What dehydration does to you and how to fix it

The solution is not what you think it is.

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WARNING: I am not medically trained in the slightest.

Hydration will affect people differently, and you should always consult with your medical practitioner about anything health related you read on the internet - including this water waffle of mine. The studies and sites linked in this post where I get my information from don’t mean shit all if you are medically fragile, or unwell with any condition.

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I think we know what dehydration does to us.

Dry mouth
Headaches
Light headedness, dizzy etc
Sore muscles and joints, yada yada

But aside from temporary feelings of shite, dehydration is actually a tonne more serious. The University of Texas MD Anderson Centre says kidney stones, kidney failure, seizures, coma, and even death can happen at the very end of the super seriousness scale.

Like, if I wasn’t really taking hydration seriously enough, I am definitely paying attention now. And yes, MD Anderson Centre is a cancer specialist and if you read my last post on why I quit booze, you’ll see why I read about cancer as much as I can, even on seemingly random medical specialist centres in Texas. No medical site or journal is too much for my ADHD hyper focus.

Are you currently dehydrated? I am for sure. So shall we cut to the chase?

In some cases, plain water is not the best thing to drink for hydration.

This study from St Andrew’s University found that while water is totally fine, drinks with a bit of sugar, fat, or protein do an even better job of keeping us hydrated for longer.

Mind blown.

This whole time I have been waffling on to anyone who’ll listen that plain water is the thing to drink for hydration when it might not be.

Holy smokes. Who knew? Maybe y’all did.

According to the study, ‘good’ hydration depends on how well the body responds to what you’re drinking. Drinking more produces (for lack of a better word) more hydration. The more we drink, the faster the stomach releases the water into our bloodstream which then goes on to do the diluting and hydrating job of our organs and joints and things like that. And to do a superb job, ideally we want the water to stay there for longer circulating around so it can do the diluting and hydrating job properly. (Not to be confused with water retention which is a different thing again.)

Plain or sparkling water does a fantastic job of hydrating. But, the nutritional content of the drink is important and according to the study, a glass of milk is more hydrating. This is because of the sugar in the lactose, the protein, and the fat content effectively slows down and drags out the emptying of fluid from the stomach, therefore hydrating us for longer.

Moral of the story, find a drink you like, and don’t fret if you don’t like the taste of water. A flavoured water, or milk can be just as good if not better. Boom.

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I’m about three or so years deep in my ADHD diagnosis and I have never seen all the things explained as well or as nicely as Claire does here. (Link points to TikTok)

And if you need a wee laugh at silly things, go look at middleclassfancy on insta.

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Thanks for reading this newsletter. I really appreciate the time you give to me for this and I hope you get some value from it. If you have any questions you can reply directly to this email or if you’ve landed here from a link, email lou@sweatypals.nz. You can also follow me on Twitter here, and instagram here.

Lou xx