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Welcome to the 3rd and final week of our mini resolution to stay hydrated! We hope you have been finding new ways to quench your thirst. As you know, we are suggesting 8 cups of water a day and we’re encouraging folks to check their urine for hydration status! Here is that chart again in case you need it!
CCP helps you stay on track! Use our log to to track your progress toward our mini resolution. For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge: [email protected] Signs of Dehydration Know the signs of dehydration—beyond urine color—and grab some water and/or seek medical attention if you think you may be dehydrated:
DEHYDRATION DEVICES Wearable devices that detect hydration levels are rapidly entering the market. Google “dehydration detection devices” to see what’s new in wearables to keep you alert to your hydration status. This concludes our hydration mini resolution, but we encourage you to keep up with your progress from all your mini resolutions thus far. As always, feel free to reach us with any questions and we’ll see you next week for a new resolution.
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Welcome to Week 2 of our hydration resolution! This week, we’re exploring why dehydration becomes more common as we age and sharing simple strategies to help you stay well-hydrated.
CCP helps you stay on track! Use our log to to track your progress toward our mini resolution. For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge: [email protected] Aging and Dehydration From an evolutionary perspective, our bodies were built to be their own portable water source. Like a canteen, about 80% of our total body water is stored in our muscles. Age-related reductions in muscle mass mean a smaller water reservoir from which the body can rely on when consumption is inadequate. This loss of muscle mass is exacerbated by inactivity and low protein consumption. (You may wish to revisit last month’s mini resolution Track 2 for insights on strength training.) Within the brain are cells known as astrocytes, which regulate our water intake mechanisms. As we age, astrocytes in our brains atrophy, impairing the circulating signals which trigger thirst. The combination of reduced muscle mass (your portable canteen for water) and atrophied astrocytes mean there is less fluid from which the body can draw upon in times of necessity, and the brain is less likely to sense the need for fluid intake. The icing on the cake? Certain medications can increase fluid loss, either intentionally or as a side effect. It is also common for older adults to take multiple medications to treat various conditions, known as polypharmacy, potentiating dehydration even further. This is why understanding your own urine is so important! Your urine will let you know if you need fluids before your brain will. Pinkies Up! Creative Ways to Drink More Water How can you drink more water? Here are some tips: Consciously make it part of your day:
If you find water boring, spruce it up:
Eat your water! Roughly 16% of our daily water intake comes from food. Choosing foods higher in water content can be a better option when trying to stay hydrated. Some options include:
In Week 1, we had mentioned that dehydration may accelerate the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and can exacerbate symptoms, such as confusion and agitation. And, unfortunately, those with dementia are more prone to dehydration because they are less likely to be able to monitor their fluid intake and/or communicate their needs to caregivers. A new product on the market, Jelly Drops, is designed with the elderly and those with dementia in mind so they can “eat” their hydration and intake can be monitored. Please consult your concierge physician before trying this product. If the safety of your water is a concern, you can visit the Environmental Working Group’s webpage, input your zip code and utility company, and they will advise you of common contaminants in your water supply and make recommendations for the type of water filter to purchase. Are you feeling thirsty yet? We’ll see you next week to discuss signs of dehydration. Until then, drink up! We hope you had a nice weekend and are feeling thirsty for a NEW mini resolution!
CCP helps you stay on track! Use our log to to track your progress toward our mini resolution. For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge: [email protected] INTRODUCING YOUR NEXT MINI RESOLUTION: STAY HYDRATED! Our goal for the next three weeks is to stay well-hydrated by drinking 8 cups of water per day and keeping an eye on our urine color & odor as a simple indicator of hydration. HOW TO LOG IT: Each day, use our tracking log ABOVE to record every cup of water (8 oz.) you drink, along with the color and odor of your urine. Well-hydrated urine should be the color of lemonade or light beer, with only a mild odor. If it’s noticeably darker, has a strong smell or if you’re urinating infrequently, dehydration may be setting in. Optional: For those who want a more scientific approach, you can use urine-specific gravity test strips to assess hydration (you can search Google or Amazon for a kit if you are so inclined!). WHY LOG IT? You might be wondering what staying well-hydrated has to do with cognitive decline. As it turns out, the answer is… quite a lot! ACUTE DEHYDRATION AND BRAIN HEALTH The brain is about 80% water, and even a modest short-term reduction in total body water—just 1–2%—has been shown to temporarily impair executive function and memory. This effect is even more pronounced in older adults. In fact, dehydration-related delirium is often considered in the differential diagnosis when an older adult presents symptoms resembling Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or dementia. This is especially significant for older adults. Annually, up to 1.5% of all U.S. hospitalizations of older adults are due to dehydration, estimated to cost over 1 billion healthcare dollars per year. (Next week, we’ll explore why older adults are particularly prone to dehydration.) CHRONIC DEHYDRATION What about those who are chronically dehydrated? This may include people who are physically active, take multiple medications, spend time outdoors, live in warm climates or simply don’t enjoy drinking water and thus do not drink enough of it. Whatever the cause, chronic dehydration increases the risk of long-term cognitive decline that may not be reversible even after rehydration. Research using PET scans has shown that dehydration can contribute to the buildup of misfolded proteins (such as amyloid) in the brain, which disrupts communication between brain cells affecting cognitive function. Dehydration may even accelerate the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and can exacerbate symptoms such as confusion and agitation. SO, HOW MUCH WATER SHOULD I BE DRINKING TO MAINTAIN DAILY HYDRATION? The National Association for Medicine’s (NAM) recommends maintaining hydration from both fluid and food sources. The daily recommended intake for male adults is 15.5 cups and 11.5 cups for adult females. However, individual needs vary significantly. Variables impacting how much water an individual needs (more or less) to consume each day vary according to:
WHEN TO SEEK MEDICAL ADVICE It’s also important to remember that overhydration (AKA hyponatremia) can impact cognitive function, just like dehydration. That’s why becoming familiar with your urine—its color, frequency, and odor—is such a helpful tool in gauging your hydration status. For any personal medical concerns, we encourage you to reach out to your concierge physician. Now that we’re paying closer attention to our urine, here are some signs that may warrant medical attention:
If your urine is consistently darker than expected, there may be a range of contributing factors. Keep in mind that urine can also appear red, brown, purple, or green due to foods, supplements, medications, or infections, not just hydration status. See you next week when we explore aging and dehydration! Happy Monday! After focusing so much on sleep and exercise these past few months, you may be considering investing in some type of tracker. You may recall Austrian-American consultant and educator Peter Drucker’s quote: “What gets measured, gets managed.” Today we’re sharing considerations for trackers.
CCP helps you stay on track! Download this month's tracker! For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge: [email protected] Measure & Manage: Considerations for Trackers How do you know which tracker is best for you? Simply stated, the best device for you is one that is within your budget and has features that are useful to you. We have put together a list of features available for you to consider to help you narrow down your search when you shop. TRACKER FEATURES TO CONSIDER 24/7 Heartrate Tracking—this provides valuable information about your heartrate not only during exercise (i.e., how hard are you working?) but also at rest, which can then be reviewed with your physician. For example, an elevated RHR at rest can indicate dehydration, inadequate sleep, changes in certain medications, too much caffeine intake, and excessive stress. HRV—Some of the newer techie versions even provide Heart Rate Variability (HRV) data, which is a metric with growing interest because it’s a measure of how quickly your body recovers from stress. Sleep Tracking—many devices have the added feature of tracking your sleep. They can measure the information we addressed in our mini resolution to Sleep Better, such as time to fall asleep (sleep latency), time spend in bed vs time spent asleep (sleep efficiency) and can even measure time spent in the different stages of sleep (the architecture of sleep) as a measure of sleep quality. A bonus feature is when you don’t have to tell it you are heading to bed, it just “knows” when you have hit the hay. Steps—daily steps are considered an important metric for evaluating a sedentary lifestyle. We covered this in our mini resolution around exercise. Some trackers have a feature that reminds you to stand up and move around if you have been sedentary for too long. Note that some devices aren’t sensitive enough to weed out activities like knitting or typing from actual steps, so do your due diligence with your research and read the reviews. Calories—a word of caution, if you are trying to lose or gain weight, then do not rely solely on fitness trackers! They can over or underestimate your daily expenditure by as much as 1,000 calories. Trust us, we were crazy enough to try wearing four devices at once for the purpose of comparison. So, again, do your due diligence with your research and read the reviews. GPS—if your activity/activities lead you outdoors, then the GPS feature may be good to have, not just for directionality but also for speed and elevation. Typically, you can download your workout to an app or website to see the 3D map of your activity (pretty cool stuff!). Time-Recording—something to consider, for example, if you swim, you may wish to record laps or if you run, you may wish to record splits. Or if you do HIIT (high-intensity interval training), you may wish to have an interval counter. Waterproof—this is a good feature if you’re into water sports, plus it’s nice to not have to remember to remove your tracker when it comes time to shower. Battery Life—it’s a bummer when you realize your tracker is out of juice and your data wasn’t captured. Longer battery life usually comes at a higher price, though. Some devices have a neat feature where you don’t have to move your device to a docking station for charging. Instead, the docking station fits over the device so no data is ever missing! Body Placement—in addition to the wristwatch fitness trackers, there are also alternative versions such as bicep bands, clothing clips and rings available on the market. The original fitness trackers were a chest strap connected to a watch (and later versions to an app on your phone). These are still available and provide the most accurate exercise feedback but may not be practical for 24/7 use. Smartwatch—do you want to leave the phone at home and have just one device for fitness, calls, texts, wireless payments and emails? Then a smartwatch may be a good option for you! EKG--devices outfitted with this feature use electrical sensors to detect heart rhythms and are promoted for AFib detection, but they are not intended to replace medical grade equipment. Fall Detection—certain devices exist solely for the purpose of fall detection, and then there are some devices that have an added feature of identifying a fall and sending EMS to your GPS-identified location. VO2 Max--this metric has traditionally been used by elite athletes to measure their fitness and training but has recently become part of the conversation in longevity medicine. AI Coach--want in-the-moment feedback on your workout, sleep or step count, or customized tips for improvement? Many higher-end devices now come with an interactive AI coach. (Coach Michele absolutely loves this feature on her device!) Hydration Monitoring—as of this writing, none of the fitness trackers have a mechanism to monitor physiological hydration levels, but we expect this to change soon! Many do, however, come with alerts to remind you to drink water. Alternatively, there are devices that solely monitor physiological hydration levels. We will discuss these in our future mini resolution to maintain hydration. Cost—more features and longer battery life come at a price. An entry-level tracker can cost about $50, whereas a fancier version can run as high as $800. In some cases, the device is free, but you pay a monthly subscription for access to the software and data. This is an interesting option if you just want to try something out for a while. We’ll see you next week for a NEW mini resolution! |
AuthorMichele is the Senior VP of Membership Development at Concierge Choice Physicians. She is also a professional in the areas of nutrition, fitness and wellness. Archives
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