Page 50 - The Miracle of Hormones

THE MIRACLE OF HORMONES

The System That Regulates the Amount of Fluid in the
Blood: The Antidiuretic Hormone

Do you know how much fluid there must be in your body to be
healthy? Can you calculate how many grams of fluid you take in from
the food you eat and the liquids you drink every day? Or can you deter-
mine how much of this fluid you must discharge from your body in the
same period of time? Can you figure out how many grams of fluid there
are in your blood every second of the day, or the level of fluid in your
body tissues, or your blood pressure?
If the duty of calculating these numbers were given to each human
being, he would be required to devote all his time to this job. This is very
important because the human body must be prevented from losing too
much fluid. If the fluid loss reached around ten per cent of the body's
normal fluid level, death would result.
But a person does not need to measure the amount of fluid in his
own body because his body has a system that regulates and orders the
fluid level. If you were to examine the details of this system, you would
encounter a surprising wonder of engineering and planning.
Loss of body fluid results from sweating or not drinking enough
water. If there were no special system in our bodies, no matter how low

Water is the compound
that the human body
needs most. If the body
loses only about 10% of its
water, it cannot survive.
But a person can never
measure the amount of
water present in his body
or take measures to affect
it, but his body already has
a flawless system to
undertake this duty on his
behalf.

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