In this fast-paced world, we often forget the importance of drinking enough water. The benefits of staying hydrated are immense and you should be informed about them. These benefits are not limited to your physical health, they can be seen in your physical appearance. As you probably know, the skin is our biggest organ. So, if you’re not hydrated and you don’t drink as much of water you cannot expect your skin to look good. 

What does dehydration look like?

Dehydration occurs when you don’t drink enough water that your body requires (healthline.com). Being dehydrated can cause serious issues if you don’t take care of it. Luckily, our body will warn us about dehydration long before these issues start occurring. 

Healthline highlights some of the most usual signs of dehydration: 

• Breath is dry, sticky and often smelly. 
• Urine is darker.
• Constipation occurs. 

Photo by Chinh Le Duc 

What does dehydration feel like?

Dehydration can have some psychological effects as well. These symptoms often go unnoticed because people attribute them to other causes. Being dehydrated causes hunger even after we’ve eaten a full meal. This is because our body is still craving nutrients, especially those that are contained in water, such as vitamins and minerals. Because of this, some of us might gain some weight.

People often have problems with their simple everyday activities because of dehydration. Dizziness and fatigue occur as a result of dehydration because of low blood pressure. Some people struggle with bad headaches or nausea because they don’t drink enough water. A lot of people feel increasingly irritated, confused and moody because of dehydration. 

How does dehydration affect the skin?

People who are dehydrated are significantly more likely to suffer from skin issues. A dermatologist, Dr. Justine Hextall highlights some of the most frequent skin issues she recognised in her clients who told her about their low water intake. They reported having dry skin which was quite resistant to regular skin treatments. They were also more likely to suffer from eczema and psoriasis. 

These people had itchy skin which made it even harder for them to treat it with a hydrating cream because they would easily rub it off. Using a body lotion for dry skin simply wasn’t enough for them, and their skin kept feeling tight despite dermatologists’ efforts.  

 

Less common signs of skin dehydration

Some women have issues with feeling cold even during a warm sunny day. Body parts that most commonly remain cold are our hands and feet. One of the reasons for this is that the skin on our hands and feet gets easily dehydrated. Those are the two body parts that stay active for the whole day. In order for them to stay soft and hydrated, we have to drink enough water. Otherwise, we will continue being confused about why they’re so cold for seemingly no reason.

One sign of skin dehydration that is often overlooked is having flaky skin only on certain parts of the body. When we work in a dry environment such as a regular office, the skin can get progressively drier as the day goes on. This is especially true for our backs. Even though we moisturize our bodies regularly, we might forget to moisturize our backs. Because of that, our backs can start feeling itchy and we don’t even realise that the cause of that is dehydration.

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How do different seasons affect our dehydrated skin?

If you’ve been having skin issues for a while now, you might have noticed that your skin isn’t always as dry during the entire year. This is because different seasons affect our skin differently. Here is an overview of what happens of dry skin during the year:

• Spring. People with normal skin love to soak up gentle rays of the sun during spring. However, people with dehydrated and dry skin are much more likely to get infections and allergies during springtime.
• Summer. We all sweat significantly more during the summer. Because of that, people with dry skin can find themselves feeling even more dehydrated if their water intake doesn’t increase during the summer months. These people got used to ignoring their needs for water, which can pose a significant risk to their body and their skin during the summertime.
• Fall. During the fall, people with dry skin don’t have any visible issues. Because of this, they might even forget that their skin needs moisturize just as much as any other season.
• Winter. This season is the biggest enemy of people with dehydrated skin. Harsh weather can make the skin extremely dry, flaky and red.  

 

How should you treat your dehydrated skin during each season?

Although the effects of some seasons can be quite harsh to our dehydrated skin, there are ways in which we can reduce those effects (sethlmatarassomd.com). Here’s how:

• Spring. Spring is the time when dry skin can be rejuvenated after a long winter. One of the best treatments for dry skin after a cold winter is microdermabrasion. This treatment can improve the appearance of dry and dull skin, making it a lot more glowy.  
• Summer. The most important product you need on dry skin during summer is sunscreen. Dry skin can get damaged during summer if you don’t bath it with sunscreen which has an SPF. This is the time when your water intake should increase significantly. Even if you don’t feel like it, drink more water! Your body will easily get used to larger amounts of water during this time of year. T 
• Fall. This is the time when you should be letting your skin calm down while you’re treating it with some gentle and easy treatments. Simple hydrating treatments with naturally soothing ingredients are always a good idea such as Aloe Vera or macadamia oil. Don’t forget to continue using an SPF cream during this season as well. 
• Winter. People with dry skin experience most of their skin issues during wintertime. This the reason why they get heavy-duty treatments during this time of year. This is a bad idea because harsh weather conditions can only make your skin more sensitive after you’ve done an abrasive treatment. It’s best that you stick to basic skincare routine for dry skin during this time of year, and use a highly moisturizing face mask and apply extra layers of body lotion. 

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Preventing dehydration and sticking to your new water intake habits

The best way to prevent dehydration is to have a glass of water or a bottle with you at all times. Simply having these next to you will remind you to intake more water. You can also set up an alarm which will remind you to sip some water (ex. every hour.) You can also make your water tastier by putting some cucumber or lime in it. 

 

How to stay active and well-hydrated?

Exercising can easily cause dehydration if we are not careful enough. As we exercise, we sweat a lot, and our body becomes sore. Even though sweating is very healthy, we need to make sure that we replace water that we lost while sweating during our gym sessions. The best thing, again, that you can do is keep a bottle of water while you’re exercising. Whenever you feel the need to drink water, just take a small pause and do it. 

You might be concerned about going to the bathroom during your workout sessions, especially if you’ve been drinking a lot of water. Contrary to what you might believe at first, if you drink a small amount of water throughout your whole workout, you won’t have to take bathroom breaks. Otherwise, if you drank a whole bottle of water right after your workout, your stomach would likely start to hurt.  

What are the recommended quantities of water?

Now that you’re well-informed about the importance of drinking enough water, you might be asking yourself what is the correct amount of water you need to drink. People often say that a good amount of water is 8 cups a day. This is only partly true. We are all unique and we all have different needs, bodies, and preferences.

Doctors from the Mayo Clinic say that women should have an intake of 2.7 litres and men should have an intake of 2.7 litres. However, it’s important to note that a lot of our water intake comes from beverages other than water itself. A large amount of water we consume comes from food as well. Therefore, you should not only be drinking a lot of water, but you should consume healthy food that contains a lot of water. Because of this, eating fruits and vegetables is a must for hydrated, healthy skin. 

Conclusion

There are many different ways of treating dehydrated skin. Some people find that simple lotions can do the job well, while some people visit salons and get high-quality skin treatments. However, don’t forget that the key to having well-hydrated skin is drinking plenty of water since water is the basis of every skincare strategy! 

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