How Air Conditioning Can Prevent Dehydration During a Heat Wave

Most people just use air conditioning because it feels more comfortable in the summer months. Rather that sweating it out and being uncomfortable, everyone would prefer to work or relax in an air conditioned room.

Air Conditioning Prevents Dehydration

Air conditioning is not just something that makes you more comfortable; it’s also better for your health. Having an air conditioner in your home prevents you from losing too much water by sweating. If you were to lose a great deal of water, you might eventually end up having dehydration which is a very serious ailment and can even lead into death.

How Much Water Can You Lose by Sweating?

Many times, people don’t realize exactly how much water they’re losing through sweat. We all expect to sweat in the summer months, but we don’t have any idea how much we sweat. According to a National Geographic article, “A normal, healthy person who is not used to the heat can, in heat wave conditions, sweat as much as 1.5 quarts of liquid in an hour.” A quart is 2 pounds of body weight. So that equals about 3 pounds of body weight lost in an hour when there is a heat wave.

How to Prevent Dehydration in the Summer

So not only is it necessary to keep drinking water in the summer months, but you also need to cool your body down so that it doesn’t keep losing excessive amounts of water and getting dehydrated. You may not want to keep the temperature very low on your AC as this might come as a shock to your system after being in the warm temperature outside but you can at least keep it moderately low so that your body is cool if not cold.

Overall, just stay in touch with your body and keep track of how it’s feeling. If you’re experiencing discomfort, nausea or dizziness, you may be experiencing dehydration.

Contact us to learn more about the benefits of air conditioning.