Proper hydration is essential for working efficiently and for your complete health. Water is the best fluid resource for the body to drink since it makes up around 65% of your body.
It performs many substantial functions, including waste disposal, regulation of body temperature, and joint lubrication. It additionally transmits hormones and nutrients to organs through the blood and plays a role in recovering from injuries.
If you don't drink enough water, you may become dehydrated. Your body needs more liquid to function properly.
Your urine can be a warning sign that you may be dehydrated. If it is colorless or light yellow, you are adequately hydrated. However, you might be dehydrated if it is dull yellow or golden.
Different signs can indicate you might be dehydrated. They include:
- Confusion
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Dry mouth
- Extreme thirst
- Headache
- Little or no urine
- No tears when crying
- Sleepiness or fatigue
- Urine that is darker than usual
On the other hand, water is the fluid of all known living organisms and is one of the best sources of recreation. Few satisfy your pleasure, but swimming is recognized to be exceptional. It is the fourth most popular activity in the United States.
Swimming has been known as the ideal exercise. It is perfect for your physical and mental health.
Experts suggest that adults get 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of powerful activity weekly. It turns out you can get the advantages of a high-impact exercise with no harmful effect on joints, and it is the only activity that can be done at any age, at any ability.
There are incredible benefits you can get out of swimming. They are as follows below:
- Improves muscle definition and strength
- Build up bone mass
- It helps you stay flexible
- Reduces inflammation
- Burns calories
- Can improve exercise-induced asthma
- Lowers stress and depression
- It can make you smarter
- May lengthen your life
Indeed, there are thousands of benefits of water, whether consumed or enjoyed for recreation. Do we even have specifications on how we like our water, warm or cold?
For years, debates have raged over the right temperature for optimum hydration.
Moreover, several notions have emerged about swimming in cold water. The severe dangers of drinking and swimming in cold water are often overlooked. Therefore, it is fitting to highlight them. Let us dive into them!
The Dangers of Cold Water
[Drinking]
Facts on drinking cold water
- It is a great post-workout drink when you have done strenuous exercise and feel overheated. It can also help you lose weight more effectively.
- A study found that drinking cold water can cause or increase your risk of getting a headache.
- Studies have revealed that drinking cold water can thicken the mucus in your sinuses, making it more difficult to pass.
There is nothing like a glass of ice water to quench thirst during summer or to gulp down right after returning from work.
Despite that, most people do not realize that the water temperature you are getting is additionally significant.
Many do not know that drinking cold water can carry more danger than good. Optimal hydration must still be observed. Listed below are the risks of drinking cold water that impact your health.
Causes Constipation
Triggers Sore Throat
Lowers Heart Rate
Prevents Fat Breakdown
Should We Drink Warm or Hot Water Instead?
As listed above, drinking cold water may quench one's thirst, especially in a dry, hot season, but it has severe negative health impacts.
That being said, drinking warm or hot water is your top option! It does come with one major drawback, though: the taste. However, there are ways to make your water tasty. With that bit of issue, several significant benefits that warm or hot water can affect in your body system:
- Your digestion will be more effective because of the natural digestive enzymes that warm water stimulates.
- You will hydrate yourself significantly faster every time you taste warm water.
- Warm water makes your blood purer and cleaner.
- Boosts your body’s natural detoxification processes.
- It stimulates the blood flow to your digestive organs and helps prevent heartburn and constipation.
- Switching to warm water has decreased sugar cravings, helping you maintain a healthy weight.
- Drinking warm water has been proven to help fight particular kinds of pain, such as menstrual spasms, headaches, joint pains, and even muscle sprains, by expanding blood flow to tissues.
When is the best time to drink warm water?
[Swimming]
Facts on swimming cold water
- About 20 percent of individuals who fall into cold water die of cold water shock in the first minute of submersion.
- Even strong swimmers will lose muscle control in around 10 minutes.
- Body heat can be lost 25 times quicker in cold water than in chilly air.
Swimming is not just a fun activity; it has proven health benefits, too. A couple of years back, the United States Masters Swimming released a public statement reminding those with active lifestyles that swimming can be a thorough, powerful wellness exercise.
Safety considerations exist for any sport or recreation. One is that submerging yourself in cold water without a wetsuit or appropriate safety equipment and precautions is likely to be fatal.
Below are serious dangers when immersing in cold water, something to be aware of:
Unexpected Drowning
Gradual Drowning
Heart Failure and Stroke
Phases of Immersion
To understand why some cold water deaths occur quickly while others take hours, you should be aware of the four phases of cold water immersion, what occurs during each one, and why it happens.
Phase 1: Cold Shock
- Quick cooling of skin, pale skin
- Quick and uncontrollable breathing patterns, hyperventilation
- Panic
Phase 2: Physical Incapacity
- You become gradually more vulnerable.
- You become tired all the more quickly.
- Your hands become numb and futile.
- Your arms and legs stop working.
- Incapable of self-rescue.
- Incapable of helping others who attempt to help you.
- Swimming failure.
- Incapable of positioning your back to the waves.
- Highly increased danger of drowning.
Phase 3: Hypothermia
Hypothermia is harmful when the core body temperature drops below 35°C for 30 minutes or more. It might follow cold water shock after an unexpected immersion in cold water.
Indications of hypothermia include:
- Confusion
- Loss of coordination
- Chilling stops
- Body inflexibility and weakness
Phase 4: Circum-rescue Collapse
This circumstance can happen not long before rescue, during rescue– upon removing the victim from the water, and after rescue when the individual is out. Circum-rescue collapse is not indeed known by all accounts to be identified with a sudden drop in blood pressure. It can cause blackouts and heart failure.
Heat Escape Lessening Posture (HELP)
If an accidental fall into the water, attempting to conserve however much of your energy as could reasonably be expected is imperative. This should be possible by taking the HELP method:
- Keep your head out of the water
- Keep your clothes on to help hold the heat
- Bring your knees to the chest
- Press both your arms against your sides
- Maintain movement to a minimum and remain calm
- Huddle with others as much as possible
Be Prepared
Going on a cold water outing requires absolute preparedness whenever there is a need or accidental immersion in cold water.
Your survival in cold water depends on having adequate flotation to keep your head above water, controlling your breathing, being rescued promptly without anyone else, and keeping your body heat.
Listed below are the key things to consider before going on a cold water escapade:
- Always wear a proper personal flotation device (PFD) or life jacket and know how to use them.
- It is the suitable type for your boating area and activity;
- It is the correct size and has enough lightness to help you in the water and
- The U.S. Coast Guard approves it.
- Wear layered clothing for insulation
- Supply your boat with a means for re-entry (ladder, sling, etc.) to use if you should fall into the water
- Bring an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB )
- Check the weather before you go out on the water
Surviving In Cold Water Immersion
By all means, the best prevention is to take all necessary measures to prevent capsizing your boat or falling into cold water. If you do fall into or must enter cold water:
-
Do not panic. Strive to get control of your breathing. Hold something or remain as calm as possible until your breathing settles down. Concentrate on floating with your head above water until the cold shock reaction subsides.
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When breathing is controlled, do the most important functions before losing capability (10–15 minutes after immersion).
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If you were not wearing a PFD when you entered the water, check whether one is floating around you and put it on immediately. Try not to take your clothes off except if necessary. A layer of water caught inside your clothing will help insulate or protect you.
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Concentrate on finding and getting everybody out of the water rapidly before you lose full use of your hands, arms, and legs. Attempt to reboard your boat, regardless of whether it is overturned or whatever else is floating. Get as much of your body out of the water as possible. Even though you may feel colder out in the water, the pace of heat loss will be slower than if immersed in water.
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Be alert at all times to signal rescuers.
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