I recently noticed a daily afternoon slump. I felt general fatigue and lost my energy as the afternoon proceeded. I wondered if it was related to our new mask-wearing reality. My job requires me to wear a mask daily, which I only take of briefly to have coffee and lunch. I realized that my daily water intake had taken a steep dip with going back to work in the COVID-era. Previously, I always carried a water flask at my side, and tracked my intake to ensure adequate hydration. I found this especially important during pregnancy and would set daily water consumption goals. After my maternity leave, I came back to a world with a global pandemic and suddenly I didn’t want to bring water bottles to work or lower my mask and longer than absolutely necessary.
I began to notice that I didn’t have to use the restroom frequently, my skin started appearing duller, and I was much more tired that before. I was also still breastfeeding and pumping at work and began to have to have longer sessions to achieve the same output. I started to think it was related to my dramatic decline in water intake.
Water is an essential nutrient. Our bodies rely on it for normal functioning. Our bodies are made up of approximately 60% water. Many times we take it for granted because we cannot see the nutrition of this neutral calorie-free beverage. We only realize how much we need it when we become severely dehydrated.
What does “hydrated” mean?
In the medical field, we think about homeostasis as a neutral balance of fluid within the body and any deviation from that is pathologic. People can be fluid depleted (or “dehydrated”) or volume overloaded (“over hydrated”). Most of these extremes cause serious symptoms and unlikely to occur unless you have significant problems with your organs (like your kidneys/heart/liver). If there are concerns about your hydration status, people can get laboratory studies drawn, which can look at measures, such as serum osmolality (essentially how concentrated your blood is) and urine osmolality (how concentrated your urine is). These tests can help pinpoint if there are problems with the delicate balance of hormones that regulate the balance of electrolytes and water within your body. For most healthy people without medical problems the simple act of ensuring that you are peeing regularly and the color is not too dark can give you a basic estimate of your internal fluid balance. There are even charts of a spectrum of colors that can guide you.
So how much water should we be drinking a day?
There are various estimates based on age, gender, and level of activity. Some estimates say that a sedentary adult should have approximately 1.5L of water per day, with others as high as around 3L for an adult male. This includes plain water that we drink as well as water that is contained within our food. There are dangers of having too much and too little water per day, and these are especially true for the young and the old. If you are concerned or experiencing symptoms, it is important to see your doctor or medical professional. I’m including the reference to a 2008 article from the European Journal of Clinical Medicine that provides a great overview of hydration.
What did I do?
As I began to sense that I was dehydrated, I started increasing my water intake gradually. I tried to set goals and always keep a full glass or bottle of water around me. While wearing a mask at work, I realized that I had to make a more conscious effort to drink more water. I had to ensure that I could obtain water and find a safe place to drink (like a private office). I saw my time at home as even more important to drinking water that I was missing during the day. I would drink up until bedtime, even if it meant waking up to use the restroom in the middle of the night. I also made an effort to eliminate barriers to drinking water at home. With my husband working from home all day, we were using much more water per day. We found that our pitcher of filter water wasn’t large enough to ensure that we always had filtered water available. We decided to upgrade to a larger free-standing water filter (the Berkey Water Filter). As I eliminated barriers, I found my water input increasing and I started to feel much better. I had more energy and my pumping output increased.
I came to realize that simple tasks like hydration had become a luxury in the COVID-era and that in order to function well at work and at home, I had to stop and take time for these important events each day.
If you’re interested in learning more, check out: https://www.nature.com/articles/ejcn2009111
