Staying Hydrated in the Summer Heat

Summer is here (it’s supposed to hit 93 on Tuesday!) and we thought it would be a good time to remind our clients and friends to STAY HYDRATED.

Dehydration is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to bad injuries, you can make what could have been a minor injury much more serious by letting yourself get dehydrated. Things become brittle when the cells in your body (the average body is 60% water) are not properly hydrated.

The Best Way to Hydrate in the Summer

Most people reach for sports drinks like Gatorade, Vitamin Water or energy drinks to replenish during sport, exercise or heat of day activities but those drinks have many things in them that your body not only doesn’t need but could actually be counter to your hydration goals. Things like dyes, sugar and stimulants like caffeine that can actually compromise your immune system or dehydrate you further.

Since water regulates your body temperature and moves nutrients through cell tissue, keeping your mucous membranes moist and flushing waste from the body, it’s important for the proper functioning of all your body’s systems to stay properly hydrated.

• Lungs are 90% water
• Brain tissue is 70% percent
• Blood is over 80% water

Coconut Water for Good Hydration

On a typical day, most people sweat about two cups of water, exhale a little more than one cup of water and eliminate roughly six cups of H2O. Along with all this fluid loss comes the loss of essential electrolyte minerals like sodium and potassium — important for regulating body fluids. That’s why it’s important to replenish your electrolytes, especially on a hot day, when you are more likely to be sweating a great deal.

An ideal hydrating liquid is coconut water. A recent study reported that coconut water caused less nausea, fullness and stomach upset and was determined to be easier to consume in large amounts during rehydration. It’s even been used as a plasma replacement during war-time, when supplies of plasma were low or non existing.

We find that adding lemon or lime juice to it can decrease the coconutty flavor if it is unpleasant to you. It can also be cut with water (50/50) to dilute the coconut flavor and to make your dollar go farther, while still providing key hydration benefits.

Other sports drink alternatives for proper summer time hydration include:

• Mixing a packet of either Emergen-C or Emergen-C Electro mix with water and adding a mixture of water and orange or grapefruit juice to spice it up.
• You can also simply add a bit of salt to a glass of water (about an 1/8 tsp) which will not make it taste salty but will help your body better absorb the water. Adding a squeeze of lime and sprig of mint can turn this into a summer refresher.

Whatever you choose, make sure to keep your thirst quencher of choice handy in an easy to carry bottle or travel cup, to take with you. Portability means you’ll  be more likely to actually drink it when you need it, keeping dehydration at bay.

Go out there, enjoy the summer sun and have a great time. Just remember to be safe, use sunscreen and drink plenty of fluids!!

Here is a website we recommend that features several recipes for making your own replenishing sports drink.