The Importance Of Hydrating Your Skin
How often do you hear that drinking lots of water is essential for your overall health? Probably all the time. But, do you know how important hydration is for your complexion as well? No matter what your skin type is, the importance of hydrated skin cannot be understated and we’re going to explain why.
What Causes Dry Skin?
Although some individuals naturally have a dry skin type, there are other factors that contribute to a dry complexion as well. These factors include a change in season, environmental irritants, not drinking enough water, or even using harmful or moisture-stripping products on your face. Additionally, as you grow older, your skin slows the production of many beneficial substances that naturally help to keep your face hydrated. Ceramides make up the skin’s natural moisture barrier, as we age and are exposed to water and sunlight, the ceramides decrease and the skin starts to show signs of dryness and ultimately wrinkles. This is why as time goes on, it becomes more and more important to make sure you’re treating your skin with an extra dose of hydration.
Why should you care about hydration?
From a basic cosmetic standpoint, a hydrated complexion looks more plump, healthy and youthful looking. Having an adequately hydrated face will help to improve skin elasticity which will reduce the appearance of wrinkles.
Additionally, hydrated skin also helps to combat oiliness. Dehydrated skin produces more oil because it is compensating for a lack of moisture. Often to combat the oil, individuals believe that the best course of action is to try to dry out the skin (by using harsh drying agents and cleansers on their face), which is a common misconception. This often results in a long term problematic cycle that could have been easily treated.
Dehydrated skin is also less resilient to environmental irritants. When your skin is fully hydrated, it is able to fight and flush out toxins more effectively because your cells are getting the maximum amount of hydration that they need to function at their best.
What Can You Do?
First and foremost, drinking an adequate amount of water each and every day is the first step towards maintaining a hydrated and soft complexion. Experts say that you should be drinking at least eight glasses, or two litres of water per day. However, even if you are drinking lots of water every day, your skin still needs an additional boost of moisture. Mainly this involves using really effective skincare products in your daily routine.
One product that we love at the moment is the Aqua Infusion Mask, an oil-free, lightweight mask that provides intense hydration with a blend of natural sugars, low molecular weight hyaluronic acid and natural moisturizing factors (NMFs). Sea Whip and other plant extracts improve skin barrier function. Check it out here: Aqua Infusion Mask – Oil-free Hydrating Facial Mask. – Cotswold Surgical Partners
The wellbeing issue: the benefits of hydration at work
Drinking enough water every day is crucial to our wellbeing. However, it can be particularly difficult to stay on top of hydration when at work or when the cold weather prevents us from feeling thirsty.
In this article, we aim to outline what the feeling of thirst entails, why hydration is important for our physical and mental wellbeing at work, what barriers prevent us from getting enough water and our top tips for overcoming dehydration.
What is thirst?
The feeling of thirst is one that we know all too well: your throat and mouth feeling too dry for comfort, a dull ache that you can’t ignore and an all-encompassing need to search for and drink water. The need to stay hydrated is constant and to feel thirsty is a strong bodily sensation that we experience when we aren’t adequately hydrated.
Thirst is a vital instinct as, without it, we wouldn’t have a strong cue to drink water. This would be catastrophic for our health as the body depends on water and being unknowingly constantly dehydrated can therefore lead to negative impacts on the body and mind – from energy loss to brain fog and even serious complications such as urinary and kidney problems.
What happens to the body when you are thirsty?
It is well-known that up to 60% of an adult body is water, with important organs such as the brain and the heart composed of 73% water. This means that the brain needs to constantly monitor the water content coming in and out of the body and create the urge to drink when we most need it.
Our bodies are extremely sensitive to changes in hydration. As little as a 1% decrease in hydration triggers the need to drink. One reason for this is that water is critical for cellular functions that are necessary for keeping us alive. These include:
● Absorption – transporting dissolved substances such as medicines into our cells
● Digestion – breaking down the food we eat within the body
● Excretion – eliminating waste and toxic substances from the body
● Homeostasis – regulating essential processes within the body.
There is also a connection between dehydration and circulation. Inadequate water intake causes a decrease in blood volume – the amount of blood being circulated throughout the body. This means that you risk your blood not properly reaching all tissues, meaning your organs won’t be able to function properly. This places increased strain on the body due to the need to maintain the minimum blood pressure required for proper circulation.
These reasons are why the human body has evolved to develop extensive biological processes that maintain adequate hydration. Specialised neurons – messenger cells within the body that distribute information between the brain and nervous system – monitor the blood volume within the body. When there is a disruption in fluid balance, they trigger a set of biological responses – including the characteristic feeling of dryness and discomfort – that work to restore it by motivating you to drink water.
How is hydration a part of wellbeing?
Wellbeing is an all-encompassing term for positive feelings about life and overall good physical and mental health. Because water is a vital cog in the machine – that is, our bodily processes – it plays a major role in maintaining good health and wellbeing.
Water carries nutrients and oxygen to all cells, lubricates our joints and helps to regulate body temperature. One study shows that adults who drink more water have a lower risk of anxiety and depression than those who drink less water.
Research suggests that staying hydrated helps to keep you alert, while dehydration impairs your cognitive performance, bringing on negative symptoms described as ‘brain fog’.
Because optimum hydration is so important for our mental and physical health, this means that it’s a key part of health and wellbeing.
What is wellbeing at work?
Creating a healthy working environment is at the heart of workplace wellbeing. Ensuring that people feel their best while at work is a key part of an organisation’s success.
Investing time and resources into workplace hydration wellbeing means that employees will be more engaged and resilient, increasing productivity and motivation. This helps people reach their maximum potential – benefitting both themselves and their workplace.
The COVID-19 pandemic has helped to highlight many concerns about employee wellbeing and health. Employers play a key role in protecting their staff from infection while at work by implementing measures to reduce risk. These might range from introducing regular staff testing to increased hygiene measures and even implementing touch-free technology that will contribute towards reducing touch points, such as the Zip HydroTap Wave. We use this in our practice and it certainly helps!
Why is staying hydrated at work important?
Most full-time employees work a 37-hour week, so it’s safe to say that we spend a big part of our waking hours at work.
Dehydration can lead to disruptions in mood and concentration, meaning you’re more likely to make mistakes and not be able to focus on your work. You may also notice fatigue, negative mood, memory loss and even the inability to process information.
It’s important to reduce these risks by making the effort to drink plenty of water while at work. The NHS recommends that most healthy people should drink between six to eight glasses, or 1.9 litres, of water a day.
Although helpful information and a good indication of what we should be drinking every day, daily water intake may differ depending on your gender, age, weight, activity level and the climate that you live in. It’s best to do your research and use a hydration calculator to determine your own needs and set a reasonable goal.
What are the barriers to hydration at work?
Employers are legally required to provide drinking water at work, under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. They state that not only should employers provide an adequate drinking water supply, but that it should always be readily available at clearly signposted locations.
Despite this, there are still existing barriers that prevent people from actively meeting their daily drinking water requirements. 62% of people in the UK don’t drink enough water to stay hydrated and meet their daily water intake, citing reasons such as it being boring, having to pay for bottled water or not trusting the water at work.
How is seasonality a barrier to hydration?
Seasonality poses a further challenge to hydration, particularly during the colder winter months. “People just don’t feel thirsty when the weather is cold.” says an academic at the University of New Hampshire.
We lose water when we breathe, due to the moisture in our breath. Our bodies are also working a lot harder under the extra layers of clothing to keep us warm. This combined with perspiration means that we lose water and become dehydrated quickly and without notice.
Fluid-regulating hormones catalyse the feeling of thirst we get when we are dehydrated. However, cold temperatures cause a reduction in thirst sensation. This means that despite the colder weather, we are at an increased risk of dehydration during winter.
So what can you do?
Even caffeinated drinks, herbal teas and juices contribute towards your daily water intake. It can be easy to encourage drinking more water in the workplace – find out our top tips for improving hydration at work here.
Top 7 tips for improving hydration at work
Drinking enough fluids is vital for your health and wellbeing but also for improved productivity, concentration and motivation at work.
It’s important to remember to drink water, so in this article we aim to outline what dehydration is, the drawbacks of consistent water loss as well as 7 tips for ensuring you are getting your daily recommended amount of water.
What is dehydration?
Dehydration occurs when you don’t drink enough water to supplement the amount of fluid your body has lost, meaning your bodily processes can’t function properly. Fluid loss doesn’t just occur during intense exercise or increased sun exposure. Rather, dehydration can happen even during the cold, winter months. This is particularly troublesome as you don’t feel the need to drink as strongly during the winter.
What are the drawbacks of dehydration?
Long working hours also make it easy to forget to sip on water throughout the day. Even more, most adults rely on high caffeine content drinks, such as tea and coffee, to maintain their focus throughout the day. These drinks are mild diuretics, meaning they cause the kidneys to flush out extra fluid from the body.
Even mild dehydration can cause symptoms in the body such as dry mouth, a feeling of dizziness, fatigue and brain fog. This can affect your ability to focus, meaning your productivity and effectiveness at work will be reduced. Severe dehydration causes serious risks to your overall health, leading to urinary tract infections, kidney stones and even kidney failure.
How can you make sure you are staying hydrated at work?
Making sure to stay hydrated while at work can be a challenge. Coupled with the cold winter months, reaching for a glass of water might not be an intuitive task. The recommended daily amount of fluids is 6 to 8 glasses, including other drinks like fruit juice, milk, herbal teas and coconut water. However, it’s important to calculate your daily fluid needs by taking into consideration your gender, body weight, height, physical activity levels and any existing health conditions.
It’s important to prevent dehydration and reap the benefits of good hydration. These include the normal function of essential bodily processes – body temperature regulation, joint lubrication, nutrient transportation – but also other health and wellness benefits such as improved sleep quality, better mood, improved focus and productivity.
To help you stave off the negative effects of dehydration, here are some healthy tips to increase your daily water intake.
Set a drinking water SMART goal and use a drinking water app
Setting a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) of drinking a certain amount of water each day means you will be truly motivated to achieve it. Setting a reasonable goal alongside how you’re going to achieve it will help you to create a habit of staying hydrated.
Using hydration apps such as Daily Water Tracker Reminder will contribute towards achieving your daily goal. It will determine how much water you should be drinking every hour and also give you notifications for when you should have a glass. You can also view weekly and monthly analytics to see your overall progress.
Drink plenty of hot beverages during the winter
Drinking cold beverages during the winter may be difficult. However, the body loses a lot of water due to the moisture in our breath and excess perspiration from wearing many layers of clothes. This means that keeping hydrated is still important even when you don’t feel thirsty.
When chilled water isn’t favourable, try having a cup of hot herbal tea and honey or a glass of hot water with lemon slices. Herbal teas have additional benefits in that they are often high in antioxidants that work to eliminate free radicals from the body – unstable molecules that can damage cells.
Hot water also boasts health benefits, from improved digestion and circulation to soothing a sore throat and runny nose.
BYORB – bring your own reusable water bottle!
Paying for plastic water bottles is expensive and damaging for the environment. Remove this barrier to staying hydrated by purchasing a reusable water bottle.
You can track how often you refill your bottle to determine how much water you are drinking and also support the environment by reducing your usage of single-use plastic.
Ensuring you have good access to filtered drinking water around the workplace
Because prominent barriers to hydration at work are distrust towards workplace tap water and having to pay for bottled water, it’s important for employers to provide access to a free, constant water supply in all workplace areas.
By ensuring their staff remains in good health, employers can expect to see an improvement in overall workplace morale and productivity.
The provision of touch-free or antimicrobial instant drinking water taps will ensure that staff are consistently coming back to refill their water bottles. This will not only support healthy hydration levels but will also improve company sustainability credentials by eradicating single-use plastic bottles in the workplace.
Spice up your drinking water with fruit and vegetable slices
Plain water isn’t a very exciting drink, meaning people are at a higher risk of turning to fizzy drinks containing large amounts of sugar. This has negative effects on health due to their high sugar content and acidity, from eroding dental enamel to causing insulin resistance.
Enhance the taste of drinking water by adding fresh fruit – strawberries, raspberries, lemon – or even cucumber slices. Special drinking water infuser bottles are designed to make this easier. You can also experiment with tasty combinations including lemon and ginger, pineapple and mint or raspberry lemon.
Healthy fizzy drinks
If drinking other fluids – such as fizzy drinks – are a must, try creating your own healthy version. Combine sparkling water with freshly squeezed orange juice for a healthier and less sugar-filled Fanta substitute. The Zip HydroTap makes this even easier when at work thanks to its sparkling water capability.
Eat fruits and vegetables as healthy snacks
Getting enough water doesn’t always have to come from drinking enough. Incorporating water rich fruits and vegetables into your diet will quickly boost your hydration levels. Bringing a fruit salad with you to work with high water content fruits such as melon, strawberries, pineapple or peaches will supplement your fluid needs. Similarly, water rich vegetables such as chopped cucumber, carrot and celery sticks with a side of hummus will also ensure you’re meeting your hydration goals. Meal prepping these snacks at home is also environmentally friendly as you are reducing the amount of plastic packaging you buy.
