Five Reasons to Stay Hydrated all year long.
Article by Hydrus Performance
Did you know that hydration is just as important in the Winter as it is in the Summer?
It is common to think about staying hydrated during the hot, summer months. However, staying hydrated in the fall and winter months is just as important, if not more important, to your health. Your body might not be losing excessive amounts of fluids during the Winter, but many other factors may cause your body to become depleted of water and vital electrolytes. There are a myriad of reasons for dehydration; medications, health conditions, and masks, for example.
1. Staying hydrated improves your immune system. Our immune system is more vulnerable during the fall and winter months. Breathing dry air can weaken your immune system. The lack of hydration dries out the mucous membranes in our nose, sinus passages and lungs, reducing resistance to infections.
2. During the winter months we breathe more dry air. One of the main reasons you are likely to become more dehydrated when it’s colder is that you’re breathing a lot more dry air. The air we breathe in the winter months is heated, which means that all the moisture has already been pulled out. And when the air around you is dry, it causes your body to draw moisture out faster- making you more dehydrated. You’ll be shocked to know that even though you are inhaling a lot more dry air- you may not necessarily feel thirsty.
3. It is essential to hydrate while exercising in winter months. Your body naturally loses fluid during the day from when you breathe and sweat. In the wintertime, even more water is lost due to exposure to cold and dry air. If you are exercising outdoors with heavy equipment, you are going to sweat a lot more. You may not feel thirsty while skiing, hiking, playing football or performing any activity where there’s a requirement to wear heavy equipment, but it may cause you to lose a lot more water.
4. As odd as it seems, you feel less thirsty in Winter Months. Did you know that you feel about 40% less thirsty during the Winter, even though your body’s need for water is unchanged throughout the year? Yes. We drink less during the Fall and Winter because many of our body’s natural signals and visual clues that tell us we are dehydrated are often missing. For example, our sweat or perspiration more easily vaporizes in the winter months, and so the visual and physiological clues that tell us that we are thirsty and need hydration aren’t there.
5. You are less likely to monitor your hydration in the winter: Without the common visual and physiological clues to tell us that we need more water, most of us think less about replenishing electrolytes and water. It’s easy to forget about staying hydrated. During the winter months, you can’t rely on your thirst to tell you that you need more water. Instead, consider adopting a daily hydration routine that can help you balance your water and electrolyte intake.
For these reasons, we highly encourage a daily habit of half your body weight in ounces of water per day. We suggest the use of Hydrus in your water to help manage your electrolytes. There are no sugars, 110mg of sodium and 40mg of Potassium per serving.
Credits to Hydrus Performance for keeping us informed and helping us stay hydrated.
We sell Hydrus single-serve pouches and 8 ounce bottles of Hydrus Concentrate at the gym. It’s great stuff
