When you sleep, your body naturally loses fluids leading to an increased risk of dehydration. Dehydration is a condition where your body loses more fluids and electrolytes than it can replace. It typically occurs when you sweat or when you’re sick and have diarrhea or are vomiting.
Medications such as laxatives, antidepressants, diuretics, and weight loss pills also cause side effects including dehydration. However, dehydration can also occur naturally while you sleep. Here’s how:
If you suffer from sleep apnea, snore, or sleep with your mouth open, your chances of fluid loss increase. That’s because moisture in your mouth evaporates as you breathe through it, resulting in a fluid imbalance in your body. Since you’re sleeping, you can’t simply replace this lost fluid right away.
If you sleep in a hot environment, your body temperature increases and produces sweat in an effort to cool down. Your sweat consists of water and electrolytes that are pushed to the skin’s surface where it evaporates and produces a cooling effect. When this happens as you’re sleeping, you can develop dehydration.
EFFECTS OF NIGHTTIME DEHYDRATION
As a result of nighttime dehydration, you may wake up the next morning with a dry mouth, scratchy throat, and pounding dehydration headache. Dehydration also causes sleep disruptions such as nocturnal leg cramps and discomfort that can cause you to wake up several times throughout the night.
Dehydration also directly impacts your circadian rhythm by affecting hormone production including vasopressin and melatonin. Melatonin is a natural hormone that signals to your brain when you should feel tired and when you should feel alert. Research shows that dehydration affects the production of amino acids that trigger melatonin release. This means it’s harder for you to feel sleepy before bed, alert the next day, and can even cause excessive daytime sleepiness.
Even mild cases of dehydration can cause tiredness, fatigue, and lack of sleep. Fortunately, there are ways you can remedy dehydration, but it’s more than just drinking water before bed. You need an oral rehydration solution like DripDrop ORS. Read on to learn more about why no amount of water is enough and how an ORS can help.
WHY YOU NEED MORE THAN JUST WATER BEFORE BED
Hydration isn’t just about drinking enough water — you also need a precise ratio of electrolytes. Your body’s cells — everything from blood cells to skin cells — are filled with fluid that consists of water as well as electrolytes such as potassium and sodium. These electrolytes play a key role in both hydration and normal functioning. Electrolytes help to send neurotransmitter signals, aid the digestive system, streamline blood circulation, support the immune system, and assist water retention.
In fact, sodium is particularly important when it comes to staying properly hydrated. That’s because it’s part of the sodium-glucose cotransport system, which helps your body absorb electrolytes quickly. Glucose enables the movement of sodium, water, and other electrolytes through cell membranes. From there, sodium helps your body retain fluids and also triggers feelings of thirst when you’re dehydrated — it’s the science behind why you wake up thirsty after dehydrated sleep.
When you drink water, you increase your fluid intake but don’t address your electrolyte ratio. Instead of drinking water before bed to avoid dehydration, reach for an oral rehydration solution like DripDrop ORS.
It contains a medically relevant amount of electrolytes, including potassium, magnesium, and sodium, to fend off dehydration. While traditional oral rehydration solutions were unpalatable, DripDrop ORS improved on the World Health Organization’s rigorous standards delivering a medically relevant ORS that tastes amazing.
ESTABLISH GOOD HYDRATION ROUTINES
Staying hydrated offers a huge range of health benefits. With proper fluid and electrolyte levels, your heart doesn’t have to work as hard to pump blood and fluids through your body, reducing the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Hydration can also help to improve energy levels, detox the body of unwanted toxins, and support better sleep.
While there are a million reasons to stay hydrated, especially when it comes to overall health, it can be hard to drink enough water and electrolytes.
Kind Regards,
The SpineAlign Team
