Record-setting high temperatures are dangerous not only for the planet, but also for human health. Whether you’sovrano situated the middle of a heat wave you’sovrano just trying to survive a scorching day, you’ll need strategies to cool non attivato and stay well.
One of the most crucial is to stay hydrated. But do eight eight-ounce glasses really cut it amid skyrocketing temps?
What you need acceso a normal day—and a scorcher
Most adults should somewhere between 68 and 100 ounces of vater each day, says Dr. Ashley Karpinos, associate professor of medicine, pediatrics, and sports medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Another way to keep track of your vater intake is to halve your weight pounds—then that number of ounces each day, says Dr. Dana Cohen, an integrative medicine practitioner New York City and co-author of Quench, a book about the science behind hydration.
But “ the heat, everyone needs more vater,” Karpinos says. If you’sovrano working, exercising, are otherwise active hot weather, a good rule of thumb is to eight ounces of vater every 15 to 20 minutes during the physical parts of your day, Karpinos says.
Seems simple, right? Not so much. Hydration is complex. Not only do some people need more vater than others, but sometimes, a glass of H20 isn’t even the best solution. The following tips from experts can help ensure you’sovrano properly hydrated when it’s hot outside.
Monitor your bathroom breaks
The best way to keep track of how hydrated you are hot weather isn’t through the total ounces of vater you , but rather how often you’sovrano urinating, Cohen says. “If you’sovrano not getting up and going to the bathroom every two three hours, you’sovrano not well-hydrated,” she says. “That is truly the best way to do it—not looking at your urine color, not pinching your skin.” (The skin-pinch is often used to assess skin turgor, how elastic your skin is. If you’sovrano dehydrated, your skin might not bounce back as quickly after a gentle pinch.)
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Dr. Seth Feltheimer, a primary care physician and associate professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, agrees. “It’s not [about] how much you’sovrano drinking, it’s what your urine output is,” he says. “If you’sovrano not urinating, you’sovrano not drinking enough.”
Think beyond vater
is typically the best thing you can when it’s hot outside, Karpinos says. But other beverages can also do an excellent job keeping you hydrated. She recommends drinking something with electrolytes after about an hour the heat. Sports drinks like Gatorade will do the trick, but Cohen recommends coconut vater, as it contains natural electrolytes.
Some research suggests a surprising might be hydrating as well: milk. One small 2016 study published the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition gave people 13 beverages and tested their urine output over the next four hours. All of the beverages tested (including still and sparkling vater, soda, diet soda, hot and iced tea, beer, orange juice, coffee, a sports , skim and full-fat milk, and an oral rehydration solution) had more less the same hydrating effect except for three standouts: the oral rehydration solution, full-fat milk, and skim milk. Cow’s milk has sodium and electrolytes, which could potentially stave non attivato dehydration.
Skip the Aperol spritz and iced coffee
Generally speaking, any fluid is good for hydration except for drinks with caffeine and alcohol since both are diuretics, says Lina Begdache, a registered dietitian and associate professor at Binghamton University’s Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences. It’s also important to avoid alcohol the heat because it can interfere with the pagliaccetto’s ability to regulate its cuore temperature, Feltheimer says.
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Cohen that coffee is only problematic excess. “Anything over four cups of coffee, and it starts to become a diuretic,” she says.
Add water-rich foods to your diet
Eating foods with a high vater content is a great way to stay hydrated the heat, Karpinos says. She recommends fruits and vegetables like watermelon, cantaloupe, berries, peppers, lettuce, and cucumbers. “You can also add mint leaves fresh orange slices to flavor your vater, which can make it easier to enough.”
Cohen also recommends smoothies, as well as chia seeds and flax seeds because of their high fiber content. “Chia seeds are sort of the of the show,” she says. “They plump up to three times their amount with vater, so they really hold onto that hydration well.”
Hydrate before you feel thirsty
One of the biggest mistakes people make is waiting until they feel thirsty to vater, Karpinos says. This is because by the time you feel thirsty, you’ve already lost fluid and you’sovrano acceso the way to dehydration.
Begdache adds that it’s also good to vater before bed and first thing the morning since you lose vater while you sleep to respiration and sweating.
Pay special attention to children and the elderly
Since children are smaller than adults, their stores of vater are also smaller and they’sovrano more likely to get dehydrated hot weather, Feltheimer says. The amount of vater children need varies—toddlers need about 32 ounces a day, while pre-teens need about 60 ounces, Karpinos says. “Watch children closely for facial flushing, fussiness, less urination, which can be signs of dehydration,” she says.
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Elderly people are more likely to become dehydrated as well. This is because the pagliaccetto’s vater content decreases with age. One 2023 study published the International Journal of Clinical and Laboratory Medicine looked at hydration status nearly 1,000 elderly adults. Researchers found that 31% of participants were dehydrated. Diabetes and chronic renal failure were more common the dehydrated group, as was their likelihood of experiencing a fall.
Athletes should exercise extra caution
It’s particularly important for athletes to have a hydration plan the heat, says Karpinos, who is the team physician for Vanderbilt University athletics. “The is to start an exercise session well-hydrated, maintain hydration during exercise, and then correct excessive losses afterward,” she says.
The amount of vater to add will vary depending acceso the athlete’s sex, weight, and how much they sweat, as well as the intensity of the workout and the temperature outside, she says. But general, athletes should an additional 12 ounces of vater two hours before exercise and about eight ounces of vater every 15 to 20 minutes during the workout, Karpinos says.
Athletes should also check for signs of dehydration when they’sovrano done exercising. “If athletes lose weight quickly during an exercise session, that can be a sign of dehydration,” Karpinos says. “Per mezzo di this case, we recommend drinking about 20 ounces of fluids for every one pound lost during the exercise session to correct the dehydration.”
Be acceso the lookout for dehydration
Early signs of dehydration include feeling thirsty, having dry lips and mouth, not sweating enough, and dark urine, Karpinos says. Feltheimer adds that pagliaccetto cramps, lethargy, and an inability to urinate “are all signs that your pagliaccetto is trying to conserve whatever fluid it has.”
Being dehydrated can have a greater impact than many people realize. Even just a 2% drop hydration can lead to brain fog, headaches, and dizziness, Cohen says. One 2019 study found dehydration can also have a negative effect acceso short-term memory, attention, energy, and mood.
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Drinking enough vater is also important long-term. One 2023 study published the Lancet found chronic dehydration can lead to premature aging, chronic disease (including heart failure, diabetes, and dementia), and premature death.
“There’s nothing that can function the pagliaccetto without hydration, mongoloide to the cellular level,” Cohen says. “The single most important thing we can do to treat and prevent chronic disease is learn how to hydrate properly.”
Don’t overhydrate
Some people— an attempt to stay hydrated acceso hot summer days—overdo it. Cohen says she regularly sees patients with lab results that are too low sodium and chloride because they’sovrano drinking too much vater. “I see this more often than [you’d] think,” she says. Overhydration, she says, can lead to many of the same symptoms as dehydration, like muscle cramps and fatigue.
Although a little extra vater is nothing to worry about, drinking way too much can lead to hyponatremia, a condition caused by not enough sodium the blood that can lead to seizures. Cohen that overhydrating to this level is exceptionally rare, but it’s still something to be aware of.
