Dehydration occurs when your body doesn’t have enough water. This can be because you are exercising hard or have simply forgotten to drink enough fluids. It can also be a result of illness. But, what may surprise you is that dehydration can have a serious impact on your ability to perform normal, everyday functions.
Understanding Dehydration
Your body is approximately 60% water. It is present in every cell of your body and helps move nutrients into cells while flushing toxins out. In other words, if the water wasn’t doing its job your body would be less efficient and start to become sluggish as cells and organs are not capable of working properly.
Dehydration occurs when you don’t have enough water in your body. Water is lost through sweating, urine, and several other chemical processes. If this water isn’t replaced you will become dehydrated.
The more dehydrated you become the more disorientated you will be. However, what may surprise you is that just one percent dehydration can decrease the productivity of a worker by as much as 12%! If you get 3-4 percent dehydrated then you will experience a 25% drop in productivity!
The Solution
This is the easy part! To hydrate, you simply need to drink water. In fact, you should regularly drink water throughout the day. A good employer will ensure that their employees have easy access to water all the time.
However, you should note that the water from your faucet may not be as safe as you think. When the treatment plant cleans the water they add chlorine and fluoride. This is to kill bacteria and strengthen teeth and bones. However, more recent research suggests that these chemicals can also have a detrimental effect on the human body.
That’s why more and more people are using reverse osmosis filtered water and you should consider supplying it to your staff. When the water has filtered the chemicals and other contaminants are removed, making it safe to drink. Your employees will notice the taste difference and will be able to stay hydrated.
Signs Of Dehydration
It is a good idea to be aware of the signs of dehydration to ensure you can take steps if any of your employees appear to be suffering.
- Reaction Time
When you are dehydrated your body is unable to react as fast as usual. In fact, it can feel like you have had a couple of drinks and everything is a little disjointed. This will reduce productivity and can even lead to poor quality work.
- Impaired performance
When you are dehydrated your physical and mental abilities are impaired. Employees will feel tired, potentially have headaches, and an inability to concentrate. It is worth noting that air conditioning reduces moisture in the atmosphere and increases the risk of dehydration.
- Dizziness
Dehydrated employees will feel dizzy. This can impairtheir productivity, ability to do their job and even put them, and others, at risk.
- Irritable
You should also note that dehydration causes people to be irritable. This is usually because they are unable to react normally and become frustrated.
Supplying water in the workplace and monitoring employees is critical to keeping them hydrated, happy, and productive.