Why You Need To Stay Hydrated While Travelling

Rapid rehydration is a quick and effective way to replenish the lost fluids after long, tedious plane travel. When everybody has a water bottle with them when flying, it’s not always about quenching the thirst. It has everything to do with supporting their general health and having a comfortable flight.

Dehydration From The Heights

Dehydration is typical when traveling at high altitudes because planes have extremely low relative humidity, usually 20 percent or lower. More than often, you’ll experience the dry conditions affecting you as you begin to have itchy eyes, skin irritation, and feeling parched.

Therefore, it’s crucial to bring along a gallon-sized bottle when traveling on long flights. One of the reasons why pilots also carry water when traveling is that the dehydration rate is very high up in the sky. And one of the effects is fatigue. Nobody wants a tired pilot to take charge when thousands of meters away. Take a cue from them, carry a bottle of your natural fuel when traveling to ensure your flight is less achy and you arrive feeling like yourself more.

Traveler’s Diarrhoea

While low relative humidity is a cause of dehydration in planes, other risk factors can cause loss of fluids and electrolyte imbalance.

Travellers’ diarrhoea is among the common health issues travellers encounter when visiting high-risk parts of the world. The condition causes you to have loose bowel movements at least three times, accompanied by either nausea, fever, vomiting, bloody stool, or abdominal pains. The most severe threat that traveler’s diarrhoea pose is dehydration.

How Do You Do Rapid Rehydration?

With extremely low relative humidity, you will lose fluids faster than usual. While bringing your precious liquid along is a good gesture of staying hydrated, it could get finished before getting to your destination. You can do rapid rehydration immediately you land to help your body regain rehydrate and regain a proper mineral balance.

Plain water won’t do it

While taking Adam’s ale is helpful, it’s often not the best way to quickly top up the electrolytes and fluids lost. The mineral salts in the blood (sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, etc.) are responsible for maintaining a water balance. The liquid lacks these salts; hence, it might take you relatively longer to rehydrate.

Electrolyte powders

Taking hydration solutions can help your body recover from dehydration after a long flight. These powders are similar to those used to induce rapid rehydration when suffering from diarrhea or vomiting.

Oral Rehydration Solutions (ORS) are commercially available solutions containing the proper amount of the essential electrolytes you need to rehydrate. They are also available in powder form in sachets, where you’ll have to mix with water as directed to create a solution.

How the electrolyte powders work

Usually, the water outside and inside the body cells are kept in balance by the electrolytes. Slight fluctuations do occur from time to time. However, significant changes can happen when your body loses fluids faster, such as when traveling in a plane or engaging in vigorous activities. 

The rehydration solution adds more mineral salts into your bloodstream, causing the kidneys to absorb water quickly to regain balance. As such, it’s a good idea to carry hydration supplements such as the ORS to recover body fluids rapidly after a long plane flight.