As the season grows colder, there’s one thing that we don’t necessarily notice happening in our bodies: dehydration. Because it’s cold outside, it’s harder to detect if you’re thirsty, and you might not be drinking as much water as you’re supposed to in order to function optimally and maintain cognitive skills. Unfortunately, dehydration is prevalent among healthcare workers, with one study showing that 36% of nurses and doctors involved in the research were dehydrated at the start of their shift, while 45% were dehydrated at the end of their shift.
We list a few helpful winter hydration tips for healthcare workers to keep them healthy and functioning optimally.
Winter hydration tips for healthcare workers
1. Make a filling and hydrating breakfast
Based on the study we previously discussed, many healthcare workers are already dehydrated even before their shifts begin. Having a breakfast full of water-rich foods can boost your hydration and help you start your day off right.
Yogurt contains high amounts of protein, calcium, water content, and electrolytes, which can help with hydration. Having a yogurt breakfast bowl with fresh fruits, granola, and nuts or adding yogurt to overnight oats are great hydration-boosting breakfast options. Drinking skim milk, which is mostly made up of water and other vitamins and minerals, as well as eating cottage cheese, which is made up of 80% water, are also solid breakfast or snack options.
2. Bring hot drinks in tumblers
Drinking hot drinks when it’s cold out is one of life’s many treats. To ensure that you have access to hot drinks that are sure to wake your senses, keep you warm, and hydrate you, bring insulated tumblers to work. Instead of filling your tumblers with coffee, you can choose other healthier options, including herbal teas, matcha, or chicory coffee.
3. Create flavored water drinks
If you’re lucky, your healthcare facility might just be very well-heated, and when that’s the case, you’d want a refreshing cold drink to keep you from being parched. Drinking ice-cold water is always good, but if you want to add a little pizzaz to the water you drink, you can infuse it with fruits, herbs, and spices, such as lemons, raspberries, peaches, oranges, ginger, cinnamon, apples, ginger, and mint. You can also opt to add flavored electrolyte powders to your water tumblers to up your hydration.
4. Warm up and stay hydrated with tasty soups and broths
Although soup is great to have all year round, a steaming bowl of soup is especially wonderful when temperatures begin to drop. Having a bowl of soup or broth in your lunch box that you can easily reheat in the hospital is a great way to increase your water intake. Low-calorie broth and soup options are also great if you’re trying to lose weight and feel full.
5. Eat salads with water-rich ingredients
Like soups, salads are also great, healthy, and reliable lunch and dinner staples that work all year round. Go for salads that have water-rich and nutritious ingredients:
· Iceberg lettuce: 95.64% water content
· Celery: 95.43%
· Tomatoes: 94.52%
· Spinach: 91.4%
· Kale: 89.63%
· Carrots: 88.29%
As illustrated by these simple yet advantageous tips, hydration is more than just about drinking several cups of plain water. By following these tips, you can bolster your hydration and nutrition levels while working in winter.
