Dr. Shmuel Shields | 2. Guard Your Health: Hydration: Drink it Up | CHAZAQ

Welcome to the guard your health series. We are moving rapidly into the spring and summer season. Hot weather, outdoor activity, you know, sports, exercise, things of that nature. Um, we're going to talk a little bit about hydration and the importance of hydration and ways to avoid uh dehydration. Uh again as I mentioned um in the first um session that we did uh the information is just for educational purposes and always check with your competent health care professionals before you make um any dietary or lifestyle changes. Um anyway um air oxygen is our most important nutrient. Uh we can't survive without air for more than four or five minutes. followed is water. Water uh is an essential nutrient. Uh without water, we can't live maybe more than five days. Um and then of course food plays an important role uh but is not as important as air or water. Today we're going to focus on on water and hydration. And we want to first start off by just talking about the importance of water in the diet. We can't live without water. It's essential for controlling body temperature, eliminating waste, flushing toxins out of the body, protecting our organs, lubricating tissue and joints, delivering oxygen and nutrients to the cells, making minerals and other nutrients absorbable. The question is though, are you getting enough? Now, at the count of three, for those listeners in the audience, I want you to tell me, just yell out after I count to three, how much water should you be drinking a day? One, two, three. Eight cups is what probably the majority of the listening audience has said. I have no idea where that mystical and magical eight cup count has ever come from. All I can tell you is um if you have a person standing two people standing next to each other, one person weighing 200 lb and the other adult weighing 100 pound, you can't tell me that both of them require eight cups of water a day. Obviously, body size and weight uh body composition is going to play a significant role in determining our hydration needs. I also want to mention that hydration can change for athletes, for people who live in very hot climates, for people that don't have the right kinds of foods in their diet. There are many factors that could affect our need for hydration and how much. Uh I could give you a a formula. Again, this is approximate and once again always discuss things with your health care professionals, but a you need approximately one 8 cup of water for every 20 pounds that you weigh. So a 100 pound person would need about five cups of water a day while a 200lb person would need more like 10 cups a day. Now, having said that, if you fall short and you need 10, but you're only getting seven or eight, I don't think you have to press the panic button. I don't think you'll you'll be become dehydrated because you do get fluids from foods that you eat as well and from other beverages. So, coffee and tea, even though they have a diuretic effect and in large amounts can cause too much of a loss of water, uh they are primarily made up of water. So in moderation you will get some hydration from caffeinated beverages uh from things like uh soups and of course from fruits and vegetables which are some of them are 90 95 96% water. Uh you will get um hydration from those types of foods. So, uh I would say water should be your beverage of choice and you should try to um hydrate with water as much as possible throughout the day and fill in occasionally with some other beverages whether they're herbal teas or regular tea or maybe a cup of coffee or uh primarily fruits and vegetables would be a good place to get hydration from as well. Uh you want to avoid obviously soft drinks, uh sugary drinks, um drinks that are artificially colored or flavored. Uh for those that have trouble drinking just plain water, you could add a little lemon or lime to it. Um or you can make an herbal tea. Um there are things you can do to make the water a little more interesting if you have to, but water is really the beverage of choice. Um, okay. There are certain signs of dehydration and it's important to know that dehydration can cause well, let me just tell you what it can cause first. It can cause dizziness. It's one of the major daytime causes of things like fatigue and dizziness and so on. So dizziness, fatigue, headache, uh mental confusion, dry mouth, low uh blood pressure, high blood pressure, and even muscle cramps uh can be symptoms of dehydration. Um how do you know if you are dehydrated? Besides some of these symptoms, there are some other things to uh to look for and I will uh just go through those. Um so basically dry eyes, fast heart rate, uh dizziness or lightadedness after standing up, uh confusion, headache, frequent urinary tract infection, dry skin, constipation or small hard stools, dry mouth or coated tongue, frequent urination where you only pass a small amount of urine are all can all be signs signs of dehydration. Now, these could be signs of other health issues as well, and they're all not going to occur at once, but if you do experience um any of these uh symptoms, I would uh speak to your doctor about it and rethink maybe hydration. See if you're getting enough water. Uh one of the real telltale signs of of dehydration is looking at the color of the urine. The urine should be almost colorless, a very pale yellow. But if the urine is bright yellow or orange or tannanish or brownish, that is usually an indicator of dehydration. And again, the color of urine could be affected from other things. Uh even medications can affect it, the color and so on. But it is a good indicator and it should be observed as well. Um okay. So that is really uh what we wanted to cover uh on uh on on dehydration, ways to avoid it, uh things to look for, symptoms, and so on. And it's important to stay hydrated. We're constantly losing fluids throughout the day through perspiration, urination, and even through breathing. As you breathe out and you stand in front of a mirror, you'll see a little moisture on the mirror. So uh it's not uncommon for a person to lose two to two and a half quarts of fluid of water a day. We mentioned the importance of water uh of being properly hydrated. So I would u take efforts especially in the warmer weather to stay uh well hydrated. Thank you for listening and I hope you'll share this information with as many people as you