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.
by Fern Shaw | May 3, 2013 | Health and Hydration, Water Boilers
What is the difference between sunburn, sunstroke and heat exhaustion?
In a previous blog, I rather optimistically spoke about Spring being on the horizon, the grass rising … so now I may as well stretch that optimism further (boiiiinnnggg-ing) by casting my foresight towards the prospect of Summer and the Summer ‘oliday.
Summer breaks can be the make or … break between one maintaining one’s sanity in the workplace instead of plotting the demise of an annoying colleague around the water cooler, but before you pack in either your Borat costume or your dental floss bikini as the only necessity that you’ll need on the beach at Olu Deniz, have a squizz through this blog and understand that sun, sea and holiday could very easily end up being sun, burning to a crisp and coming home in an air ambulance.
Sunburn is caused by overexposure to UV rays, characterized by sore, red skin that can become itchy and even blister, if it’s severe enough. It can also be accompanied by fatigue and mild dizziness. Remember – even if you call your burn a tan, the fact of the matter is, tanning your skin only happens as a result of your skin being damaged.
Heat exhaustion is the result of exposure to very hot weather and signs can include fatigue, dizziness, headache, rapid pulse and breathing and muscle cramps. It can also lead to sunstroke – which can be fatal.
Sunstroke or heatstroke is caused by long-term exposure to very high temperatures, or dehydration. It can also come about if the body’s internal mechanism for regulating temperature is inadequate.
When does heat exhaustion become sunstroke?
Symptoms of sunstroke include:
- Not sweating (a sign your body is no longer capable of regulating your internal temperature).
- Skin that feels hot and flushed
- Fever
- Confusion
- Loss of consciousness
Why does this happen? Exposure to extreme temperatures can shut down your body’s capacity to keep you cool through sweating. This could lead to major organ failure, shock and unconsciousness.
Dehydration can exacerbate sunstroke.
We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: water is your friend. Drink at least eight glasses a day and even more in hot weather and when you’re exercising.
Now, obviously, as you head off to soak up the sun, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to pack in work’s water cooler – a) the work drones left behind may have a slight issue with this, b) the boss may lay theft charges against you and c) it’s rather unlikely that the airline will accept the water cooler as additional baggage no matter how you dress it up as a ‘can’t-leave-home-without-it’ item. So, in order to keep your cool (both temperature and vibe wise) this Summer, say it one more time with me:
Water is your friend. Drink at least eight glasses a day and even more in hot weather and when you’re exercising.
Happy ‘olidays.
by Fern Shaw | Apr 19, 2013 | Health and Hydration
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 metabolize 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 metabolizes less fat, your metabolism slows down to conserve water, which leads to weight gain and can contribute to belly fat.
Hence the blob factor mentioned in the heading.
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. There’s that blob factor again.
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.
So, celebrate and revel in the fact that in the U.K., 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!
by Fern Shaw | Apr 17, 2013 | Health and Hydration
Tea Time. Choose any of the innumerable varieties of teas and herbal drinks, not only to stay hydrated, but also to reap piles of benefit for your body. Black tea contains catechins, flavonoids that can improve cardiovascular health and may help prevent cancer. Green tea lowers your risk of heart disease, reduces your risk of lung cancer, and can help your body burn fat more easily – the polyphenols in the tea appear to work with caffeine to increase calorie burn.
Proper tea stemming (a-ha) from the plant Camellia sinensis includes only four varieties: Green, Black, White and Oolong. Anything else, like herbal ‘tea’ is an infusion of a different plant and isn’t technically tea.
This however, doesn’t mean that there aren’t many health benefits to herbal teas. Sage tea can help with excessive perspiration. Chamomile can help control blood pressure and ease digestion and gas. Ginger tea can soothe your stomach and ease arthritis pain.
AquAid supply a rather nice PG Tips, which is a Black Tea, with their hot drinks dispensers.
Coffee break. Let’s not kid ourselves, coffee (like tea) probably makes the world go round and has done so since its introduction to the West in the 1600’s. We’ve already discussed the good vs. bad when it come comes to coffee consumption – rule of thumb being ‘everything in moderation’, so here I’m going to talk about some of the many benefits of coffee.
Because coffee is a diuretic, many people avoid it before they work out. You might want to rethink that approach. Coffee has been shown to help your body burn fat while you exercise, aiding in weight loss. It also enhances performance by minimizing the effects of fatigue.
As with tea, coffee is full of powerful antioxidants called flavonoids, which help to prevent LDL cholesterol (bad for the heart) from oxidizing and causing heart disease.
If one avoids loading up with the sugars and creams when having one’s cup of Java, drinking coffee is also not bad when one is dieting, as black, unflavoured, unsugared coffee contains about 2 calories.
Look for the Kenco range of coffees that can come with your hot and cold drinks dispensers and keep in mind that for every Kenco coffee purchased, a donation is made to The Africa Trust, bringing clean drinking water to rural communities in Africa.
Topping up the Water Tank. As with all our bottled water, both our hot and cold water dispensers are kept replenished from water drawn from the source.
Glug, glug. Enjoy.
by Fern Shaw | Apr 11, 2013 | Health and Hydration, 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 and 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 at the press of a button, in the workplace.
