With the recent heatwave in the UK and with many people struggling with the heat, it highlights the need to make sure that you know how to take care of your health in the hot weather, and with summer coming up it is good to learn or remind yourself of this.
A big part of keeping healthy in the heat is making sure that you are well hydrated. When the weather is warmer, we lose more fluid through sweat, especially if we are doing a lot of physical activity. This can make it much easier to dehydrate if you are not drinking enough.
The amount of fluid that is recommended for adults to drink a day is around 2 litres for women and around 2.5 litres for men. This mostly comes from actual drinks, but some can come from foods that have a lot of water – things like soup and watery fruits and vegetables like cucumber for example.
Even when it isn’t warm you still lose fluid, even through breathing! Also, it is very important to remember that not all liquids are good for hydration – in fact, some can have the opposite effect because they are what is known as diuretics – they actually make you lose more water. Diuretics include tea, coffee and alcohol, so be careful with these in hot weather.
Making sure that you have access to water all day long is important to help you stay hydrated. If you work in an office, it is a good idea to have an office water cooler from somewhere like this water cooler Wales based company https://www.waterforyou.net to ensure you have constant fresh water through the day. You should also take a flask out and about with you to make sure you can stay hydrated.
