The Whys and Hows of Summer Hydration
Water is literally key to our survival, regardless of whether you’re a marathoner or you’re taking a ‘break from the gym’. Humans can exist around 60 days with no food, but only seven with no water. Oh, and we’re also made up of 55% water as grownups.* And when hard workouts, or even just festival season and boozy long weekend escapes crop up, we’re reminded just how reliant we are on old-fashioned H20 to feel energized and, you know, alive. To kick off a Summer Hydration Challenge we’re co-hosting with new partner and healthy behavior change organization the Foodstand, we wanted to share hydration facts and tips, and dispel a myth or two (keep an eye on your inbox for the official invite! OR if your company is interested in joining, email us at [email protected]!).
Fact: our favorite summer activities dehydrate us. At happy hour, each drink with coworkers strips the body of electrolytes and acts as a diuretic. It can also impact sleep and muscle fatigue if you’re planning on working out the next day. It’s a safe rule of thumb to drink one glass of water for each glass of booze to prevent dehydration. And if you’re heading to the mountains for brews and barbecues, you lose water more quickly at elevation because humidity is lower. According to the Wilderness Medical Society, water loss at elevation occurs twice as fast as it does at sea level. Bottom line, whether on a rooftop or mountaintop, keep that water bottle full all month long to feel your best. And may we recommend one from KOR Water for BPS-free, self- filtering and sleek-looking goodness? (Or you can win one in our August Hydration Challenge!)
On the flipside, there are some things that have been pinned to hydration that are a little more than iffy. According to a story we found in Women’s Health, there’s only been one clinical study on water’s impact on skin appearance. While there is a chance that it does indeed help plump up skin, the sure thing more likely comes in a jar, or is genetic. If you’re after a glowy, billboard-worthy complexion, some of our favorite ways to hydrate ourselves from tip to toe can be sourced from Radice Apothecary or Yuni Beauty.
No matter what your plans this summer, chances are you’ll be spending at least some of this season at your desk, juggling deadlines or closing deals, and completing awesome projects. It’s easy to rely on the office coffee pot to power the way to crushing work goals, which can be temporarily effective but tough on the body. Rachna Govani, Foodstand’s CEO and co-founder, suggests, ‘swapping coffee for green tea after 12pm—it has much less caffeine, so you’ll get an energy boost without the shakes, or the crash from sugary energy drinks, which can kill productivity. Green tea also has L-theanine, which is beneficial for improving performance on cognitively demanding tasks.’ Or drink up that electrolyte filled coconut water. One of our favorite brands, Harmless Harvest, even has coffee coconut water and a probiotic version – can we say double dip?!
The benefits of switching to water, or water-based and unsweetened beverages, don’t stop at the office. The health benefits of hydration range from optimizing physical performance to healthy weight maintenance. Or to ensuring that happy hour doesn’t make for an unhappy morning after. Overall, we feel being properly hydrated is an important habit for long term health, and is our personal favorite way to stay happy and healthy all summer long. To encourage our HealthKick community to join us on the water-chugging bandwagon, we’re partnering with the Foodstand, KOR Water and Harmless Harvest on a seven-day hydration challenge. Email us at [email protected] to get your company entered!
*Source: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/dehydration-risks-and-myths/
