Aah! The joys of walking out in the open and feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin, “These indeed are the joys of summer!” you think to yourself, as you skip down the road. But within 2 hours of enjoying the sun shining on you with all its glory, you find yourself not liking summer so much! Soon you are panting like a dog, sweating like a pig and find yourself wanting to drink water like a camel! Summer is here and you need help desperately!
Indian summers are quite legendary. Back in the 1900’s, the cold-weather loving British used to escape to the hill stations to avoid the unbearable heat and the accompanying dehydration. India has a hot and humid weather, which sees temperatures in summer reaching upto 400 Celsius during the day! With such high temperatures the body’s bound to lose a lot of water, which will lead to dehydration.
How does summer dehydrate me?
Summer, means the sun comes out with all its guns blazing! With temperatures jumping high, the body beings sweating to regulate its temperature, and higher the temperatures means more sweating which directly translates to a loss of more water from the body! Not only this; the hot air around us in the summer also robs water from our body. Now add urination and water being lost from the lungs in the form of water vapor and what you are left with is very little water in your body! Plus exercising also contributes to water being lost from your body, during the summer.
Know your thirst!
Did you know that whenever you feel thirsty, your body is already 2% dehydrated! The human body is about 60-70% water depending on its size, our brain is about 80% water and our blood is approximately 90% water! Now you do the math and figure out, why our bodies need water constantly. Bodily actions such as sweating, urinating and crying deplete water from the body and with the onset of summer, the body begins losing water real fast! Replenishment of the lost water is necessary to avoid dehydration.
How can I avoid being dehydrated during summer?
Hydrating yourself this summer is going to be really easy, especially if you know the basics of hydrating yourself! Following is a list of things that will help you stay hydrated and healthy this summer,
Drink Water, lots of Water- Drinking water keeps your body hydrated. More so; hot summers in India make our bodies sweat a lot to regulate the core temperature, this leads to loss of water from the body. Water is also lost by means of urine from our bodies, according to proven research we must drink water enough to produce about 1.5 liters of urine in a day.
To replenish this lost water, an adult should drink at least 2 liters of water every day. Our kidneys can process up to 15 liters of water every day, however experts recommend drinking up to 4 liters a day during summer’s to battle the heat and replenish the water lost through excessive sweating!
Eat Fruits! Fruits with their high water content are the best way to avoid being dehydrated this summer! Fruits such as Watermelon and cucumber are excellent to beat the thirst, when you’re not in the mood to drink the tasteless water.
Believe or not but the big, heavy and delicious watermelon is made up of 92% water and 6% simple sugars found in every fruit! Other varieties of the melon are also high in water content, making them an ideal summer snack. Similarly cucumber is made up of 95% water and can easily fit in your bag! Regularly munching on such fruits will keep you from hydrated and healthy in summer.
Eat food with high water content- Come summer and you should stick to homemade food to avoid dehydration. Why? Because, more than 30% of the water required by our body is present in the foods that we eat! Eating soups, Tofu, Eggs and Sprouts along with vegetables such as spinach, cabbage (red and green), tomato, eggplant, cauliflower adds water to our diet. Similarly most of the dairy products and meat products such as chicken, beef, fish and pork along with cooked grains are high in water content and if included in our daily diet can provide us with enough water to avoid dehydration this summer!
Avoid Alcohol this summer – If you are planning on staying hydrated this summer, don’t go anywhere near alcohol. Why? Because alcohol acts as a diuretic; meaning it increases the frequency of urination through which the body loses more water than it takes in! Alcohol intake halts the body’s production of the anti-diuretic hormone, which explains the body’s need to urinate frequently! Moreover, the body requires 8 ounces of water to purge out just 1 ounce of alcohol, dehydrating you very quickly. Now add this to the diuretic property of alcohol and dehydration is imminent, if you drink a considerable amount of alcohol, this summer.
Work out indoors this summer! Be it summer or winter, exercise is a must if you want to keep yourself healthy. But with the increased temperatures in summer, you ought to exercise caution while working out. Working out makes you sweat, meaning your body burns calories and needs water to do so! Simple things such as exercising outdoors rather than going for a run outside and taking more breaks along with sipping water regularly from a larger water bottle could keep you away from dehydration this summer.
Coconuts and electrolytes- Coconut water is great for re-hydrating in case you feel dehydrated during the day. Coconut water is isotonic in nature, meaning it helps regain the minerals and fluids that your body’s lost due to sweating and urine; moreover its electrolytic balance is the same as your bloods which makes it easier to be absorbed by your body. Electrolytes are minerals found in our bodies in the form of sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, they are important for keeping our body hydrated.
Other than these simple ways to avoid, being dehydrated; summer calls for cotton clothes to be worn by you! Cotton lets your skin breathe and you perspire less which directly means that you have a less chance of dehydration this summer! Wearing floppy hats will also protect your face and head from the harsh rays of the sun.
So what are you waiting for? Don’t hide away from the sun, this summer! Instead grab those hats and water bottles and head out ….
