DRINKING WATER IS NOT OVERRATED
By: Ashley Alden, President, HHA
Last Year the most
interesting thing happened to me. I kept feeling sharp pains in my left side. I
thought to myself, “Oh dear, if I had another appendix, it would probably need
to come out today.” I had been having sharp uncomfortable pains in my left side
for the past couple weeks, and this one day I decided to go to Urgent Care and
see what is going on. At Urgent Care the doctor did the typical exam and came
to the conclusion that I was getting muscle and bowel cramps from not drinking enough water. I
answered “Is that it?” perplexed that something so simple could be such an
agonizing nuisance. I left the Urgent Care and started drinking more fluids.
To my surprise, the
pain in my side subsided after regularly drinking more fluids and being consciously
aware of how much water I am drinking each day.Dehydration is a common problem among adults and seniors over the age of 65 because symptoms of dehydration are masked by the aging body. Gary Egan, an associate professor at the University of Melbourne, conducted a study of 10 men with an average age of 23.7 and 12 healthy older men with an average age of 68.1. The volunteers were injected with saline solution to make then thirsty. The volunteers were then instructed to drink as much water as they liked. The older men drank less water to quench their thirst. After looking at the activity in of the elderly person’s awareness of the need to drink to re-hydrate rapidly dissipates after a small amount of ingested water. Egan theorizes that this could be credited to a weakening of muscles, especially in the stomach, so that when food or water is consumed, the stomach of a senior feels fuller faster because the stomach expands more in comparison to volume.
Egan
suggests putting oneself on a scheduled hydration program to make one aware of
daily fluid intake. (Making sure that
you are drinking at certain times of the day)
Also, medications for kidney problems,
hypertension, heart disease, and liver disease are diuretics and will by nature
cause one to become dehydrated.
Signs of dehydration include:
-Dark
urine with a strong odor
-Chronic
constipation
-Muscle
cramps
-Urinary
tract infections
-Confusion
and weakness
-Headaches
-Dizziness
-Dry
mouth
-Low
blood pressure
It might be a good idea to carry a water
bottle around, especially in Charlotte’s heat. Drinking more fluids can help
with various issues. I had a friend say one time, “If you are mad, sad, tired, or in pain, drink water.” 