Stay Hydrated This Summer
- Jeannine Love
- Jun 27, 2023
- 3 min read
As the summer heat rises, be sure to stay hydrated. Hydration is important for regulating your body temperature, keeping your joints lubricated, preventing infections, delivering nutrients to cells, keeping your organs functioning properly, and for improving cognition, mood and sleep.
Dehydration means you’re losing more water than you’re taking in. You’re also losing electrolytes, such as sodium, magnesium, and potassium. In the summer heat, you may lose more fluids than other times of the year. Also the elderly or the very young, and those who can’t quench their thirst due to an illness or disease, such as diabetes, are prone to dehydration.
Causes of dehydration include excessive sweating, urinating too frequently, diarrhea, vomiting, heat stroke, drinking too much alcohol, having a high body temperature, intense exercise especially in the heat, and taking medicines, such as diuretics.
How do you know if you are dehydrated? Signs and symptoms include:
Feeling thirsty.
Urinating less often than usual.
Feeling dizzy or lightheaded.
Feeling tired.
Dry mouth, lips, and tongue.
Sunken eyes.
Peeing dark yellow, strong smelly urine.
Dry skin or a loss of elasticity. Try the “tent” test – pinch the back of your hand and let it go. If your skin bounces right back to normal, then you’re hydrated. If the skin remains tented or doesn’t bounce back quickly, you may be dehydrated.
Muscle cramps, which can occur from exercising in high heat and/or changes in your body’s electrolytes. People who rehydrate after exercising with a drink containing electrolytes are less likely to develop muscle cramps than those who drank plain water.
Food cravings, especially for something sweet. Your liver uses water to release glycogen, so if you’re dehydrated, your liver won’t be able to release glycogen and you’ll get sweet cravings.
Follow these tips to stay hydrated this summer:
Sip on water throughout the day, especially when exercising, or when being outside in the heat.
If you don’t like the taste of plain water, add fresh fruit to your water. You could also add a few sprigs of mint. So refreshing!
Be sure to get electrolytes. There are many electrolyte products on the market. I use Ultima Replenisher Electrolyte Packets but find one that you like. These also add some flavor to plain water.
Add foods to your diet that are naturally high in water, such as watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, cucumbers, strawberries, pineapple, peaches, oranges, and celery.
If you like to exercise outside, do it in the early morning or at night when it’s less hot.
Lastly, avoid drinking too much alcohol.
How much water do you need? There are numerous recommendations, such as 11 cups a day for a woman and 16 cups for a man. Another recommendation is to drink 1/2-1 ounce of water for each pound that you weigh. So if you weigh 130 lbs., that would come out to between 65-130 ounces. However, I don't actually count how much I drink; rather I look for the signs of dehydration listed above. I check my urine color, which should be a pale yellow i.e., the color of straw. If you take vitamins, then you may notice that your urine color is a dark yellow. So, take vitamins in the morning, and check your urine later in the day. You can also do the skin "tent" test, described above.
Stay hydrated and enjoy your summer!
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