With all of us having experienced a total change in our day-to-day for some 17 months now, our work schedules turned upside down, adjusting to working remotely or mostly from home, it’s small surprise that we’ve lost the ability to implement the usual workday schedule. The one where we knew when to take a break, leave our desks, stretch our legs or gather with workmates at the water cooler while replenishing our drinking water.
With this, it’s likely that we’re out of practise with looking after our health and well-being: spending hours glued to our seats, in front of our screens, working for hours on end without taking a break.
Which is why all employers may need a gentle reminder about how vital it is to provide all employees with convenient, easy access to drinking water throughout the working day or whatever duration the work period is.
Various studies have proven that even mild dehydration can negatively influence cognition.
An article in the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) states, in part, “Mild levels of dehydration can produce disruptions in mood and cognitive functioning. Mild dehydration produces alterations in a number of important aspects of cognitive function such as concentration, alertness and short-term memory in children, young adults and in the oldest adult.
As with physical functioning, mild to moderate levels of dehydration can impair performance on tasks such as short-term memory, perceptual discrimination, arithmetic ability, visuomotor tracking, and psychomotor skills.”
Studies such as these reinforce how vital it is for every organisation to provide each employee convenient access to high-quality water dispensers that can effortlessly supply a constant source of cool, chilled or boiling hot drinking water.
