It is the time for no school, for vacations, for outdoor activities and for the beaches. But with summer comes sweating and dehydration, if we do not notice to drink enough fluid. Prolonged heat day after day can lead to dehydration. We are urging people to get out of the sun. The high temperatures and high humidity create a dangerous scenario for people who work outdoors and those who don’t have air conditioning. When it doesn’t cool off at night, people do not have a chance to rehydrate. Our kidneys are the organs responsible for keeping us well hydrated by increasing urine output when we drink excess fluid or decrease it when we do not notice to drink enough fluid. We’ve all heard that it is important to drink a lot of water, especially in the summer, to replenish the fluids lost due to heat and outdoor activities. If you haven’t followed that advice in the past, here’s a reason to pay attention this summer: Staying hydrated can help you prevent what many people describe as the worst pain of their lives. Kidneys are able to concentrate urine to a degree that one half liter of urine is able to excrete all the toxins produced in 24 hours. The problem is that this ability to concentrate the urine is the first function kidneys lose, if we develop kidney disease. To compound the problem further, we should know that early kidney disease is almost always missed even by doctors and dehydration will compound the problem. Because summer is the activity season for children and adults, it is usually the aches, pain and injury season. It’s a lot like the radiator in a car, the water in the radiator provides the cooling mechanism for the engine, which keeps the whole thing from overheating. When the water is low, or the radiator runs dry, which is equivalent to the kidneys being weak and unbalanced, the engine is at risk; so too your body is at some risk when your kidneys are taxed by heat during the summer. Using over-the-counter medication to help with these aches and pains is a common practice almost anywhere. Abusing these “aches and pain or arthritis pills” can cause severe damage to the kidneys if taken for a long time. These medications come under different brand and generic names, but this class is called “Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs or NSAIDs”. An extreme case of physical activity with poor hydration can cause severe muscle damage, especially of the thigh muscles leading to a condition called “Rhabdomyolysis”. The contents of the damaged muscles can leak into the blood and then into the kidneys, causing acute kidney failure, which could be severe enough to require dialysis. This condition can be avoided by doing gradual physical activity, while achieving good hydration. Being able to predict how quickly a disease will progress--rather than waiting years for it to actually happen--should speed up trials of potential therapies. Up to now we had to observe patients for years before we could tell if a therapy was working. It should now be possible to test potential therapies earlier in the disease, when therapies are more likely to prevent kidney failure. Summer is fun time, so let’s keep it that way. Get well hydrated, get enough rest. Avoid medications as much as you can and have lots of fun. It's important to drink enough water and eat the right foods to ensure you're meeting your body's summertime needs. Drink more water: Because it's hot and you perspire a lot during the summer, the average amount of water you should drink in a 24-hour period is 48 ounces — this includes all fluids, such as, juice, soda, and other beverages. (Note: 48 ounces is the equivalent of 6 eight ounce glasses.) When you are sweating more than usual — as on some days in the summer — drinking more is advisable. It's important to pay attention to how you feel, and drink more when you're thirsty. Monitor your intake of salt: An imbalance of salt in your body — too much, or too little — can readily occur when temperatures are hot. You will know you're getting too much salt if you find that rings you wear get tighter, and socks or shoes that fit you comfortably during cooler weather, leave lines or wrinkles on your feet or ankles because of too much fluid in those areas. Eat cooling foods: Cucumbers, mung beans, and watermelon are particularly good foods to eat in the summer. They help to keep your body cool, and because of their diuretic properties, they also help to offset excess salt intake. About Medcare Hospital: The 60-bed multi specialty hospital is equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipments and specialists. Medcare Hospital provides centres of excellence in nephrology, urology, gastroenterology, maternity care and ENT. Other facilities include 25 outpatient consultation rooms, an emergency department, delivery suites, an endoscopy room and day surgery unit.
