Water, your organs and your health

Water, your organs and your health

by | Jun 4, 2018 | aquaid, Water, Water Coolers

I’ve been reading through my notes for the blogs for this week and it all became a little overwhelming. So I let my brain head out West and the rest of me went to top up on the java.

Then my brain knocked politely, ‘Coo-ee, I’m back’ it warbled.

‘What?’ the coffee-enjoying-rest of me replied. ‘You come up with anything useful out West?’

A lengthy discussion ensued ….

Anyhow, as it turns out, the brain told me it got to thinking about all the other lesser (according to it) but just as vital (according to all of them) organs that we humanoids are blessed with and guess what? ALL OF THEM need sufficient water to keep the g-g-greased lightning performance.

Kidney and Liver Function

One of the liver’s primary functions is to metabolise stored fat into energy. The kidneys are responsible for filtering toxins, wastes, ingested water and salts out of the bloodstream. If you are dehydrated, the kidneys cannot function properly and the liver must work overtime to compensate. As a result, it metabolises less fat, your metabolism slows down to conserve water, which leads to weight gain and can contribute to belly fat.*

The Heart

Dehydration can cause insufficient oxygenation of the tissue of the cardiovascular system. The heart rate increases in response to the tissue oxygen deficit. Tachycardia, or a heart rate greater than 100 beats per minute, occurs.  Severe dehydration can trigger irregular heart rhythms, especially in people with an underlying heart condition.*

Command Central i.e. The Brain

Brain cells require the right amount of water and minerals in each of the cells.  If there is too much water, the cell’s membrane can break; if there is not enough, the cell will shrivel up. When there is brain dehydration, less water is available for brain cells to use. *

Importance of Water

Almost two-thirds of the human body is made up of water and water acts as a natural appetite suppressant. It also helps to regulate your metabolism. When you become dehydrated, your metabolism slows down, affecting how your body burns fat. Your body mistakes thirst for hunger, which leads to increased calorie consumption. This can lead to stubborn fat gathering around your stomach, which is difficult to lose.*

Bearing all of this in mind, also remember that water weight is not the same as ‘blob’ weight, so whereas you may think that because your body is retaining water it means you’re gaining weight, this is not the case. Your body is desperately trying to tell you, by retaining water, that it doesn’t have enough to function properly.

There’s no need for concern though, indeed you can celebrate and revel in the fact that throughout the UK, clean, fresh drinking water transported from source to your office, school or site is readily available from AquAid through our range of water coolers.  Drink up!

 * sourced from an article at Livestrong

Imagine this … (there’s no water in the water cooler!)

Imagine this … (there’s no water in the water cooler!)

by | Jun 4, 2018 | Water, water cooler, Water Coolers

… Rain (blizzards, snow, and sub-zero temperatures) or shine (weak lemony coloured sun that wouldn’t tan a meringue) you begin to notice that your staff is a tad dispirited, if not outrightly unproductive. No spring in their step, no whistle in their walk.

So, at great cost, you institute an Independent Board of Enquiry to establish the cause of this general malaise that’s affecting everyone from Mrs Tibbins, usually the whizz bang accountant, through to Mr Oogle, usually the zoomiest bike messenger ever (but sadly not for the past few months.)

While all of this is in motion, the meeker than the proverbial mouse IT person, Tad, squeaks up.

‘We’ve no water in the water coolers’, says Tad, ‘so everybody’s most likely dehydrated’.

‘What?’ splutters HOD Mrs Furthingstoke, ‘what does that have to do with everyone not performing at their peak? Pure poppycock, I’m sure!’

‘Incorrect’, corrects Tad, ‘not drinking water regularly is one of the leading causes of many illnesses, especially fatigue’.

As it turns out, Tad was proven correct.  The Board of Enquiry was dismissed, the water coolers were kept replenished, productivity soared and absenteeism dropped rapidly.

Take it from Tad, dehydration can happen sooner than one thinks. Some early warning signs are:

  • Light-headedness, dizziness;
  • Tiredness, irritability, headache;
  • Dry mouth, throat and eyes;
  • Sunken features (particularly the eyes), flushed skin and skin that is loose and lacks elasticity;
  • Heat intolerance;
  • There may be a burning sensation in the stomach, urine output will be reduced and may appear darker than usual.

So, in the interests of having a healthy, happy, productive work environment, take the simplest route – ensure that there is always fresh, clean drinking water from source available in the workplace.

How to ensure that your cool drinking water is kept replenished?  Speak to us at AquAid Water Coolers. We have over 20 years’ experience in the provision of the right water cooler for your space, required capacity and all your drinking water requirements.

 

 

 

Single Use Plastics – the way forward

Single Use Plastics – the way forward

by | May 1, 2018 | aquaid, water cooler, Water Coolers

The use of plastic has had significant media attention recently, in particular following the various Blue Planet episodes aired on the BBC. The tone of the debate is highly emotive and even Theresa May recently voiced her opinion on the matter, stating that the House of Commons would ban the use of plastic cups and that the government will recommend that all large businesses do the same.

At AquAid we are keenly aware of the impact using plastic has in our industry, to our customers and on our environment.  We are constantly seeking solutions and alternatives to reduce waste, minimise our carbon footprint and increase the sustainable provision of our water and water products to our customers.

Potential long term options?

  1. Paper cups/cones

Paper cups may seem like an obvious alternative, but they are not.  As paper is porous, all cups contain a lining which means that they cannot easily be recycled.  Unfortunately, although few people may be aware of this, if you are paying to recycle paper cups, these lined cups actually contaminate the recycling batch they go into.

There are cones available without a plastic lining, but they will only hold water for a matter of seconds before it will start seeping through and land on the floor. Whilst these are useful from an environmental perspective, they are less useful from a hydration perspective, the reason organisations have a water dispenser in the first place.

Paper cups cost around 50% more than plastic, with cones priced slightly lower.

  1. Plastic bottles

There is a place for re-usable plastic bottles, however, we need to be aware that a plastic bottle weighs at least 30 times more than does a plastic cup. This then means that using plastic bottles is adding plastic weight and volume rather than reducing it. Even if you re-use a plastic bottle (which some people will re-use 30 times, but others much less so) it has to be borne in mind that the bottle needs to be cleaned which has its own environmental impact.

  1. Use bio-degradable/compostable material 

The idea of using bio-degradable plastic is very appealing at first as people picture it literally turning into dust.  The problem is that in order for the plastic to compost, it needs to be kept in very specific circumstances only achievable in an industrial composting environment. Not only are there very few such facilities in the UK, there are also no nationwide collection schemes in place for them.  If bio-degradable cups end up in landfill they can be more harmful to the environment than normal plastic cups, as is indicated in various reports and case studies from authorities in the field*.  Added to this, bio-degradable plastic is made from corn starch – which again brings with it a significant impact on the environment. As a final point, bio-degradable plastic is considerably more expensive than regular plastic.

The solution

Because of the focus directed at the issue of single use cups, we may be forgetting the difference between litter and recycling. Plastic on its own is not an issue – unrecycled plastic is. Bearing this in mind, we believe there is a viable solution, one which will be of benefit to not only ourselves and our customers, but also to our environment.

Recycling plastic cups

Upon consultation with a number of recycling authorities, in particular BIFFA, a leading integrated waste management company, we’ve established as follows:

  • The cups that AquAid supply are made of a single type of plastic. The benefit of this is that easy to recycle and a valuable resource that can be repurposed and resold.
  • Our plastic cups are easily recycled if placed in a dry mixed recycling (DMR) bin. These are bins which take cans, paper, cardboard and plastic. Not only will the material placed in a DMR be recycled, but DMR bins cheaper to have emptied than a normal waste bin.

We believe that we have established a practical, cost effective and viable solution to using our drinking cups and are inviting our customers to contact their local recycling companies to confirm that they offer the dry mixed recycling bins (DMR), to assist with the recycling of not only plastic cups, but also the many other recyclable items found in offices up and down the country.

Should you wish for any additional information about our recycling plan, kindly e-mail us at nationalaccounts@aquaidwatercoolers.co.uk 

* sources: articles in The Guardian; UN News

New feature online at AquAid – Place an Order / Book an Engineer

New feature online at AquAid – Place an Order / Book an Engineer

by | Apr 10, 2018 | aquaid, water cooler, Water Coolers

When we see the most recent statistics of how many people in the UK make use of the internet, these figures probably won’t come as any surprise. What may be surprising though are the demographics of online use.

According to a statistical bulletin from the Office of National Statistics:

  • In Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2017, 89% of adults in the UK had recently used the internet (in the last 3 months), up from 88% in 2016; while 9% had never used the internet, down from 10% in 2016.
  • Virtually all adults aged 16 to 34 years were recent internet users (99%), in contrast with 41% of adults aged 75 years and over.
  • 90% of men and 88% of women were recent internet users, up from 89% and 86% in 2016.
  • Recent internet use among women aged 75 and over had almost trebled from 2011.
  • Northern Ireland is catching up with the other UK regions in recent internet use, reaching 84% in 2017; however, it remained the region with the lowest recent use.

At AquAid, we believe it’s of paramount importance to be at the forefront in being able to offer our customers easy access to our wide range of water coolers, water related products and water services.

In view of this, we developed a website some 12 years ago, which we’ve constantly striven to keep as user friendly and informative as possible.  In keeping with this philosophy we launched a new website in January 2017, introducing a cleaner, more modern look whilst also incorporating a significantly more user-friendly operation.

Looking at the above stats and considering the marked increase in online queries we receive on a daily basis, this has definitely been of benefit to both our customers and ourselves.

Based on the successes brought about since the launch of our new website, we’ve looked at a number of customer-centric options.  The most recent addition is the new Place an Order / Book an Engineer feature.

Should you wish to contact us online, whether you have a query or enquiry, require information or would like to order a water cooler, order your bottled water or book a service, all you need to do is simply click on the Place an Order / Book an Engineer button at the AquAid website, fill in your information, press send and we’ll take it from there

 

Hot Water Taps Save 119 Hours & £1,638 per Annum

Hot Water Taps Save 119 Hours & £1,638 per Annum

by | Mar 28, 2018 | aquaid, Hot Water Taps, instant tap, Water Coolers

Want to know how your business can save 119 hours and £1,638 in wasted productivity every year?

Read on …

How many cups of tea or coffee do we drink at work?

  • There are 65,64 million people in the UK
  • Each day 165 million cups of tea and 70 million cups of coffee are consumed – that’s an average of 4 cups per person per day
  • Let’s assume the average person (Jane/Joe) drinks one cup at home and three cups at the office
  • Let’s also assume that Jane/Joe is working in a micro-sized business of 9 employees and that when they make tea or coffee for themselves, they also do so for another 2 employees in the office

How much time do we waste waiting for a kettle to boil?

  • It takes 3 minutes for a kettle to boil – that’s 3 minutes Jane/Joe wastes every day waiting for hot water for the three cups of tea or coffee they’re wanting to make, assuming Jane/Joe and the two colleagues take it in turn to make drinks
  • If we work an average of 22 days per month – that’s 66 minutes wasted in the month and 792 minutes or just over 13 hours wasted per year
  • If the average working day is 8 hours long, it means we waste more than 1.5 working days per year waiting for that kettle
  • And that’s just for one Jane or Joe

Want to add a monetary value to that time wasted?

  • The average wage in the UK is £13.94 per hour – that’s 23 pence per minute, without employers NI contributions of around 13 percent
  • If Jane/Joe wastes 792 minutes per year waiting for water to boil it equates to £182 lost in productivity
  • Again, just for one Jane or Joe

Want to know how much that actually impacts on you as a business owner?

  • There are 5.7 million small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, which makes up 99% of all businesses
  • SMEs can be broken down into micro business owners (the vast majority of SMEs) who employ 0-9 employees; small business owners who employ up to 49 employees; and medium business owners who employ up to 249 employees
  • If you are a micro business owner:

That’s a £1,638 and 119 hours (or 15 working days) loss in productivity per annum waiting for a kettle to boil

  • If you are a small business owner:

That’s a £8,918 and 647 hours (or 81 working days) loss in productivity per annum waiting for a kettle to boil

  • If you are a medium business owner:

That’s a £45,318 and 3,287 hours (or 411 working days) loss in productivity per annum waiting for a kettle to boil

Hot water taps provide instantly ready boiling water, no wasted time waiting for a kettle to boil – can your business afford to be without one?

Sources:

Business Wire Research & Markets

Statista

House of Commons Library

Instant Taps Aid Productivity

Instant Taps Aid Productivity

by | Mar 28, 2018 | aquaid, Hot Water Taps, instant tap, Water Coolers

Many studies have examined the varying effects of dehydration on performance. Apart from the obvious fact that our bodies need water to survive, all studies unequivocally prove that dehydration negatively affects mood, cognitive performance, mental recall, and therefore productivity. The law stipulates that there needs to be easily accessible drinking water at any place of work. Responsible employers provide this in the form of water coolers, water boilers or hot water taps for health and safety reasons, but an added benefit is that hydration aids productivity which is always good for business.

While we are all familiar with the well-documented, adverse effects of dehydration, we turn to another study which takes a more positive approach – rather than withhold water, what happens when we give water? In their paper entitled Effects of hydration status on cognitive performance and mood, Masento and Reekum looked at studies across a variety of different subject groups to ascertain if water intervention improved performance.

Drinking water improves visual sustained attention

Young adults were given varying amounts of water and then asked to complete a rapid visual information-processing task. The researchers found that the group receiving the most water (330ml) performed the best while the group that received no water performed the worst. Across a number of studies, where the experimental design and also the amounts of water given were changed, the result remained the same – water consumption improves the cognitive function of visual sustained attention.

Drinking water improves simple reaction time

Adults were asked to rate their thirst levels, they were then assigned to a nil-water or water group and asked to perform a simple reaction time task. Those subjects who’d identified themselves as thirsty and were in the nil-water group performed significantly worse than their counterparts. Not only did the study show that drinking water improved simple reaction time, it also showed the importance of baseline hydration levels – those participants who were thirsty at the start of the experiment were potentially mildly dehydrated which already slowed reaction time.

Drinking water improves mood

Young adults were randomly assigned to nil-water and water supplementation groups, and then asked to complete a range of cognitive tasks and mood ratings. In the groups that were given water, their mood ratings were improved – they reported feeling calmer and more alert immediately after drinking the water.

It’s clear to see that water intervention enhances performance, and as improving productivity is essential in the workplace, it’s also clear to see why water dispensers are crucial to the office set-up. At AquAid we have a wide range of water coolers to choose from, but if you’re in the process of updating your current breakout area or refreshment point, consider installing AquAid Instant Taps. Hot water taps can provide instantly ready boiling, ambient or chilled water at the touch of a button; they are also stylish, compact, efficient and cost-effective. If you want to increase productivity in your office, contact AquAid today – we will help you find the best water solution for your needs.