Stay Hydrated

As temperatures rise into the triple digits our bodies need more hydration than normal. We all know the drill: Drink plenty of water. But sometimes that might not be enough.

Dehydration occurs because your body is losing more water than you are taking in. You may start to feel dizzy and/or nauseous. The best treatment, according to Web MD, is to sip small amounts of water to hydrate and cool down the body or when that's not enough use an oral hydrator with electrolytes like Pedialyte or Gatorade. Your brain is like a computer with electrical circuits constantly firing and needs fluids to keep it cool.  When you get dehydrated your brain can start to overheat and short circuit which is why you need electrolytes to get things back to normal.  

You can use a cool wet towel on the back of your neck and/or temples to cool down. Don't use an ice-pack because it will make you shiver which in turn elevates your heart rate causing your body to heat up more. If it gets to the point where you have a fever above 104 degrees and a severely elevated heart-rate you should seek immediate medical attention because you will need to be given fluids through an IV.

For more information on dehydration symptoms and treatments visit webmd.com.

Recently I suffered from dehydration so I thought I would share my experience to help people understand how easily this can happen. I normally drink plenty of fluids during the day; I start my day with about 8 ounces of room temperature water before eating anything to help hydrate and detoxify my organs; Water is best absorbed by the body at room temperature because hot and cold water shock your system. Cold water constricts the blood vessels so your systems works more slowly, but on a hot summer day it is still the best choice for keeping body temperature regulated;  I do like my ice water when the temperatures get above 90 degrees. At work I have a large cup that holds about 16 ounces of water to remind me to keep drinking water throughout the day. I drink between one to three of these during my workday. At home I use the giant Coca-Cola cup you see in the picture above, which holds about 20 ounces of water and I drink about two of these in the evening.

So one day it got unnaturally hot where I live;  I think it was about 109 degrees where normally the temperature in the summer here is between the seventies to low eighties.  I was inside an air-conditioned office building, but the air-conditioner just could not keep up with the heat.  At first I started to feel unfocused and hazy, like my head was in a fog.  Then when I got up from my desk I got really dizzy and had to sit back down.  I started to swoon and held my head in my hands and then laid them down on my desk.  Whenever I tried to sit up I felt nauseous.  I began to get very hot even though I was not sweating.  I think at that point I had a fever, but I'm not sure.  Somehow I made it over to the air vent on the floor and just curled up in a ball in front of it with the cold air blowing on my face.  One of my co-workers had to drive me home because I just could not move.  We stopped at a convenience store and purchased a bottle of Gatorade because I knew that I needed electrolytes and fast.  About 10 minutes after drinking the Gatorade I started to feel a little bit better, but when I got home I laid down on my bed and sipped water for about another half an hour before I fell asleep.  When I woke up I felt okay, so luckily my case was not serious enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room.  My wallet is grateful for that!

So you can see that even though you may drink plenty of water you can still become dehydrated. I think drinking coffee in that heat is what did it to me because caffeine is a diuretic.

Also, if you do not want to drink Pedialyte or Gatorade you can drink coconut water which naturally has a lot of electrolytes. I drink coconut water with a splash of juice because I do not like the taste of coconut.

I hope that hearing about my experience was helpful and I wish you a safe and happy summer.

Kendrix