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7 Ways To Prevent Dehydration
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 Like water shortage woes and electricity outages, the possibility of suffering from dehydration is just another grim reality of summer. However, contrary to the former, preventing dehydration is in your hands.
Thinking that you're 'used to' Indian summers because you're born and brought up here (heck, I've survived that many already!) isn't the best approach, as dehydration can hit anyone, anytime. Frankly - on a hot, humid day, even an active person can become dehydrated in just 15 minutes.
Evidently - dehydration comes unannounced, but given that awareness is all it takes, we present 7 ways for you to prevent dehydration and its related illnesses like heat stroke / exhaustion this summer:
- Drink up: The bottom line is to hydrate, or drink up to prevent dehydration. As to how much, definitely not less than 10 glasses of water. And no cheating - you can't count beverages like tea / coffee and carbonated drinks as your daily fluid intake! Also always remember that feeling thirsty is a bad sign, as it indicates your body is already depleted of fluids. So it is best to keep drinking fluids throughout the day irrespective of how thirsty you feel.
- Choose the right fluids: Caffeine rich tea or coffee, and alcohol are best avoided during summer, as they stimulate the production of urine (fluid output) thus increasing your susceptibility to dehydration. Giving carbonated beverages a miss is also a good idea, because the carbonation may cause bloating (feeling of fullness) and prevent you from adequately consuming useful fluids like water, nimbu pani, lassi and nariyal pani .
- Hydrate prior to exercising: Summer may leave you feeling exhausted, but that is no excuse not to exercise! In truth, just feeling tired is a sign of early dehydration. Ideally, you should use the first fortnight of summer to let your body acclimatize to the heat. This means your body gears up for the weather, by stimulating its production of sweat to prevent it from overheating. Of course, this also means that your fluid intake should increase to match the increase in sweat rate.
Once your body is acclimatized, resume your exercise regimen simply taking care to drink enough water. Apparently, adults need to drink about 600ml (200 ml for children) of fluid before starting an exercise routine, as well as an additional 200 to 300 ml (200 to 250 ml for children) every 10 to 20 minutes as long as they are engaged in the activity. When the activity is over, both adults and children need to replenish another 750 ml of fluid within the first two hours of stopping the exercise.
- Eat right: Do you know that if you choose right, you can take in upto 20 percent of your daily fluid requirement from the food you eat? So - stock up the likes of watermelon, citrus fruit and water-rich veggies like bottle gourd (ghiya).
- Know what dehydration is all about: An easy way to judge if you're heading towards dehydration is the colour of your urine. Concentrated (not clear) dark urine is indicative of dehydration. Experiencing dryness in your mouth and/or lips, headache, nausea, muscular cramps or weakness, feeling sleepy or constantly tired, feeling thirsty, and dizziness are also symptomatic of the onset of dehydration. If you experience any of these symptoms, stop whatever you're doing and rest somewhere cool. Then drink up starting with little sips. If anyone around you experiences these symptoms, advise him/her accordingly. But if the person also feels disoriented or becomes unconscious, call for immediate medical attention.
- Stay cool: Cool off by showering twice (or thrice) a day. Some people feel good by simply wetting their head. While that does not affect your overall body temperature, it is a quick remedy to cool off when you come indoors. But exposing wet hair to a fan or air-conditioned environment does make for a summer cold, so think twice before indulging! Wear light-coloured, lightweight, loose-fitting clothes as long as your home and even outdoors, as long as you're not exposed to the sun (in which case light-coloured clothes are a bad option).
- Factor in bathroom breaks: There is no point in talking about the need to guzzle liquids without mentioning the importance of you knowing that there will be a bathroom you feel comfortable using from time to time! Fact is - too many people veer towards dehydration not because they don't know how to prevent it, but because they don't want to use a dirty loo. That is really sad! So - if you spend a major part of your waking hours in an office, ensure the loo is clean enough for you to use. If it isn't, talk to your colleagues and jointly complain to the management or hire someone to spruce it up. If you're travelling, schedule breaks at decent hotels or rest-rooms to use the bathroom.
As long as you've taken care of your loo breaks, and chosen the right fluids, go right ahead and enjoy summer.
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Charu Bahri
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