We spend around 90,000 hours in the workplace throughout our lifetime, that is the majority of our lives awake. Drinking water is often not at the forefront of our minds when working all day. Our main priority is getting through the workload and not considering our health and wellbeing. This is particularly exacerbated by the new normal of many of us now working from home. However, it is so important to drink plenty of water during work as this will not only benefit your health but will boost your productivity throughout the day.
One of the most common health problems in the workplace is dehydration. It is very easy to forget to drink water when focused on a task at work or too busy to fill a glass of water. Workers instead will have tea and coffee as this will keep them awake and energised throughout the day. However, drinking excessive amounts of tea and coffee will make you urinate more. The urine leaving your body will increase your chances of dehydration as you will have less fluid in your system.
The issue with being dehydrated is that you often do not feel dehydrated, especially if you are busy working. Drinking plenty of water will lubricate your joints and eyes. It will give your skin a healthy glow, improve digestion and remove toxins from your system. Furthermore, it will also give you energy. If you do not drink enough water, this will create an imbalance of the sugars and salts in your body. This will not only reduce concentration but could lead to more serious health issues. One way to notice if you are dehydrated is if you get a slight headache. This is your body telling you to grab a glass of water.
We lose a lot of fluid throughout the day through sweating, urinating and even breathing. Signs that you could be dehydrated are tiredness, a dry mouth, not needing to urinate much, headaches and a lack of concentration. If you become severely dehydrated, you can become irritable, confused, thirsty, have a fast heartbeat, rapid breathing and urine that is dark in colour or never at all.
Things you can do to ensure you drink plenty of water are using a hydration monitoring app such as Hydro Coach, always carrying a water bottle with you, eating more foods containing water and reducing tea and coffee consumption. Get drinking more water, even if it’s cold outside. We can forget about drinking as much water in winter as opposed to summer. Set yourself goals and challenges to stay healthy by drinking the correct amount of water each day.