The Water Game: How to Stay Ahead of It

It’s easy to overlook the importance of drinking enough water in the hustle and bustle of daily life. However, this unassuming substance is essential to maintaining good health, especially as you age.

At The Doctor’s House in Edina, Minnesota, Dr. Adepero Okulaja helps people make healthy choices that optimize their wellness on a daily basis so they can look and feel their best and reduce their risk of illness at the same time. One critical part of this approach involves proper hydration.

Is your water consumption lacking? Here’s how — and why — to up your game.

Why water matters

It may be tough to believe, but water makes up approximately 60% of your body. Water helps your body in numerous ways, such as:

• Maintaining a normal temperature
• Lubricating and cushioning joints
• Ridding your system of waste through bodily functions like sweating, urination, and defecation
• Protecting sensitive tissues and your spinal cord
• Reducing infections
• Delivering nutrients to cells
• Supporting heart and organ function
• Helping you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight

In fact, water plays such a crucial role in your body that losing as little as 2% of this fluid can cause a noticeable impact. And it’s easy to become dehydrated, especially in hot weather, if you’re physically active, or when you have an illness accompanied by fever, diarrhea, or vomiting.

Plus, your chances of becoming dehydrated increase once you reach 60 because of numerous factors, like changes in body composition, thirst levels, and medications that can affect fluid loss in the body.

Signs of dehydration

Without enough water, your body can’t function properly. Studies show that fluid loss of 1%-3% of a person’s body weight can lead to significant issues, including impaired brain function, difficulty concentrating, and headaches.

Other complications of dehydration include:

• Diminished energy and physical performance
• Constipation
• Urinary infections and kidney stones
• Mood changes
• Poor sleep quality
• Joint pain
• Heat exhaustion
• Seizures

Serious and prolonged dehydration can even lead to dangerous and life-threatening complications because of drops in blood pressure and oxygen in your system.

Staying on top of the water game

Fortunately, you can keep your body hydrated with a little advanced planning, even as you age.

There aren’t hard and fast rules about how much water a person needs to maintain optimal hydration. However, general guidelines recommend at least 64 ounces of water a day, or eight glasses. 

But you also need to consider other factors, like physical activity, hot or humid weather, and other issues that can increase fluid loss, like vomiting or diarrhea — all things that require extra water intake.

To reach your daily hydration goals, Dr. Okulaja recommends:

• Carrying and refilling a water bottle throughout the day
• Choosing water over sodas and other sugary drinks
• Serving water with each meal
• Opting for water while eating out
• Adding slices of lemon, lime, or cucumber to your water for enhanced flavor
• Eating high water content foods, like fruits and vegetables

In addition to these daily strategies, Dr. Okulaja might suggest adding IV hydration therapy to boost your water game. 

Hydration therapy for optimal health

During IV hydration therapy, Dr. Okulaja delivers fluids and essential nutrients into your bloodstream intravenously so your body can absorb them faster. The entire treatment takes 20-60 minutes while you relax comfortably.

Dr. Okulaja can also personalize your infusion to your unique needs. If you have specific symptoms, underlying or chronic medical conditions, or health concerns in addition to hydration needs, Dr. Okulaja can add the specific nutrients that provide the most benefits for optimal wellness.

IV hydration therapy provides immediate results, and you can expect them to improve in the days and weeks to come. Depending on your hydration, health, and overall goals, Dr. Okulaja could recommend a series of infusions to help you achieve long-lasting results.

How’s your hydration? Learn how you can stay ahead in the water game by scheduling a consultation with Dr. Okulaja at The Doctor’s House. Call or click today.