stress, is to stay completely, consistently hydrated. Period. They say that a 2% drop in body hydration results in a 20% reduction in cognitive function.
Here’s what I’ve often wondered: I’m in traffic, somebody cuts me off, it thoroughly pisses me off. The next day, I’m in traffic, somebody cuts me off, it doesn’t even phase me. Was I dehydrated one day and not the next? I’ve played around with this and observed some pretty interesting results.
There is a big correlation to the fact that stress causes dehydration, and that dehydration is a physical stressor on the body. Sort of a “chicken or the egg?” thing. There is only one way to figure out what is going on – stay hydrated! Stress really is one of the long term effects of dehydration.
5) Toxic Chemicals
We are constantly inundated with toxic chemicals in our environment…and we don’t even know it.
Toxic pollution in our air is a pretty obvious one. The ones we don’t think about are the cheap detergents we wash our clothes and sheets with. Whether those toxins enter our inner body environment through our skin, our mouths, our noses, or if they are created by our own metabolic processes, our livers and kidneys have to deal with them.
Staying consistently hydrated is critical for our kidneys to work properly and flush out those toxins. To avoid gout due to the long term effects of dehydration, drinking half you body weight in ounces of water every 24 hours is a good rule of thumb.
Additionally, monitoring the color of your urine is the other; clear or light yellow pee is what you want to strive for. Dark, strong smelling urine likely means strong concentrations of toxins (including excess uric acid) in your blood stream.
6) Exercise
We all “sit” way too much these days. So much of our work either happens sitting at a computer, or sitting in a car or some other vehicle.
Keeping all the fluids of our bodies moving; blood, lymph, saliva, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, interstitial fluid…maintaining muscle contraction and expansion is critical – especially if you want to keep uric acid from crystallizing in one of your joints.
Among other reasons, staying hydrated keeps your joints lubricated and essential nutrients flowing to your joints during exercise. Something I always try to keep everyone aware of is that overworked joints seem to be the ones that gout decides to attack. Staying really well hydrated, especially when exercising, is good gout killing Rx.
7) Sleep
Something I have to constantly remind myself of is that I sleep better when I maintain a good level of hydration throughout the course of every day.
It’s not necessarily a good idea to drink a lot of water or anything else too close to bedtime. Having to get up and pee at night can mess up your circadian rhythms. Messing up your circadian rhythms can interrupt the detox processes of your liver.
What I have found is that if I have to get up at night to pee, if I drink a little bit of water before going back to bed, I fall asleep much more quickly and easily.
One of the long term effects of dehydration in regard to the disruption of sleep goes back to what we were talking about further up the page. The drying of nasal passages and mucus membranes makes breathing more difficult. That difficulty then leads to low blood oxygen saturation. Low blood oxygen saturation can lead to excess uric acid in the blood stream and that increases the possibility of a gout attack.
I stayed gout-free during my trip overseas!
Bert, I believe the increased daily hydration is the single most significant change in my being almost complexity gout attack free in the past couple of months!! Thank for THAT and all the other good habits and mindfulness you’ve instilled! I stayed gout free during my trip overseas and all of you suggestions were helpful and contributed.
Allen
Detrimental Long Term Effects of Dehydration on Killing Gout…
Depending on where we live in the world, we have a lot of resources available to us to maintain good health. What is completely amazing to me is how many resources we have to destroy our health by way of bad food, alcohol, and other poor choices.
As for killing gout, making the choice to stay hydrated to negate the long term effects of dehydration is one of the best gout killing resources we have at our disposal.
Gout is optional – staying hydrated is the easiest thing you can do to kill #gout!
CLICK TO TWEET!
☆ Bottom-line: It is a fair assumption that the long term effects of dehydration probably have a lot to do with your struggle with gout. Gout is optional – staying hydrated is the easiest thing you can do to kill gout!
“I know your pain. Let me help you kill your gout for good! And teach you to advocate for yourself and take ownership of your gout recovery, by showing you how to live the gout-free lifestyle.” Two decades ago, Bert Middleton found himself diagnosed with gout. Like 8.3 million other people in the United States (approximately 4% of the population), he struggled helplessly with the physical, emotional, social, and financial impact that gout left unchecked can have on your life. Prescription drugs were of limited help… And the terrible pain of regular gout attacks left him unable to enjoy even the simplest daily pleasures. His marriage was suffering. His finances were spiraling due to the impact gout had on his ability to work. And maintaining a social life was often nearly impossible. Tophi surgeries left him in terrible pain. And he found himself depressed … and angry … that gout was stealing years of his life.
Until one day, after hundreds of hours of research and self-experimentation, Bert finally had a breakthrough and created a blueprint for a way of living that would prove to be “the answer” to living gout-free for nearly a decade now. Today, Bert and his “Gout Wife” Sharon devote their evenings and weekends to educating other gout sufferers on how to live the gout-free lifestyle. Showing others his 911 Emergency Response Gout Recovery Plan for getting PAINFUL gout attacks under control in as little as 4 hours. And then, how to make daily choices that keep gout under control for GOOD! So you can finally start LIVING again!
