Hydration

“Drinking water is like washing out your insides. The water will cleanse the system, fill you up, decrease your caloric load and improve the function of all your tissues.” – Dr. Kevin R. Stone, Physician

Moving household goods, moving offices, doing ground deliveries, driving a truck, and all the myriad other physical tasks involved in the moving and storage business requires great amounts of physical energy to accomplish. When the human body, which is made up of 98% water, is expending energy, it expels water as sweat and through natural dehydration of the tissues in the body. The more you expend energy from physical activity, the more water is expelled. For both immediate and long-range heath, it is extremely important that you constantly replace the loss of hydration in the body by drinking water. The more strenuous the activity or the hotter the temperature of the environment in which you’re working, the greater the loss of water from the body.

To further explain, according to the highly-regarded “Harvard Health Letter,” Harvard Medical School; “Drinking fluids is crucial to staying healthy and maintaining the function of every system in your body, including your heart, brain, and muscles. Fluids carry nutrients to your cells, flush bacteria from your bladder, and prevent constipation.”

The Harvard News Letter also said a healthy adult participating in normal daily activities, [Note: not moving furniture and/or loading a moving van should drink approximately ½ oz of water for every pound the individual weighs. That’s 100 ounces of water per day for a person weighing 200 lbs. (that’s 28 oz. short of a gallon of water).

Now if you’re over 50 years old, keep in mind, again referring to the newsletter, “Older adults often don’t get enough fluids and risk becoming dehydrated, especially during summer when it’s hotter and people perspire more.”

“Older people don’t sense thirst as much as they did when they were younger. And that could be a problem if they’re on a medication that may cause fluid loss, such as a diuretic,” says Dr. Julian Seifter, a kidney specialist and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Warning signs of dehydration include weakness, low blood pressure, dizziness, confusion, or urine that’s dark in color. “The kidneys lose some ability to eliminate water as we age. It’s important to stay hydrated gradually, throughout the day,” he says. He recommends drinking water or juices and eating water-rich foods such as salads, fruit, and applesauce. “An easy way to stay hydrated gradually is by getting fluids at meals, with medicine, and socially,” says Dr. Seifter.

As always, be mindful that it’s possible to take in too much water if you have certain health conditions, such as thyroid disease; kidney, liver, or heart problems, or if you’re taking medications that make you retain water, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opiate pain medications, and some antidepressants. Dr. Seifter says for that reason, you should check with your doctor to be sure you’re getting the right amount. 

“University Health News” urges people to drink the right amount of water to stay hydrated in order to gain multiple different benefits:

1. It will improve your physical performance. This is especially true for movers during the hot summer weather as water helps to protect the body and its organs from harm. For both movers and van operators, proper hydration will reduce fatigue and improve endurance. It’ll also lower your maximum heart rate and reduce muscle soreness after the day’s work is done.

2. Help you to lose weight. Studies show that people who are on diets lose more weight when they also increase their water intake. In one study, people on weight loss diets who drank 500 ml of water before each of their three daily meals for 12 weeks lost 4.6 more pounds on average than people who did not drink the additional water.
3. Keep your emotions in check. People who drink more water tend to maintain a better mood and think more positive. Those who drank 2.5 liters of water a day experienced less confusion, bewilderment, fatigue and sleeplessness.

   4. Increase your brainpower. Keeping yourself properly hydrated helps to improve cognitive performance. Studies have shown even mild dehydration can impair cognitive function in the short term. And what mover/van operator doesn’t need to be at the top of the cognitive performance arc when taking inventory, loading, or driving?

   5. Prevent headaches. Mild dehydration is one of the most common causes of headaches. In most cases, re-hydrating can provide relief from a headache. Dehydration can even trigger a migraine headache.

   6. Protect from disease. Here’s the most important reason why drinking enough water is extremely important! Its role in disease prevention is becoming quite apparent. Proper hydration can be a useful preventive action in curbing a wide variety of health conditions and diseases. Staying hydrated may protect against kidney stones, constipation, asthma, urinary track infections, coronary heart disease and possibly some cancers.

   “I start every morning by drinking a quart of water before I eat or drink anything else.” – Jeanie Lephart,Owner, Durango Transfer & Storage