Summer Hydration to Beat the Heat

Making sure you stay well hydrated becomes even more important when summer heat and humidity hits. If you’re not drinking enough fluids, you may feel dizzy and weak, plus your body becomes less able to thermoregulate if you’re very dehydrated. If your dehydration is quite severe, you may experience heatstroke, which is when your body loses its ability to cool itself. So staying hydrated is more important than you may realize and should be a part of your daily routine especially in the hot summer months.

How Much Water is Enough?

But how much hydration is enough? Although the rule of thumb that you’ve likely heard is that you should drink eight glasses of water a day, but the truth is that how much water one needs is very individual. It’ll depend on your body, if you have any health conditions and if you’re taking any medications. Also, your lifestyle habits impact your fluid needs as well: perhaps you eat a diet that includes many hydrating foods, or you exercise for a couple of hours daily and you tend to sweat a lot. Keep in mind, too, that your age and stage of life is a factor; older adults and young children are more likely to be dehydrated, as are women who are expecting. But, if you’re looking for a rough idea of your fluid intake needs, take your body weight in pounds and divide by two–this number is approximately how many ounces you should drink every day.

From there, fine tune your intake by paying attention to your symptoms. These following strategies will help you enjoy safe and well hydrated summer.

Drink water regularly

Keep a bottle of water with you at all times so that it becomes a habit to sip throughout the day. Also, make it a habit to drink a glass of water with each meal and be sure to sip during your workouts and finish your exercise sessions by drinking a glass. Keep in mind, too, that most fluids count (not just water) along with hydrating foods, such as watermelon, cucumber, celery, grapefruit, strawberries and peppers (in fact, most of us get as much as 20 percent of our fluids from the foods we eat). Not all fluids are great for hydration, however. You will want to avoid chugging too much coffee, juice and soft drinks–coffee can be diuretic if you consume a large quantity of it and sugary beverages including pop and juice equal a lot of empty calories.

Check Your Hydration Level

Take a peek at your urine before you flush. If you’ve never paid attention to the colour of your urine, it’s time to get into the habit of taking a look at it. The colour of your pee will give you a good idea of your level of hydration. What you want is a pale yellow or straw color as this is a sign you’re getting enough water. If your urine is a darker shade of yellow or even amber, this could be a sign you are dehydrated.

Keep Your Cool

We often think of drinking water when it comes to staying well hydrated, but helping your body stay cool in the summer helps, too. Schedule your intense sweaty workouts to the cooler hours of the day or take your workout inside an air-conditioned gym if your city is in the middle of a heat wave. Wear wide-brimmed hats to shield yourself from the sun and wear light-coloured, loose airy pieces instead dark clothing. Carry around an atomizer such as the Evian Facial Spray or personal handheld fan for some quick cooling relief on the go.

Practice Smart Travel Hydration

The dry air in airports and on planes can zap you of hydration so pay special attention to your fluid levels when you’re going on summer vacation. Bring a refillable water bottle with you and fill it as soon as you’ve gone through security. Although they serve water on flights, typically it’s a tiny cup and by bringing your own bottle you can drink throughout your flight and not have to wait for when they’re serving water.

Get Creative, Flavour Your Water

Add flavour to your water so that you want to drink more of it. Some people just aren’t fans of the taste of water and you’re less likely to hydrate well if you find water boring. Summer is a great time to take advantage of the amazing bounty of local produce that you can use to infuse your H2O. Check what’s in season for your area and shop farmers markets (or even go to a pick-your-own farm) for flavourful berries, citrus, stone fruit and cucumber when they’re each at their peak. Be sure to pick up fresh herbs such as mint, basil and rosemary as well when you’re shopping–you can use these along with your fruit to create tasty natural flavour combinations. Another way to make water more palatable? Go for sparkling water if you enjoy the effervescence. Bubbly water hydrates your body just as well as flat water–the only potential concern is that you likely won’t be able to consume as much of it thanks to the carbonation.

Cheers to a well-hydrated summer!