Having enough fluids on your body is important for your cell to function. Without supplying your cells with sufficient energy to work, you’re compromising your body’s biological function and processes. In short, supplying enough fluids in your body helps your body accomplish its regular activities. From keeping organs functioning optimally to lubricating your joints, one should never underestimate the power of hydration.
Although water is essential to quench your thirst, people who engage in an active lifestyle must take more water to stay hydrated. The human body, during illness and physical activity, loses both water and electrolytes, such as calcium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, potassium, and more. When the body has low levels of water and electrolytes, it undergoes dehydration.
Tips On Preventing Dehydration
Essentially, dehydration is a phenomenon that happens in your body when you take in fewer fluids than what you lose, and your body wasn’t able to compensate for this loss. The most fundamental sign of dehydration includes thirst, which people can easily recognize. Dehydration ranges from mild to severe, which is particularly life-threatening for young children and older adults.
Whenever your body loses fluids, it’s paramount to replenish this loss immediately to prevent dehydration. These five tips will help you avoid dehydration:
1. Take Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS)
As highlighted earlier, water alone can’t ensure adequate hydration, so you have to add some electrolytes to your fluid intake.Oral rehydration salts (ORS), such as those available at dripdrop.com, are ideal for people who are nearly experiencing mild up to severe dehydration.
ORS contains a mixture of electrolytes in the form of sodium and carbohydrates, which is in the form of sugar–with the right proportion that your body needs to prevent or recover from dehydration. When sodium and glucose reach your bloodstream, they stimulate the body to accept other hydrators, helping water to get through faster, then followed by magnesium, potassium, zinc, and more.
To prepare an ORS mixture, you only need to dissolve this powder into water, and not any type of beverage like milk, juice, and soda.
2. Plenty of Water Regularly
Your body highly depends on water to function efficiently. A normal person can last for three weeks without food as long as they stay hydrated, but a person will easily die in less than four days without water. Thus, never underestimate and overlook the power of water.
While it’s a common saying that you must drink 8 to 10 glasses daily, the amount of water that people should drink actually varies from person to person. Generally, women should roughly drink 2.7 liters every day, while men require 3.7 liters of water. However, it can vary according to these factors:
- Temperature or season according to your geographic location
- The environment where you usually spend your time
- Level of physical activity
- Diet and health
- Pregnancy and lactation
Some people struggle more in replacing their lost water because they’re not feeling thirsty or they may be busy and preoccupied. To remind you todrink water regularly, you can download water tracker apps into your phone or smartwatch. Also, make sure that you’re drinking safe and uncontaminated water since water contamination poses numerous health risks.
3. Look Closely For The Symptoms of Dehydration
Dehydration is often overlooked by many people as they think that it only refers to a lack of water. Thus, they tend to ignore their thirst and treat it as something unimportant.
First and foremost, when you feel thirsty, you should immediately replenish with water or hydrating foods. Feeling thirsty is your body’s way of communicating that you need more fluids in your body. Carrying a large water container wherever you go is paramount to responding to your thirst.
In addition to the feeling of thirst, here are other signs of dehydration that you should closely look into:
- Dark yellow urine with a strong smell
- Dry mouth
- Headache and dizziness
- Fatigue and lethargy
- Muscle cramps
4. Consume Hydrating Foods Daily
While water is essential for hydration, you can further amp up your fluid intake by eating hydrating foods, which is particularly helpful for people struggling with drinking plain water. After all, an individual’s average water intake is actually not from drinking water alone, but one-fifth of it comes from vegetables and fruits that are rich in water and essential nutrients.
As you might notice, water-rich veggies and fruits are specifically perfect for summeras most of their composition is water. If you want to spice up your fluid intake to avoid dehydration, check out these hydrating foods:
- Cucumbers
- Watermelons
- Strawberries
- Cantaloupes
- Peaches
- Celery
- Kiwis
- Carrots
- Apples
- Skim milk
- Broccolis
- Tomatoes
5. Keep Your Body Cool During Hot Weathers
For many people, summer is the perfect time to flaunt their bodies and achieve that killer tan, but it’s also where heat exhaustion and heat stroke are increasingly common. As estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are around 658 deaths related to heat illness annually despite them being preventable and treatable. Heat-associated illnesses refer to a rapid increase in temperature as the body is unable to cool down from extreme heat exposure.
The symptoms of dehydration and heat-related illnesses are identical to one another, and their treatment both involve cooling of body temperature and aggressive fluid replacement. If you live in regions experiencing hot and humid climates, you should constantly watch out for your body temperature.
Here are some tips to help keep your body cool during hot and humid summer days:
- Wear loose and breathable clothing
- Keep your head covered from direct sun exposure
- Wear sunscreen every day
- Change into cotton or linen bedding
- Regularly take a cool shower
- Use fans for additional circulation
- Tone down your outdoor adventures until you get used to the heat
- Don’t forget to bring a water bottle wherever you go
Bottom Line
Along with proper diet and exercise, hydration is an integral part of your health. While dehydration is a relatively easier health risk to prevent and treat, some people fail to assess their body’s need for fluid replacement, thus leading to dehydration.
If you’re constantly exposed to both outdoor and indoor heat and vigorous physical activity, you have to go the extra mile to prevent dehydration by following the tips discussed above.
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