by Fern Shaw | Jun 14, 2013 | Health and Hydration, water cooler, Water Coolers
Staying properly hydrated ensures that all of your bodily functions are … well … functioning. You can only go three days or so without water, and as your body loses its hydration, you will experience all kinds of awful side effects. Dehydration can cause irritability, lethargy, dangerously low blood pressure, rapid heart rate, headaches, shock, and even death.
The average adult can usually maintain proper levels of hydration by drinking enough water. That being said, extreme heat or exertion can be draining on even a healthy adult. Kids and the elderly are more susceptible to extreme dehydration than the average adult … so if you have kids or older adults in your life that are important to you, the tips outlined below can be especially important for them (and for you!)
1. Pick the right water.
As a general rule, try to avoid hydrating beverages that have added sugar. In addition to having fewer calories, it’s important to choose hydrating beverages that don’t have sugar in order to prevent spikes in insulin levels. Going into a sugar crash compounded with the already-unpleasant sensation of dehydration is not the way to go. Plus, if you happen to be sick with diarrhoea during a hot summer day, sugary beverages can actually worsen your symptoms.
2. Snack on the right foods.
Fresh veggies and fruits are good snacks this time of year, and not just for dieters. Fresh produce has a very high water content, so it’s a great way to hydrate without having to drink a ton of water. For example, an apple is up to 85% of water by volume.
Pickles (and pickle juice) are higher in electrolytes than beverages like Liquid Power or Powerade, and have been shown to reduce cramping cause by exertion in high temperatures. The acetic acid in pickles and pickle juice are considered superior to the citric acid found in commercial sports drinks, at least when it comes to rehydration properties.
Another food you should add into your diet when staying properly hydrated is a concern are chia seeds. In addition to being high in protein, the seeds themselves help you to retain water by absorbing many times their own weight in water. If you can’t find the actual seeds, you may be able to find a chia seed gel at runner’s/sporting goods or health food shops.
3. Drink constantly, not occasionally.
You should be constantly drinking fluids, rather than guzzling multiple litres of water all at once.
Another way to explain this (in a rather radical comparison) is when you go to the hospital and get an IV drip, it’s a DRIP … meaning that you get a slow but steady introduction of fluids. You never see anyone getting an IV drip at the speed of a gushing fire hose.
It is better to have frequent, small amounts of fluid … especially if the dehydration is severe. Too many fluids at once can induce stomach upset or vomiting.
The amount of water you need in a given day depends on the environment, your activity level, and what other food and drink you have consumed.
Break up that amount of water into a cup or so every hour, and you’ll have a good, healthy intake of water. Drinking too much water in a very short period of time can put too much strain on your eliminatory processes, so finding the right balance is important.
4. Avoid diuretic behaviours.
Don’t do anything that you know will dehydrate you. In addition to exercise, also watch out for alcohol and caffeine. You might feel groggy when you get to the office … avoid your usual The Hulk sized mugs of coffee and go for a large glass of water. You might be surprised at how much more effectively the water perks you up.
5. Make it easy on yourself.
It’s hard to stay hydrated when you don’t have water nearby. At the office it should be easier – and practically impossible to avoid if you have a water cooler on the premises.
If you don’t, speak to the powers-that-be and ask them to drop AquAid a line, so that you get your water cooler tout suite.
Chia!
by Fern Shaw | Jun 3, 2013 | Charity, Guest Blog
As UK specialists and leaders in the supply of modular buildings and portable accommodation, AV Group /Danzer / Rentacabin© are committed to protecting and enhancing local and global environments. Along with our commitment to sustainability we also try to give back where we can and this was one of the reasons why we chose to use AquAid.
Our decision to install a water cooler from AquAid not only means that our staff members are properly hydrated allowing them to perform at their best, but it also gives our company the opportunity to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
For each of the machines that we have, we have donated £20 per year per water cooler to The Africa Trust. Through our contributions to The Africa Trust, an ‘Elephant Pump’ is being installed in Africa on our behalf. This pump will bring much needed clean, fresh drinking water and improve the quality of life of those who will have access to our well.
We are proud to be involved in this initiative and over the coming months we look forward to updating our website with photos of the pump bearing our company name.
For further information on AV Group / Danzer / Rentacabin© please visit our website https://avdanzer.co.uk
by Fern Shaw | May 29, 2013 | water cooler, Water Coolers
Here is the ‘Law-uh’! (to be said with an old-school-spaghetti-Western-type-small-town-sheriff pronunciation).
In the U.K. the Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations of 1992, Regulation 22 places requirements on the employer with respect to the provision of drinking water.
It states:
1. An adequate supply of wholesome drinking water shall be provided for all persons at work in the workplace.
2. Every supply of drinking water required by paragraph (1) shall –
(a) be readily accessible at suitable places; and
(b) be conspicuously marked by an appropriate sign where necessary for reasons of health or safety.
3. Where a supply of drinking water is required by paragraph (1), there shall also be provided a sufficient number of suitable cups or other drinking vessels unless the supply of drinking water is in a jet from which persons can drink easily.
With this rather stern fact out of the way, I then proceeded to cross fjords, wade through rivers, scuba in ponds and was sadly, unable to find any unusual water laws per country.
What I did come across, however, were a plethora of unusual water tidbits and factoids.
- If the entire world’s water were fit into a 4 litre jug, the fresh water available for us would equal only about one tablespoon.
- Each Briton uses about 150 litres of tap water a day, but if you include the amount of water embedded within products, our water consumption increases to about 3400 litres a day.
- One cotton t-shirt has about 25 baths full of water embedded in it. (Frightening that, but the thought of seeing Colleague X nekkid at the water cooler, the t-shirt needs to stay)
- To produce just one pint of beer for example, takes 170 litres of water.
- It takes 200,000,000 litres per second to grow food for the planet.
Overall, that’s a lot of water used and some of that isn’t even for drinking!
So, employer, be kind to your employees and install a water cooler that will allow them to keep hydrated and therefore, be happier, healthier and more productive during working hours.
And remember, it’s the law-uh! *cue sunset and whistle Ennio Morricone theme to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and exit stage left*
by Fern Shaw | May 17, 2013 | Health and Hydration
I don’t know if you are aware of this, but in the U.K. a rather large percentage of people that are hospitalised are admitted with illnesses that stem or are complicated by dehydration. It is rather sad to think that in such a marvellous country, with all of the facilities available to us, there are still many, many people who are ignorant about something as simple as drinking water.
Children are particularly at risk of becoming dehydrated because a child’s body is less effective at perspiring and produces more heat during physical exertion. Children also tend to be more physically active than adults, resulting in a greater loss of bodily water.
As we get wrapped up in an activity or task it is easy to forget to consume enough water, especially as a child. Children can often find consuming water difficult as it lacks flavour. Here are a few tips for helping to keep your child hydrated, so they can maximise their potential each day.
- Be a good role model; the more your child observes you drinking, the more likely they are to copy your behaviour.
- Introduce a drinking routine. If your child regularly forgets to drink water, having a routine in place to ensure a glass of water is consumed at least first and last thing in the day, at meal times and pre/post exercise may help.
- Offer a variety of drinks but limit caffeinated beverages as very large quantities can have a diuretic effect, causing an increase in urination.
- If your child prefers fruit juices, try gradually diluting them with water.
- Many fruits are high in water volume so offering a fruit salad for desert or as a snack can help increase water intake. Soups and stews can also have similar benefits.
- Protein requires additional liquid to metabolise so reducing meat intake can help with hydration levels.
Older people have very similar water requirements to those of younger adults. A conservative estimate for older adults is that daily intake of fluids should not be less than 1.6 litres. Unfortunately, many older people do not drink adequate amounts of water. A recent survey of water provision in UK care homes for the elderly found that most residents only consumed 2-4 glasses of water per day.
- Developing a habit of drinking only in response to the body’s thirst signals raises an older person’s risk of becoming dehydrated.
- Seniors who have relocated to areas where the weather is warmer or dryer than the climate they are accustomed to are even likelier to become dehydrated unless they make it a practice to drink even when they are not thirsty.
- As fear of incontinence may factor into a reluctance to drink sufficient water, elderly people should nevertheless be encouraged to drink sufficient water so as keep their organs functioning.
Some methods to combat these are:
- Encourage the drinking of water. As a general rule, try to avoid hydrating beverages that have added sugar.
- Snack on the right foods. Fresh veggies and fruits are good snacks, and not just for dieters. Fresh produce has a very high water content, so it’s a great way to hydrate without having to drink a ton of water. For example, an apple is up to 85% of water by volume.
- Drink constantly, not occasionally. You should be constantly drinking fluids, rather than guzzling multiple litres of water all at once.
- Avoid diuretic behaviours. This means not constantly drinking a liquid that is known to dehydrate. Culprits include coffee and alcohol.
Educating oneself, one’s family (older and younger) is absolutely essential in teaching good hydration habits. As we all know the maxim ‘It’s never too late to learn something new’.
by Fern Shaw | May 13, 2013 | water cooler
(… that’s ‘Wobble’ not ‘Womble’)
We harp on about drinking water, water, water – with good reason!
I bet I’ll get your attention when I say that not drinking enough water can make you fat (wobbly). That’s because even when you’re mildly dehydrated, you can raise your stress hormone cortisol one to two percent. Among the many things cortisol does is store fat and break down muscle.
Now, you’re going to hear naysayers claim the dehydration issue is overhyped. They argue there’s no double-blind, placebo based study to show you need eight glasses of water every day and that by drinking tea, coffee or fizzy drinks, you will actually reach your water quotient for the day.
This is not true. Whereas there certainly is some truth that most beverages are made up of water – the fact of the matter is – pure water is better. The ideal is to drink half your weight in water ounces. So if you weigh 200 pounds, you need to drink 100 ounces of water a day.
If you’re shaking your head that doing so is impossible, here are some tips that’ll easily help you achieve this:
- Buy a funky monkey water bottle – if you have children – perhaps they can help personalise it for you (nothing like a few glitter star stickers to vamp up your bottle). Or, personalise it yourself.
- Rally round the water cooler with your colleagues, or make a breakfast / tea / lunch time appointment with said colleagues to meet at the water cooler and fill up your water bottle. Take the bottle with you back to your desk.
- Teach yourself to sip from your water bottle. Repeatedly. Throughout the day.
- Replenish your water bottle. Head back to the water cooler (the in-place to clear the cobwebs, catch up on the jibber jabber and do a 5 minute de-stress).
- If you’re not able to buy a water bottle, then carry out the above 3 steps anyhow. Fill up your cup at the water cooler and finish the cup before you head back to your work station.
Now how easy was that?
You will save money, the environment and you won’t have to worry about that cortisol sneakily storing fat. You’ll also stay hydrated and enjoy the countless benefits water provides for your body.
