One of the wisest things you can do is maintain optimal hydration. This is abundantly important to stoma patients, but also for the population at-large. With summer upon us, let’s examine a few ways to prevent dehydration that will make it easier to endure all the intense heat.
How to Prevent Dehydration
The basic hydration recommendations involve consuming somewhere between eight to 15 cups of water daily. This is a general guideline range, but your specific intake depends upon age, sex, level of physical activity, health status, outside temperature, and other factors. Poor hydration can contribute to many harmful conditions and side effects, including dizziness/seizure, kidney failure, brain swelling, other organ failures, and even death.
Here’s a list of best practices for avoiding dehydration:
Keep Water on Hand for Travel Purposes
You may recall from our last post on traveling with an ostomy, that there are prudent measures you should take to avoid problems. Another big one would be remembering to keep water handy. Since you can’t always count on water availability everywhere you go, we highly recommend carrying an emergency water bottle.
Use Caution with Outdoor Activities
One of the fastest ways to experience dehydration is to exercise too hard or too long outside. Try to limit trips in the sun to no more than 30/60-minute intervals during the summer.
Monitor Weather Forecasts
It’s a great blessing to have access to so many weather-tracking devices and phone apps these days. You should get in the habit of knowing your local weather forecast at least two or three days ahead of time. This is particularly true when you’re planning outdoor travel trips. If you know there’s a heat wave coming, it’s easier to plan accordingly.
Pay Attention to Children & Elderly
Obviously, like it is with anything else, children and the elderly are among the most vulnerable to dehydration. Women who are pregnant or nursing fall under this category as well. These individuals require greater water intake than adults between 18 and 65. The most charitable thing you can do is help remind them of this, and help them avoid too much sun during warmer months.
These are elementary ways to avoid dehydration. Especially for stoma patients, low water intake can severely impact bowel movements, transpiration, and other body functions. Play it safe and drink lots of clean, purified water this summer.
CYMED is the leading producer of MicroSkin ostomy pouches that help people all over the world live better lives with urostomy, ileostomy, or colostomy. We believe that good lifestyle habits, like proper hydration, can make a huge difference in how you handle these conditions. If you’d like to learn more about this topic, or have questions about our MicroSkin pouches, feel free to contact us at any time by calling 800-582-0707 or filling out the form below.