Hydration is important all year round, but the summer months are especially critical to keep your brain and body hydrated. Sweating every day in the summer heat and in physical exertion can make hydration feel like a chore. As much as you drink, you feel you sweat. Eventually, water stops tasting refreshing and starts being difficult.
On average, men should be drinking about half of their body weight in fluid ounces. If you weigh 240, you need to be drinking 120 fluid ounces every single day. During workout sessions and particularly hot days, your fluid intake should include electrolytes.
Consequences Of Dehydration
Dehydration results in more than being thirsty, getting a slight headache, or feeling a little nauseous. Chronic dehydration can have serious consequences which put your health at great risk. Dehydration can quickly result in low blood pressure, higher heart rate, high respiratory rate, and loss of blood flow to limbs. Feeling a little off is normal to men who are pushing themselves physically in the summer heat. However, those symptoms can quickly lead to greater problems. The immediate effects of dehydration can cause cardiorespiratory stress, putting significant strain on the heart. Dehydration impairs the body’s ability to regulate its temperature. In the summer heat, the can lead men to becoming overheated, which can lead to other sickness and potentially lead to hospitalization. Without proper hydration, men become fatigued. Trying to push through a workout or a sports game dehydrated can lead to passing out or total physical exhaustion, burning out the adrenal glands, and worse.
Dehydration And The Brain
When the body is dehydrated, it loses electrolytes. Electrolytes are the essential vitamins and nutrients which keep the body as well as the brain healthy. In the brain, electrolytes cause complication in the way nerve impulses communicate through the nervous system. Dehydration causes the loss of electrolytes to the brain, which then impairs the way the brain communicates within itself and the rest of the body. As a result, cognitive functions are impaired in a similar way that drugs and alcohol impair cognitive function. Your ability to make decisions and judgments are impaired, putting you at risk for accident and injury.
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