“Often they will restrict how much they drink and end up being dehydrated,” Deu observes. One thing preventing some people from drinking enough water, of course, is not having easy access to a bathroom. “Rather than wait until you feel bad and drink a ton of fluid, it’s better to maintain your hydration by drinking regularly,” advises Raj Deu, M.D., assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Signs of more severe dehydration can include a dry mouth, headache, decreased urine output, increased pulse, lack of sweat, irritability, and feeling fatigued, nauseous, lightheaded or dizzy.ĭrink frequently throughout the day. If you find that you’ve lost a pound or two from the day before, you are probably dehydrated - apologies to dieters - “because, in general, gross changes in body mass don’t happen that quickly.” “It should look more like lemonade, less like apple juice,” says Luke Belval, director of research at the University of Connecticut’s Korey Stringer Institute, which focuses on safety in sports. “We’re shooting for that pale, straw-colored urine.”Īnother self-evaluation Belval recommends: Weigh yourself every morning. When urine is dark, it’s a sign that it is more concentrated due to less fluid in your body. In addition to thirst, your urine color can indicate dehydration.
But this warning system doesn’t always function well in older adults, says Kumar Dharmarajan, a geriatrician and chief scientific officer at San Francisco–based insurer Clover Health, who explains that as people age they are less able to perceive their own thirst, “so when they need water, they’re less likely to respond to it.” The National Academy of Medicine recommends that adult men drink about 15 cups (125 ounces) of fluid a day and women 11 cups (91 ounces), but experts say the ideal amount can vary widely depending on factors including a person’s weight, health and activity level.īy the time you’re thirsty, you’re likely to have lost around 1 or 2 percent of your body’s fluid, so a key measure of dehydration is thirst. There is no universally accepted rule of thumb for how much, exactly, each of us should drink, despite how often we’ve been told to consume eight 8-ounce glasses a day, or 64 ounces total. Our bodies are mostly (about 60 percent) water, and we can’t live more than a few days without it. Older people are particularly at risk for hyperthermia during periods of extreme heat, the National Institutes of Health warns, due to factors such as poor blood circulation and reduced sweating (sometimes caused by medications for age-related illnesses).Įveryone should know about such dangers when summer weather starts scorching. visited emergency departments for heat-related illnesses (hyperthermia), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reports. When the heat dome descended on the Pacific Northwest last summer, Washington state had 100 heat-related deaths between June 26 and July 2, according to the state’s Department of Health, which noted that those were only confirmed cases: “We are not reporting probable heat-related deaths.” On June 28, 2021, alone 1,090 people in the Northwest U.S. Take those warnings seriously: Steamy temperatures can kill. Britain’s weather office issued a red warning, its most severe, for when “illness and death may occur among the fit and healthy, and not just in high-risk groups.” Europe is also baking, with England experiencing an unprecedented 104 degrees Fahrenheit this week, a wild jump from its average July high of about 70 F. Meanwhile, those hoping to escape the heat wave by vacationing abroad have been out of luck. The whole of Arkansas, too, was expected to exceed 100 degrees, with the National Weather Service tweeting out a warning to state residents: “Wednesday will be another brutal day with very hot temperatures and dangerous heat index values. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu declared a heat emergency through Thursday, and officials have established cooling centers around the city as temperatures were expected to surpass 100. Editor's note: This article was updated with news, temperatures and statistics for July 2022.Įn español | Much of the country has been steeped in heat this month while the South and Central regions have already seen temperatures in the triple digits, the Northeast is bracing for its own sweatfest.
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