Hydration is essential regardless of the circumstances, but when you’re planning an event, keeping attendees hydrated is crucial. Doing so is key for the success of your event and the safety of its patrons, as well as for the health and well-being of everyone attending.
Even minor dehydration can lead to irritability and other mild symptoms. To ensure your event is as successful as possible, you must keep everyone hydrated.
What facts about hydration should event attendees know?
Role of Water in the Body
Water plays a vital role in your body; a significant percentage of your body is composed of water. It’s a major component of the function of your cells, tissues, and organs. It helps regulate body temperature and supports nutrient absorption and digestion. Its role in waste elimination is essential. Allow the water level in your body to diminish even a bit, and you could end up dealing with significant health issues.
How Much Water Does Your Body Need?
Search “How much water does your body need?” and you’re likely to get a wide range of answers, confusing the average person about staying properly hydrated.
The important thing to remember about how much water you need to drink is that everyone is different, and various factors affect hydration. Some of the most significant factors include:
- Body size
- Activity level
- Climate and weather conditions
- Health conditions
The best thing you can do is consider your situation and understand your body’s thirst signals. If you get to the point that you feel thirsty, you’re likely already approaching dehydration. However, recognizing when these thirst signals kick in is an excellent way of preventing hydration.
Once you know how much water you need to drink to avoid thirst triggers, you’ll know the minimum amount of water you should consume on an average day. Then, depending on your activity level on a given day, you can increase the amount you drink as necessary.
What Are the Signs of Dehydration?
Understanding the clues your body gives you about how much water it needs helps to know the most common symptoms of dehydration. These include (in order from earliest to most severe):
- Dry mouth
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Confusion
- Rapid heartbeat
Over time, chronic issues with hydration can lead to severe health consequences, including:
- Urinary tract infections (UTIs)
- Kidney issues
- Bowel and digestive issues
- Coma
- Death
Is Water Your Only Option?
When staying hydrated, it’s important to remember that water is not the only source of hydration. Any beverage will provide hydration, at least temporarily. However, some liquids are diuretics, which means that even if they quench your thirst initially, in the long term, they dehydrate more than hydrate you. These include drinks like coffee, tea, and alcohol.
There are also hydrating foods. Fruits and vegetables can contribute significantly to how hydrated you are, especially those with high water content, like cucumbers and watermelon. On days when you eat a lot of foods with high water content, you might need less water to stay hydrated.
Common Hydration Myths
We’ve all heard them; plenty of dehydration myths make staying hydrated very confusing. For example, not everyone needs “eight glasses of water” daily. Some need more, and some need less. Another myth is that water alone can’t hydrate you, so you must drink sports or electrolyte drinks. Not everyone needs the addition of salt or other minerals to their water.
Are You at Risk?
Everyone is at risk of dehydration, but certain populations face a greater risk. In these cases, people need to pay special attention to hydration levels and ensure they drink enough water. This includes:
- Children
- Elderly
- Pregnant and breastfeeding women
- Athletes
- People taking dehydrating medications
Do People Need Electrolytes?
The most straightforward answer to this question is, “Yes, because electrolytes are essential to health.” However, not everyone needs electrolyte supplements. Chances are that the average person who isn’t that active or dealing with excessive heat won’t need electrolyte supplements very often.
But there are occasions where anyone could need them and some benefit from them daily. The best thing you can do is speak to your doctor to determine your electrolyte needs. Remember, one of the risks of overhydration is linked to electrolytes.
It’s possible to consume too much water and throw your body out of balance. The best thing you can do to avoid overdoing it with water is to sip water throughout the day to prevent thirst instead of gulping large amounts to quench a severe thirst.
Planning an Event
If you’re planning an event, you have many considerations. Keeping attendees hydrated should be one of your primary concerns. Allowing attendees to develop dehydration will, at the very least, affect their enjoyment of the event. At worst, it could lead to emergency health situations and create a scenario in which you’re liable.
A portable water station is one of the easiest, most economical, and eco-friendly options for supplying water to event attendees. If you’d like to learn more or find out if Quench Buggy is a good fit for your next event, give us a call.