To Your Health: Drink up, your health depends on it
By GILLIAN SLADE on February 24, 2020.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com
In the summer there seem to be plenty of reasons to drink tall glasses of chilled water or another beverage but not so much in the winter.
Many years ago when we drank more coffee in a day than was good for us, this hot drink did help us stay warm on a chilly day and stay hydrated. I am not sure that we have adequately replaced it.
Over the last few months I have made a conscious effort to increase how much I drink in a day and have seen the benefits.
I’d never have thought I was dehydrated before but I made some changes and it has opened my eyes to a few things.
I began taking a certain number of drinks with me to work everyday and that made me realize how little I was drinking at home of the days when I am not in the office.
The change started with the purchase of several really large and good quality insulated beverage containers. They are filled every morning at home with either decaffeinated coffee, hot herbal tea, water with ice and a slice of lemon, and sometimes a tablespoon of natural fruit juice is added to the water for flavour. I ensure that I have consumed the content of all three containers before I leave the office at the end of the day.
The benefit has been a gradual change in the texture of the skin on my face and hands in particular. I had not been expecting this but could not help noticing.
I also noted that on weekends when I am not in the office I don’t drink as much – I simply get busy and forget until I am thirsty or need to sit down for a break.
I have had to duplicate my office strategy even when I am at home. The same containers get filled and used just as if I was in the office.
There is another benefit to this.
If you are anything like me, you start sipping a cup of decaf coffee and then get up to attend to something and by the time you notice the cup again it is lukewarm or cold.
The great thing about insulated beverage containers is that a drink stays hot or cold for many hours. You can keep sipping from the same cup until it is empty and that will also help you to keep track of how much you are drinking in a day.
As we age it is particularly important to stay hydrated. I am reminded of an issue with my late mother-in-law who was not drinking enough and having urinary tract infections.
Her explanation to me about not drinking enough was how difficult it was for her to get up and make her way to the bathroom. She wanted to limit that effort as much as possible. To her that movement or avoiding it was a priority and she was ignoring the other health implications as a result of that decision.
It does not matter what age you are you need to be staying hydrated, even though it means more visits to the bathroom. Your health depends on it.
Here’s to staying hydrated and here’s To Your Health.
(To Your Health is a weekly column by Gillian Slade, health reporter for the News, bringing you news on health issues and research from around the world. You can reach her at
gslade@medicinehatnews.com or 403-528-8635.)
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