Does your body feel bloated? The cause for your puffiness is likely water retention, aka fluid retention. Medically referred to as edema, this health condition means an abnormal amount of fluid has accumulated in your circulatory system, tissues and/or body cavities.
Over half your body is composed of water and it’s present both inside and outside of cells. Also, blood plasma consists of mostly water. Water plays a vital exchange role in the delivery of nutrients and removal of waste products between capillaries and interstitial fluid. Interstitial is the space between cells and it’s this fluid where cells receive nutrients and deposit their waste. Water retention occurs when too much water is maintained in this surrounding tissue area.
Some causes of water retention include hormonal changes, histamines, dehydration, diet, inactivity, drug side effects or an underlying disease, frequently involving your heart or kidney. Following are short blurbs regarding these causes individually.
Fluid retention is a common symptom of the premenstrual syndrome. Since fluid is regulated by hormones and prostaglandins, natural hormonal changes after ovulation and before menstruation can cause some women to retain extra fluid. Suggested remedies for this are increasing physical activity, consume a healthy diet and significantly cut back on your salt consumption. Furthermore, some report relief by supplementing calcium, magnesium and vitamin B.
Histamine causes capillary walls to become more permeable to allow white blood cells to migrate into the tissue to address a cause for inflammation. However, it also means water leaks out as well. With chronic inflammation, water retention can become chronic too. Treat the cause for inflammation and you’ll likewise remedy this cause for fluid retention.
Dehydration
When you’re dehydrated your body protects itself by conserving and retaining water. So to remedy this cause, drink more water on a regular basis.
Diet
Protein attracts water, so a severe protein deficiency may lead to fluid retention because there’s not enough of it circulating in your blood to draw water out the tissue. Also, consuming too much salt causes your body to retain water in an effort to dilute it. The remedies for these two diet related causes are simply increase protein and reduce salt intake.
Inactivity
Muscle action helps your blood flow against the forces of gravity on its return to the heart from your lower extremities. When sedentary for long periods blood moves too slow and pools, thus affording the opportunity for fluid to escape into tissue spaces. The remedy for this type of water retention is to get up and move around frequently throughout your day.
Drug Side Effect
Certain drugs that tend to cause water retention include:
Heart
The pumping force of a healthy heart keeps the pressure in your blood vessels within normal levels. With congestive heart failure, the heart is less efficient, thus causing less pressure in your vessels. This signals a need to increase blood volume, so to compensate your kidneys retains more water. As a result, water builds up in your legs, feet, ankles and lungs. Fluid retention remedy caused by heart failure is usually taking a diuretic.
Kidneys
Kidney failure can cause severe fluid retention because they no longer efficiently filter fluid out of the blood and prepare it for excretion (urine). In the cases wherein water retention is extreme, dialysis may be required.
Natural Remedies: A couple of liquids have natural diuretic effects, for instance caffeinated drinks, lemon water and cranberry juice. In addition, foods high in vitamin C may assist in shedding your water weight gain.