Staying hydrated is a great way to boost your daily sense of wellbeing – getting dehydrated can give you headaches and muscle aches and make it harder to focus. It’s also important for your health! Extreme dehydration that’s not attended to can cause confusion, vomiting, collapse and kidney problems!
Today we’re taking a look at some of the times you need to make sure you hydrate, beyond the everyday.
At Work
It’s all too easy to ignore a nagging sense of thirst when you’ve got deadlines to meet. The distractions of working life can lead into dehydration quickly, especially as many offices are sealed from the outside world and the temperature is controlled with air conditioning systems that dry out the air.
Many office workers carry a water bottle with them, and set schedules that can help remind them to drink at regular intervals. Some modern water bottles include built in technology that can track your intake and even remind you when it’s time to take a drink.
Illness
When you’re feeling ill, it’s more important than ever to keep well hydrated, whatever the cause of your symptoms. It’s easy to get dehydrated when you’re ill, whether you’re perspiring with a fever or suffering from vomiting or diarrhea, all of which deplete your body’s water reserves.
Additional water replenishes your reserves, and gives your body more fuel for fighting the disease: it helps nutrients get around your body in your blood, empowering your immune system, and also helps you filter toxins out of your body through your kidneys.
You also need to think about more than just water: you lose electrolytes when you dehydrate too. These soluble salts are used by your body for lots of different important jobs, from transmitting nerve signals to maintaining fluid balance in your cells.Taking hydration tablets for hangover symptoms will restore your fluids and electrolyte levels and actually help you feel better!
Working Out
Hitting the gym is a near universal hobby, but it’s important to watch your health while you do it. If you exercise without taking care of your well being, it can actually be counterproductive!
When you push your body hard, you heat up and start to sweat as a means of temperature control. This can be a serious drain on your fluid reserves – you might be losing as much as 3 or 4 litres per hour!
Hydrating (with electrolytes!) before, after and during exercise will keep you operating at your peak and help to avoid muscle aches, cramp, stitches and exhaustion, and keep you at your best!
