When your body is dehydrated, it can feel like your entire body is fatigued, while you may feel dizzy, lightheaded, and just awful. In fact, if you are dehydrated, sometimes it can feel like your body is running on empty and about to break down.
Being dehydrated can lead to some serious health problems and, in severe cases, even death. Fortunately, it is easier than ever to stay hydrated with some of the methods that are available now. Let’s talk about dehydration and how to rehydrate your body back to health fast!
What is Dehydration?
Dehydration is a condition that happens when an individual’s body does not have even fluids to keep it functioning properly. This occurs when the body starts losing more fluids than it is taking in, leading to a variety of health issues. There are many reasons why dehydration can happen, including excessive sweating, illness such as diarrhea or fever, certain food such as salty foods or sugary snacks, and of course, not drinking enough water.
The symptoms of dehydration can range from thirst, feeling fatigued, dry mouth, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, headache, decrease in urine output, and dark urine. Young children and the elderly are more susceptible to dehydration. This is due to young and older people’s bodies having a reduced ability to regulate temperature and diminished thirst response.
Always Stay Hydrated
It is always much easier to stay hydrated than it is for your body to recover from being dehydrated. Make sure you drink enough water and other healthy fluids throughout the day to prevent yourself from getting dehydrated in the first place.
Do not rely on thirst as an indicator that you need to drink water because, by the time you start to feel thirsty, your body is already dehydrated. Make sure that you always keep a bottle of water handy and take small, frequent sips to make sure that you stay hydrated.
Related: IV for Hangovers: Your New Favorite Hangout Cure
Once your body is running low on fluids and dehydrated, it can be an uphill battle to get your body rehydrated, especially when you are fighting against fatigue, confusion, and dizziness.
Five Ways to Rehydrate Fast
We all know that it feels terrible to be dehydrated. Here are some ways to get you hydrated and back on your feet quickly!
Try Using an Oral Rehydration Solution
Oral rehydration solutions are a quick and extremely effective way of rehydrating quickly. This method of rapid rehydration is a sugar and electrolyte solution that was originally developed during the 1940’s by pediatricians as a way to treat pediatric patients that were suffering from dehydration resulting from diarrheal diseases.
When the oral rehydration solution was created, diarrheal diseases were the biggest killer of children under the age of five. Unfortunately, diseases involving diarrhea are still responsible for the majority of children’s deaths, with one out of nine deaths of children under five being caused by diarrheal disease. While those are some harrowing statistics, oral rehydration solution was an innovation that drove an 80% reduction in children’s deaths from diarrhea.
When a body is dehydrated, it begins to develop difficulties in absorbing water through the gastrointestinal tract. This can be caused by an electrolyte imbalance which can cause your digestive system not to work the way that it should. Taking an oral rehydration solution will help in this situation since it is specially formulated to digest quickly and easily and will deliver important electrolytes and glucose, which the body will in order to restore essential body functions.
Oral rehydration solution also contains minerals and vitamins, which a body that is dehydrated may be deficient in. Depending on the formulation, oral rehydration solutions can contain sodium, potassium, or other nutrients that will help an individual quickly recover.
Another great benefit of oral rehydration solutions is they are usually packaged to be easily carried and used with a little bit of drinking water. These can also come in tablets, capsules, or powders and can be used quickly, safely, and effectively. This makes it an excellent choice for travelers or athletes to carry around for when they start to feel the effects of dehydration.
Coconut Water
Coconut water, the clear fluid that is inside coconuts, is an incredibly refreshing drink that can help the body rehydrate quickly. You can think of it as nature’s sports drink that comes packed with essential nutrients, minerals, and electrolytes that your body may be missing.
Coconut water is harvested from young, green coconuts since they are naturally low in sugar while being high in electrolytes and nutrients. This is especially useful to replenish the body after intense physical exercise or sweating since this is the time that the body will be depleted of nutrients and electrolytes.
Related: Anti-Aging Therapy: How IV Therapy May Help
When this occurs, your body has a diminished ability to cool itself, which can quickly lead to dehydration-related conditions such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke. At this stage of dehydration, your body may not be able to absorb much fluid, so drinking water may not be the best way to rehydrate since it lacks the potassium, sodium, and electrolytes that something like coconut water has. Choosing to rehydrate your body using coconut water can be the smarter choice when you have difficulty rehydrating after a workout using plain water.
Sports Drinks
One of the most popular ways to rehydrate after vigorous exercise is to reach for a sports drink. This method is particularly popular among athletes and is used as the main method of rehydration during sports games. Sports drinks are formulated to replace not only the lost fluid from sweating but also the electrolytes and glucose that get expended or excreted through sweat.
One of the first sports drinks as we know it was created and launched all the way back in 1927, but the idea of a drink to rehydrate using more than just water is not a new one. Posca, a mixture of wine vinegar and water, was used by legionnaires from Ancient Rome as a rehydration drink.
Related: Benefits of IV Therapy
Although this beverage was originally designed as a way for plebeians, the average working-class citizens of Ancient Rome, to drink up low quality or bad wine, its ability to rehydrate and replenish made it desirable for the military. Posca soon became a part of the official ration that was given in the Roman legions.
In more modern times, Glucozade was created by William Owen, a chemist in England, for easily absorbed and digested fluids that would help patients that were suffering from illnesses, such as diarrhea or fever, recover their energy. This would go on to be the father of the modern sports drink that many know and love today.
There are many benefits to using a sports drink to rehydrate, especially after a long or particularly tough workout. The carbohydrates and electrolytes that are in sports drinks will help your body rehydrate and replenish the glucose that will provide your body with energy. Another benefit to using sports drinks to rehydrate is that they are formulated to taste good so as to encourage people to stay hydrated since they can be more enjoyable than drinking plain water.
Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
If you find yourself having a hard time eating enough fruits and vegetables, you should remind yourself that water makes up anywhere from 80% to 99% of their weight. This means that they are a great way to stay hydrated. Fruits and vegetables do more than just replenish fluid that you may have lost, it also contains nutrients that will help the body regulate hydration.
Fruits like watermelon, apples, strawberries, and oranges are great ways to hydrate your body. These fruits are easily digested, so they can even be eaten during longer workouts.
The next time you go for a long run, try eating a few cold slices of orange as you start to feel your energy fading. The glucose will help restore some stamina and the juice from the orange will help quench your thirst and rehydrate you. Vitamin C, an essential vitamin that helps your body rebuild collagen in muscles that are lost during exercise, is plentiful in oranges and can help prevent injuries.
Remember to stick to the fruit and skip the store-bought juice since it can be extremely heavy in sugar and can upset the stomach.
Are you currently searching for a fast, easy, and highly effective method to help alleviate issues related to dehydration, migraines, fatigue, and more? Please contact our team of experts at Prime IV Hydration & Wellness today to learn about our services and how they can help improve your overall health and wellness.
Intravenous Hydration Therapy
Intravenous hydration therapy is a medical treatment used to deliver fluids with nutrients directly into the bloodstream. The fluid is delivered through an intravenous drip that is delivered via a cannula, tiny plastic tubing which is inserted into the arm using a needle.
There are numerous benefits to intravenous hydration therapy, but one of the most important ones is its ability to rapidly restore lost fluids, electrolytes, and minerals. This is one of the quickest and most effective ways to restore lost fluids, minerals, and electrolytes. IV hydration therapy can provide a night and day difference for those that are suffering from dehydration.
This is the rehydration method of choice for those who are suffering from the symptoms of dehydration, such as fatigue, weakness, or headaches, and require immediate relief. IV hydration therapy can provide quick relief from these symptoms by delivering the fluids and essential vitamins needed for the body to return to functioning normally.
If the cause of dehydration is caused by illness, IV hydration therapy not only can rehydrate the body, but it can also help speed up the recovery of certain illnesses or even injuries. These treatments can be tailored for each individual, so whether you are suffering dehydration from illness or from a strenuous workout, there will be a combination of vitamins and minerals that will make you feel much better.
For those suffering from conditions such as hangovers, migraines, vomiting, or diarrhea, IV therapy may be the only way to take in fluids since these conditions can make drinking fluids almost impossible, much less take medication. Fortunately, medications such as Zofran for nausea and Toradol for pain relief can be added to the IV fluids bag, which is then delivered directly to the bloodstream, where the effects are immediately felt.
IV hydration therapy is also a great way to improve overall health and wellness. The vitamin and nutrient infusion will improve your body’s overall functioning, while the electrolytes and fluids will restore the balance in your body, making a difference that you can feel almost immediately. This leads to improved levels of energy, better clarity and mental focus, and improved physical performance.
IV hydration therapy is a safe and extremely effective treatment that provides many more benefits besides treating dehydration. This form of hydration therapy is an invaluable tool for those that want to rehydrate, improve athletic performance, and speed up recovery times.
Are you searching for a way to relieve those dehydration symptoms? At Prime IV, we offer a wide range of treatment options, including one specially designed to cure dehydration.
Final Thoughts
In a perfect world, we would be able to sip on water constantly throughout the day and stay hydrated but since the world is far from perfect, thankfully, there are ways that we can rehydrate rapidly. All of these methods of rapid rehydration that we have discussed are great ways to replenish your body, but IV hydration therapy is the fastest and most efficient way to your body’s hydration levels back to normal.
