Rehydration is essential when you do any activity that causes you to sweat. These activities may include yoga, intense workout, exercise, or sauna sessions. In addition, keeping your body rehydrated will help prevent the damage caused by dehydration if you are recovering from flu or excessive drinking of alcohol. This article discusses how to rehydrate your body quickly.“
What is Dehydration?
Dehydration is a condition that can occur when the number of body fluids lost, mostly water, exceeds the amount that is taken in. When you are dehydrated, the amount of water moving out of your cells and then your body is more than the amount of water taken in through drinking.
Medically, dehydration means a person has lost enough fluid, affecting the body’s ability to function normally.
This effect begins to produce symptoms related to fluid loss. However, infants and children are at the highest risk for dehydration.
A lot of adults, especially the elderly and people with medical conditions such as kidney disease and diabetes, have significant risk factors.
Signs and symptoms of dehydration
Every part of your body, such as your cells, tissues, and organs, requires water to function correctly.
Below are some important ways water helps your body:
- Regulate body temperature
- Transport nutrients
- Lubricate joints
- Remove waste
- Circulate blood
Symptoms of dehydration
Below are some signs and symptoms of dehydration.
- increased thirst
- dry mouth
- infrequent urination
- dry skin
- tiredness
- dizziness
- headache
Urine color
The change in urine color is a standard indicator of your hydration state. A pale urine color indicates you are better hydrated. Although, your urine color can change for several reasons besides your hydration status. These may result from your diet, certain medications, and some medical conditions.
Recent studies show that urine color is a valid indicator of hydration in children and young adults but not in older adults.
How to Rehydrate Your Body Quickly
1) Water
Drinking water is often the cheapest and best way to stay hydrated and rehydrated.
Water does not contain added sugars or calories, unlike most beverages. This makes it an ideal drink for your body when you need to rehydrate after stressful activity or workout.
However, due to genetic makeup, some people lose more sodium than others during sweating.
This group of individuals is referred to as a” salty sweater.” This is because they often experience frequent muscle cramps when exercising or sweat stings in the eyes.
If you are a salty sweater, ensure you replace your fluid and sodium, especially after an intense workout or exercise environment.
You can also replace the sodium lost through sweating via a balanced diet if you are a salty sweater.
2) Coffee and tea
Coffee and tea contain the stimulant caffeine, which can be transiently dehydrating when consumed in excess. It acts as a diuretic. However, drinking moderate amounts of coffee and tea have similar hydrating properties as water. The caffeine content also serves as an energizing substitute.
Caffeine can cause a dehydrating effect only in about 250–300 mg doses, the equivalent of 240 ml cups of coffee or 240 ml cups of tea.
If you don’t like these beverages, try adding unsweetened almond milk to your coffee or herbs and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, or lemongrass to your tea.
3) Skim and low-fat milk
Apart from supplying a host of nutrients, milk has excellent hydrating properties.
Milk naturally contains a high amount of electrolytes. This helps balance the amount of water in your body.
Current research has shown that skim and low-fat milk rehydrate you and popular sports drinks after intense exercise.
They also provide protein and other essential nutrients that nourish your body.
Consuming high-quality protein in milk makes it a perfect post-exercise beverage for kick-starting muscle repair and rebuilding.
Remember that consuming milk after exercise may cause stomach discomfort like bloating. In addition, this is not an appropriate option for people who have lactose intolerance or a milk protein allergy.
4) Fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables make for a perfect hydrating snack because they contain about eighty to ninety-nine percent water.
Highly processed foods like cookies, crackers, cereals, and chips only contain about one to nine percent water.
Some fruits and vegetables with the highest water content include berries, melons, oranges, grapes, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, and spinach.
Do you know frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious as their fresh counterparts?
In some cases, they’re more nutritious and yummier! So why not Stock up your fridge on various fresh fruits and vegetables?
And do not forget to keep cubed watermelon in your fridge for easy and convenient access.
Eating your fresh fruits and vegetables may take days or weeks. This is because, during that time, it might have lost its nutrients due to oxidation.
Alternatively, frozen fruits and vegetables are frozen shortly after harvesting. This process helps it retain most of its nutrients.
For example, a study showed that frozen green beans and blueberries contained more vitamin C than their fresh counterparts.
You may also try making a hydrating, nutrient-packed smoothie by mixing your favorite fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables in a blender along with milk or Greek yogurt.
5) Oral hydration solutions
Oral hydration solutions are specialized fluid replacement formulas used to prevent and treat dehydration, caused by diarrhea or vomiting.
These solutions are water-based, containing electrolytes such as sodium, chloride, potassium, and sugar.
Some commercial solutions may contain other ingredients like prebiotics and zinc.
While these rehydration drinks help replace lost fluids and electrolytes, they can be expensive.
Fortunately, you can prepare your solution using these common ingredients.
- One liter of water
- Six teaspoons of sugar
- Half a teaspoon of salt
Add and mix them in a large bowl or pot and stir until the sugar and salt dissolve.
CONCLUSION
Dehydration occurs when the amount of fluid your body loses is more than it takes in. For most people, drinking water is the best way to stay hydrated and rehydrate the body quickly. In this article, you have learned how to rehydrate your body quickly. Other rehydration options include coffee, tea, milk, fruits, vegetables, and oral hydration solutions.
If you are concerned about your or someone’s hydration status, don’t hesitate to speak to your healthcare provider.
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