Anatomy and Physiology: The Effects of Drinking Sea Water
The ‘Marine Insights’ suggested ten side effects of drinking sea water and highly recommended that it should not be an option when out at sea. Firstly, sea water has a very high concentration of solutes in the form of salt. The osmotic theory states that solutes flow from a high concentration to a lower one. Once it enters the body through the digestive tract a series of chemical reactions is activated to allow diffusion of salt from a high concentration to a lower one in the blood stream. Therefore, this manifests as an increase in blood pressure through oncotic pressure increase (Marine Insights, 2012)
Subsequently, the heart rate increases forcing the body to activate sweat glands to produce perspiration excessively. Consequently, physiological changes occur being recognized as headaches, dizziness, nausea, blood stained stool and vomiting. Fourth, fifth and sixth adverse signs and symptoms of sea water contamination are seen as excessive thirst, brain damage and loss of consciousness. Loss of consciousness can be a result of excessive salt and toxicity due to chemical imbalances. Impairment of judgment is another serious complication. The pathophysiological explanation is that intake of sea water should quench the person’s thirst; instead it is increased with the accompanying urge to drink more water from the sea(Marine Insights, 2012).
The eighth effect is severe dehydration. This is a direct result of osmotic activity whereby fluid and electrolyte balance becomes compromised. The pressure for the body to balance salt and water in the body produces dehydration. The ninth result is impending kidney failure or kidney failure. This is a long tern interaction because human kidneys were not designed to filter salt in such large amounts. The final outcome is death (Marine Insights, 2012)
References
Marine Insights (2012). Ten effects of drinking sea water. Marine Insights
