Summer season always seems to be very exciting for kids as they wait for their schools to shut and prepare for family holidays. But, what about the scorching sun and soaring temperatures?
Global warming has been making a huge impact on the climatic conditions; where temperatures are falling, or increasing to surprising measures in almost every part of the world. So, when I talk about the summer season; the temperatures are rising as high as to 45-50 degree celsius making it almost impossible for anyone to bear.
Can you imagine the condition of your body at this moment? If you observe, you must be often complaining about severe headaches, dehydration symptoms, feeling fatigue in summers. Right?
Why is that so?
That is because; your body loses its water content drastically in summers. Since your body is deprived of water, it leads to a condition known as dehydration.
What is Dehydration?
Dehydration means your body is in shortage of enough water. It simply means that you are not consuming enough amount of water as compared to your water loss.
Dehydration causes your body loses water when you sweat or pass urine. However, that does not mean that each time you pass urine or sweat you become dehydrated.
There is a tolerable percentage for water loss as follows:
- Three to four percent is easily tolerable
- Five to ten percent causes dizziness
- More than ten percent can cause some physical trouble
- Over fifteen percent, a person might faint and require medical assistance.
Now read this carefully,
Health tips for summer under high temperatures, your body sweats to maintain the cooling effect, but when your body is dehydrated and cannot sweat enough, your internal temperature increases which can be fatal. One should be aware of the causes of dehydration in the body.
So what causes and effects of dehydration?
Dehydration Causes?
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Fever
- Drugs like diuretics
- Prolonged sun exposure
Symptoms of Dehydration and types of dehydration
- Excessive thirst
- Severe Headache
- Confusion
- Dryness in skin
- Nausea
- Redness in eye
- Dizziness
So by now, you must have understood the importance of keeping yourself hydrated all the time, especially in the summer season. In the summer season, you are most of the time exposed to the sun. Hence, the chances of getting dehydrated are too high. I am sure every summer you must be facing minimum one episode of dehydration, but still this problem is often neglected and confused with other illnesses.
Every day I have several people coming to me with various problems. Sometimes it happens they are not aware exactly what their problem is as they are not aware of dehydration effects. I would like to share one such incidence with you;
Rohit came to me and said “Mam I think I am suffering from migraine as I am getting headache quite often specially in summers and also feel like vomiting”. I asked him “Rohit do you feel the same throughout the year?”. He replied “No mam I am absolutely fine in winters”
I asked him “Do you have any other digestive problems like acidity or constipation?”. He replied “No mam; I just have a headache; especially when I go out in the heat, I come back home feeling very dizzy”.
After listening to this, I understood the whole thing. He was suffering from dehydration, and not one but several and severe episodes that he was unaware about. So after knowing the importance of dehydration what comes next to your mind?Let me guess, you are thinking about all the best ways that can keep you hydrated, right?
Here are few tips on how to prevent dehydration.
How to Prevent Dehydration or remedies for dehydration
1. Drink Plenty of Water
You must have heard a lot on drinking more water during the summer, but are you aware of the actual calculation. Anything in excess is bad; even water if you drink in excess can cause complication.
Have you ever thought if the requirement of food is different for different people, then how can the requirement of water be the same?
So calculation goes like this
Body weight in kg x 33 = _______ ml of water/day
Eg. 50kg x 33= 1650 ml of water/day = 1.6 lt of water /day
Water is important to keep yourself hydrated and you should drink water as per your body weight; neither less nor more,
Things Which Will Knock You For Drinking Water
- Keep a large bottle of water near your working place.
- Carry water bottle always with you.
- Set an alarm of every half an hour for drinking water.
- Drink water after using the restroom.
- Drink a glass of water half an hour before and after your major meal.
Have you ever thought that If I give you to drink a glass of plain water you might take 2 -3 min for the same, but you can drink lemon juice in a minute why is that so?
You have taste buds, and that too very strong and water is tasteless. Therefore you take a more time to drink.
Hence, you can add flavours to your water so that your problem of not able to drink more water will be resolved,
Flavours that you can add to water:
- Lemon
- Roasted Cumin seeds
- Clove
- Basil leaves
- Mint leaves
2. Eat Lots of Fruits
When you say you have to eat lots of fruits people start replacing their meals with fruits.
If I ask you according to you replacing your meals with fruits during summer is good or bad? I am sure you will say good, am I right?
I cannot say that you are wrong, but you are only partially correct, in my earlier articles you would have read that you should not eat fruit after 6.00 pm. Hence, you cannot replace your dinner as fruits.
I would recommend you to replace your lunch with fruits and some amount of proteins, for the simple reason lunch is the extreme time of heat and at that time you require the maximum amount of fluid for prevention of dehydration.
Fruits which are rich in water content
- Water melon
- Strawberries
- Grapefruit
- Peaches
- Pineapple
- Cranberries
- Oranges
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Pears
- Cherries
- Grapes
Most common question which I get is, “Instead of eating fruit can I have a glass of fruit juice?”
I do understan, in summer season a glass of chilled fruit juice gives you relief but eating 2-3 fruits will not only give you water, but also enough amount of fibre that is required for a healthy body.
3. Eat lots of Vegetables
It is very good to eat vegetables in the raw form or semi cooked form. Vegetable juices are the best beverage to consume during the summer season.
Vegetables which Are rich in water content
- Cucumber
- Lettuce
- Zuccuni
- Green cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Spinach
- Carrot
- Tomatoes
So you have seen what you should do to keep yourself hydrated during summer. Howvever you may opt for other few things to drink repeatedly in summers like
- Cold drinks
- Lemon soda
- Energy drinks
- Flavour soda
- Alcohol
- Cocktails
Let me tell you , all these drinks may refresh you for a moment but they reduce the water content from your body and can eventually cause dehydration. Therefore, you should avoid having these drinks.
Hence, it is advisable to follow the above mentioned healthier things to prevent dehydration.
Note: You can also take a glass of whey protein in milk or water twice a day along with antioxidant supplement to help you stay hydrated.
So how do you prevent from getting dehydrated in summers? Share with us in the comments below.
