Your body is made up of about 60% of water, so it’s only understandable if your body depends on your water intake to function properly. Imagine your body is an engine. It can only work when it’s efficiently fueled and lubricated. The same goes for your body. Regardless if you’re doing intense activities outdoors or staying still indoors, your body needs water to keep it hydrated.
It’s important that you keep your body rehydrated before, during, and after each activity you do. Water helps in maintaining your performance and ensures your body can keep up with all the fluid it’s losing due to excessive sweating.
Additionally, much more water is needed when you’re doing outdoor activities. That’s because outdoor activities are much different compared with the activities you do indoors. You’re exposed to the sun, you’re climbing elevated places, or you’re constantly moving and sweating for longer hours.
To give you a better overview, here are some reasons hydration is essential during your outdoor activities.
- Reduces Injury Risk
Some outdoor activities that may cause excessive sweating are hiking, mountain climbing, running, or mountain biking. These activities require much muscle work from your body, especially when climbing elevated places. Furthermore, these activities are often done under the sun, making dehydration take effect on your body even faster. Failure to rehydrate yourself may cause you to have muscle fatigue, cramps, or heat exhaustion, increasing your risk for injury.
To avoid injuries during your outdoor activity, you need to keep yourself hydrated by, at least, bringing a water tumbler or a hydration pack with you. Remember that you won't have any access to nearby stores once you're outdoors. You can check out a hydration pack basic guide to help you assess which type will best suit the kind of outdoor activity you're doing.
- Lowers The Risk Of Heart Attack
One of the leading causes of death for both women and men is heart disease. You may think that heart attacks only happen to people who eat oily and fatty food. The truth is, it can even happen to the fittest person, too, and that is when you’re not hydrating yourself properly during your outdoor activities. For instance, as you go mountain climbing without stopping to rehydrate yourself, your arteries will start to narrow and get blocked by existing cholesterol and plaque.
Not to mention that you’re already out of breath as you continue to walk up the steep mountain. Eventually, your blood will have a hard time circulating through your body, especially the heart, due to the narrow arteries, leading to a heart attack. Thus, always remind yourself and your friends to bring water with you wherever you go to prevent untimely events like this.
- Boosts Cognitive Function
Another popular outdoor activity that has become one of the leading physical exercises for all ages is biking. Young and old, men or women, everyone can have fun with biking and its health benefits. But, like the rest of the outdoor activities mentioned, biking can also be exhausting and dehydrating after driving for an hour or more under the sun. As you become weaker, you tend to lose your ability to focus on the road and be alert for any road hazards, which is very important for biking on highways.
To help regain your energy, muscle endurance, and especially your cognitive function, you need to rehydrate yourself by drinking water. Your cognitive function is essential when you’re biking on roads to keep your brain alert and energized. So, always drink water to enhance your brainpower and help you keep going until you get home safely.
- Increases Energy Levels
After a vigorous activity of hiking in the woods, it’s understandable if you feel tired and exhausted, especially when you’ve hiked for hours under the sun. When you’ve lost a lot of sweat, that’s when you know you’re feeling dehydrated. Eventually, you’ll feel like you cannot anymore endure walking further as you go home, and you tend to walk even slower. Thus, it’s very important that you bring along water with you for instances like this. Water will not only rehydrate you, but it’ll also increase your energy levels to help you keep going until you get home. After all, the last thing you’d want to happen is getting stuck in the woods with no water, feeling dehydrated with symptoms of fatigue and muscle cramps.
The Bottom Line
Proper body hydration is vital for your health to keep your body energized and performing at its best, especially during outdoor activities. Moreover, when you’re properly hydrated, your concentration levels are also boosted. Thus, the best way to keep yourself hydrated anytime and anywhere is by bringing a water bottle with you wherever you go.
