This Is Why Hydration Is Important in Hot Weather
While the summer is a great time to get outdoors, relax with friends, and slow down, it is important to stay vigilant about your water consumption — especially if you like to stay active in the hot weather. Our bodies are 75 percent water, and staying hydrated is as important as eating healthy foods or maintaining healthy sleep habits.
Why Hydration Matters
Your body becomes dehydrated when its fluid levels are too low for it to function correctly. Without fluids, the body cannot maintain equilibrium, flush toxins, balance hormones, or support proper brain functioning. Fluids also help the body move vital mineral and vitamins through its systems and maintain joints, muscles, and bones.
In extreme situations, the human body could survive up to a week without water. However, doctors recommend that we drink at least 16 ounces of water a day, more if you are active. When you exercise, especially in hot weather, it’s important to drink more water to replenish fluids lost through sweat.
How to Tell If You’re Dehydrated
While dehydration is a process, there are physical indicators to show that you are running low on fluids and should replenish them immediately. Adults who are older are especially susceptible, as their brains don’t immediately register signals of thirst, so by the time they feel thirsty they already are dehydrated.
Here are physical indicators of dehydration:
Urine: The color of one’s urine can be a gauge of your hydration level. Clear or light yellow urine indications good hydration, while urine that is dark yellow or amber may mean you’re dehydrated. Additionally, if you have little or no urine, you also may be dehydrated.
Physical symptoms: Dry mouth, feeling sleepy or tired, significant thirst, and headaches can also be signs of dehydration. If your fluid levels are low, you also may experience confusion or lightheadedness, and if you cry, you may have no tears.
You may be at a higher risk for dehydration if you:
- Have a medical condition such as a bladder infection or kidney stones.
- Exercise strenuously for too long in hot weather.
- Are pregnant or breastfeeding.
- Are already sick.
- Are dieting.
Tips For Proper Hydration
Staying hydrated in the summer requires vigilance about drinking water throughout the day and increasing water intake when playing sports or exercising. Researchers recommend drinking 250 milliliters of water in the morning and again in the evening because the body loses water while it sleeps.
Here are other tips for staying properly hydrated.
Stick with water
While fluid intake comes in many forms — coffee, soda, alcoholic beverages — it’s important that drinking water be a priority. Other drinks can actually work against you. Alcohol, for example, is a diuretic and will prompt your body to urinate more, releasing more fluids. To build up a habit of drinking water regularly, keep a filled water bottle with you whenever possible and drink from it throughout the day.
Don’t wait for thirst
If you hold off drinking water until you get thirsty, your body composition may already be down more than two cups of water. The key is to drink consistently so that your body never feels thirst.
Drink even when it’s cold
Cooling temperatures shouldn’t let you off the hook for drinking water all day. You can still lose water when you sweat in cold temperatures, and breathing in cold, dry air prompts your body to provide warmth and moisture for it. You probably won’t feel as thirsty as you do in warmer weather, but don’t use that as an excuse to lay off the water.
Drink water now
If you’re reading this, take a drink. Repeatedly letting your body reach dehydration mode, even mildly, can cause long-term damage. Months of moderate dehydration can result in kidney stones, urinary tract infections, or low blood volume.
Choose foods with water
Foods with a high concentration of water, such as peaches, watermelon, lettuce, and cucumber, can help you stay hydrated and are a great supplement to regular water consumption.
Rest in the heat
As summer temperatures reach their peaks, allow yourself to rest. Instead of overexerting in high heat, which can quickly cause dehydration, rest inside in a cool place.
Water and Exercise
Athletes who work out and compete in warm weather need to be especially careful about hydration. For example, it’s best to begin a workout hydrated. That means consuming up to 650 milliliters of water or a sports drink between one and three hours before your workout, and drinking and additional 300 milliliters before your workout starts.
During exercise, you also want to stay hydrated. Stop every 15–10 minutes to drink at least 200 milliliters while you are active. If you plan to exercise for a long time, add a sports drink to your hydration repertoire. These drinks contain potassium and sodium, which help your body keep its electrolytes balanced.