When you’re dehydrated you drink electrolytic liquids or take salt tablets, but consuming too many salty things (I.e. pretzels, salty foods) can dehydrate your body?
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Your body has a balance between salt and water. Drinking too much water upsets this balance. Consuming too much salt upsets this balance.
If you have saltwater which is already balanced, drinking it will not upset your body’s balance.
The dehydration you’re taking about it caused by sweating, which secretes salt. You’re not just short on water, you’re missing salt too. That can cause muscle cramps and other problems. That’s why you’d take in salt.
When you eat too much salty food, you’re presumably not sweating, so you’re not short on salt. Your body will extract water from the blood to dilute the salt in your urine. That depletes the water, leaving you dehydrated.
The loops of Henle in the kidneys are responsible for this homeostasis.
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