Young Bissa nurse writes about ‘how to prevent thirst and dehydration during Ramadan’

How to prevent thirst and Dehydration during Ramadan

By Suraiya Hassan Nombre

Do you experience the situation where you fill your stomach up with water and a few hours later you just excrete everything out? If you answered yes, then you might not be drinking water in the right way.

During Ramadan, the most common struggle we face is dehydration and thirst. We try to fill up with tons of water at Suhuur but all comes out after few hours, leaving us weak and thirsty for the rest of the fasting day

If you consume a lot of water in that short period of time, the body doesn’t get to process the water the way that it should. All of that will be considered as excess that the body will try to get rid off.

The best way to drink water is to sip enough over a long period of time rather than having a bunch in one sitting.

Keeping water by our side and sipping throughout the night after iftar is the way to go.

Sip water in between Taraweeh prayers and wake up early at suhuur to spread your water intake over 30 mins to an hour. This way, the water is taken up into your cells gradually to hydrate you

Take advantage of hydrating fruits and vegetables. Watermelon, lettuce and cucumber are very good hydrating foods. They help the water get into your cells to hydrate you instead of just staying in the stomach at the mercy of excretion.

Also avoid hot, spicy and salty foods. They cause water retention which increases the body’s need for water and make you feel thirsty.

Caffeinated drinks and beverages also cause dehydration in some people so observe how caffeine works on you and advice yourself accordingly.

Sugary foods and carbonated drinks also trigger sugar cravings and spikes sugar levels. An increased blood sugar level causes an unbearable thirst for water.

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