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Quarantine Life: Don’t Forget To Keep Yourself Hydrated

Dr. Sreelekha Daruvuri

4 Min Read

Keeping yourself adequately hydrated is a form of self-love and you must practice it.

About 60% of the adult human body is made up of water. Water dictates functional aspects of every organ and cell in your body. Hydration is very important for the proper functioning of various organs including your heart, brain, and muscle functions. Fluids carry nutrients to your cells, flush out toxins, improve your bowel movements, help you maintain healthy skin among many other benefits. Age, weight, and gender determine the amount of water you need to drink during the day.

Here are some health benefits of good hydration:

Increase in energy and improved productivity – Dehydration can cause fatigue and significantly reduce your productivity. It would be a great idea to drink water if you are feeling de-energised.

Improved physical performance – Physical activity causes your body to lose a lot of fluids. Staying hydrated before, during, and after exercise can make your workout feel better. Water can keep your performance up while exercising and prevent fatigue after.

Weight loss – Drinking plenty of water can help you in weight loss as it gives you satiety and increases metabolic rate. Drinking water half an hour before meals can make you feel full so that you consume fewer calories.

Mood booster – When your body is hydrated, it’s performing to its best which helps put you in a good mood. If you notice yourself slipping into a negative mood, drinking water can help.

Headache prevention – Headaches are often due to dehydration and can be relieved by drinking water. It’s important to stay hydrated to avoid headaches and migraines, particularly if you are prone to getting them.

Relieve constipation – Constipation is a common problem, characterized by irregular bowel movement and difficulty in passing stool. Increased fluid intake can help soften your stools and keep constipation at bay.

Improve kidney function – Kidney stones are painful clumps of mineral crystals that form in the urinary system. Higher fluid intake increases the volume of urine passing through the kidneys, which helps to remove these stones as well as prevent the formation of them.

Brain function – The brain is strongly influenced by the hydration status.Mild dehydration (1-3% of body weight) can impair many aspects of brain function. If you’re feeling like your cognitive skills aren’t at their usual speed, it may be time to grab some water.

A good way to determine if you need to drink more water is to check the colour of your urine. The darker your urine is, the more water you need to drink. If your urine is light or has no colour, then you are well hydrated. Other signs of dehydration include fatigue, dry mouth, headache, and dizziness.

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How staying hydrated can boost your immunity

Staying as healthy as possible is one of the few preventive measures for COVID-19. During self-quarantine, we must keep in mind that drinking enough water is extremely important to keep your body healthy and your immunity strong.

Drinking water helps to oxygenate your cells. When your cells have enough oxygen, they are working at their full capacity, which helps them guard your body against any foreign bodies that try to enter and fight them if they do.

Hydration also plays a very important role in regulating your body temperature. Therefore, during fever, whether it is a symptom of COVID-19, or any other infection drinking enough water is very important. Hydration also helps in the transportation of nutrients to all parts of the body and keeps all body tissues and functions running efficiently.

The medicines we take during a viral infection – like the common cold, flu, etc, can cause dryness in the body. Also, when we are sick, we tend to lose fluid in the form of mucus, which is our body’s way of removing the disease-causing germs. When we stay hydrated, more mucus (along with germs) can be removed from our body.

Till the time we do not have a cure, and a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, it is extremely important to take all precautions to keep ourselves safe and healthy. Eat healthy food and stay hydrated to prevent and fight with any infection.

drinking water stay hydrated mfine

Words of wisdom

Good hydration is critical to the health and keeps our bodies performing at their best, not only in terms of all the processes that go on but also keeping our level of concentration up. The best advice is to keep a bottle of water close by to top up fluid levels regularly and keep thirst away.

It is important to make sure that we do our bit to help control this outbreak, so stay home, stay hydrated, develop healthy eating habits and do not panic! For more diet advice, healthy eating tips and suggestions on multivitamin intake, please reach out to our team of dietitians on the MFine app. Our experts are just a tap away!

If you are experiencing symptoms like cough, fever, sore throat or breathing difficulties, it is advised that you consult a doctor as soon as possible. Get your symptoms assessed by top doctors on your phone on the MFine app.