Positive Hydration Benefits & What Leads to Dehydration

📹 PART 1: HYDRATION(6 Positive Benefits to the Body and Why)
📹 PART 2: DEHYDRATION(5 Factors that Lead to Dehydration)

PART 1: HYDRATION
Many of the doctors and experts say that we need to drink two to two and a half liters of water each and every day. That’s about a half a gallon, to a little bit more than a half a gallon, of liquids a day. Now that is just for when we are at normal activity that doesn’t include if we were out in the sun, playing sports, or doing any other type of strenuous activity. Obviously when those things happen we need to increase that amount of liquid.

So, in the event that we do hydration properly and we drink the amount of liquids each day that we need… what are those positive effects on the body?

1. Good physical and mental health
A very important one is it helps in good physical and mental health. I’m sure all of us at some point in time have felt foggy physically or mentally from dehydration.

2. Fights off disease
It also helps, believe it or not, fight off disease. It keeps our cells and organs properly hydrated.

3. Absorbs nutrients and medicines
It also helps to absorb nutrients and medicines that we take.

4. Regulates body temperature
In addition it helps to regulate our body temperature and we know that when we get overheated.

5. Proper eye movement
Is it helps promote proper eye movement. Can you imagine having dry eyes to the point where you can’t move them properly or your eyelids are going up and down at a million miles an hour?

So when you think about proper hydration and all of the body functions that it helps promote,  you can see the importance of it.

💦 HYDRATION CHALLENGE
I would like to challenge you to think about:
• What proper hydration is
• What it takes to achieve proper hydration
• Being aware of your body, and your activities, to achieve proper hydration

PART 2: DEHYDRATION
Dehydration effects the body when we don’t actually hydrate correctly.  There are five major factors that lead to dehydration.

1. Medical or medicines
So many of us today take medications for blood pressure, cholesterol, antihistamines, and all of these medications absorb water before our body has a chance to use it appropriately. This can lead to dehydration.

2. Diet and nutrition
Believe it or not, eating oatmeal and other carbs are actually good for proper hydration. It helps to absorb and utilize the moisture in our bodies appropriately. Sugary drinks and salty foods actually do just the opposite. They actually grab and take the water that we need before our bodies can use it. So that leads to dehydration as well.

3. Working at altitude
When we are at a high altitude, our bodies tend to breathe more and faster because of the lack of oxygen.  When we breathe, water vapors come out of our mouth. It said that we lose almost two times the amount of water being at high altitude than at normal altitude.

4. Older age
And I know this is a tough point. So for all of you older individuals that think you can still hang with the young bucks, in actuality, you have to work a little harder because the older we get, the harder it is for our bodies to retain moisture.  We have to drink a little bit more to stay properly hydrated. In addition, as we get older, we don’t always know when we’re thirsty. Our body doesn’t tell us like it did and we were young. So we tend to get into a state of dehydration before we even realize it.

5. Alcohol Consumption
The next I wanted to talk about is probably one of our most famous ones, and that is alcohol consumption. We all know after we drink too much alcohol, we feel really thirsty and dehydrated. Alcohol is a diabetic and passes moisture quickly through our body before it has a chance to use it. The other thing about alcohol consumption is you don’t have to just drink it the night before for dehydration effects to come into play. Moderate alcohol use on a regular basis can lead to a constant state of mild dehydration.  It’s important that you look at that and stay properly hydrated.

🔥 DEHYDRATION CHALLENGE
• I’d like you to look at hydration as a way of life, not just for in a hot environment.
• Create a hydration program, a policy and a procedure.
• Look at your new hires for training and look at training on a regular basis to all your employees.

Content provided by Mike Kay, Director of Resource Safety Services (RSS).
RSS is an education and training division of Safety Products Inc.

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