Ways with Water – Water, Sleep & Well-Being

Ways with Water – Water, Sleep & Well-Being

It’s World Sleep Day this week. The day is dedicated to bringing attention to the vital role adequate sleep plays in maintaining health and well-being. With millions of Britons suffering from a similar ailment – an inability to get enough sleep – we look at how good hydration can assist in creating better sleep.

Does drinking enough water aid our ability to sleep better?

The short answer is, yes it does.

How so?

During deep sleep, your body works to repair muscle, organs and other cells. Chemicals that strengthen your immune system start to circulate in your blood. If you are properly hydrated, your body is better fuelled, more easily able to effect these vital repairs.

How soon before bed should you drink water?

The rule of thumb is not to drink lots of water (or any liquids) at least two hours before bed. Ideally the bulk of your water consumption should be during the day or well ahead of bedtime.

Although dehydration can occur during sleep, this is easily repairable by drinking water upon waking.

What is the drinking water after bedtime conundrum?

Drinking a small amount of water before bed can keep you hydrated overnight, but too much and you’ll disrupt your sleep cycle with trips to the bathroom.

Having access to a constant supply to refreshing drinking water throughout the day is essential to ensure you can easily maintain sufficient hydration. Which is yet another reason to make sure you visit your water cooler regularly during the day, keeping yourself properly hydrated and well prepped for a good night’s rest.

Counteract Cold Weather Dehydration

Counteract Cold Weather Dehydration

While the current cold weather seems wont to extend its icy hold over the UK our instinct may be to hydrate less, this is a mistake.

When it’s cold, we may tend to think that we dehydrate less easily than we do when it’s warm, but this is often not the case. *What occurs is the body’s thirst response diminishes, by as much as forty percent, even when we’re already dehydrated. This happens due to the body’s blood vessels constricting when cold in order to prevent blood from flowing freely to the extremities. This enables the body to conserve heat by drawing more blood to its core.  Because of this, the body is fooled into thinking it has properly hydrated, e.g. you don’t feel as thirsty and your body doesn’t conserve water. What may also occur is as you are less inclined to drink more water voluntarily; your kidneys don’t receive the signal to conserve water and urine production increases, again potentially leading to dehydration.

This increased urine production and reduced thirst response are only two of the contributing factors.  Some others include:

  • When wearing multiple, heavy layers of clothing, our bodies have to work between ten and forty percent harder. As such, we sweat more and lose more fluid.
  • We also experience increased respiratory loss. This is when you lose water vapour through your breath, which means there is an increase of fluid leaving your body.
  • The fact that sweat evaporates more quickly in cooler temperatures means your body is, once again, fooled into thinking you need less fluid.

The simplest method to counteract cold weather dehydration is to keep an eye on how often you drink water, much like you would during warmer weather.

If you usually make regular trips to replenish your water container from the work water cooler, carry on doing so. Should you work from a home office or remote location, set a repeat alarm on any tech gadget you use.

If chilled water is too much to consider drinking, drink ambient (indoor) temperature water.

If you can only consider drinking piping hot water from your hot water boiler, that’s fine, however, try to balance out each hot drink with a drink of cool water and keep yourself well hydrated, whatever the weather.

*source: First Aid For Life

How Drinking Hot Water contributes to our Health, Hydration & Happiness

How Drinking Hot Water contributes to our Health, Hydration & Happiness

We’re not referring to being in hot water, mind, rather we’re referring to how drinking hot water (and most derivatives thereof) in cold weather boosts our sense of well-being, makes us happy, helps us maintain good hydration habits and as a consequence contributes towards our health too.

Mind how you go. As with anything that you ingest or consume that purports to be healthy, there’s usually a proviso. Of course there is. That’s why we’re not suggesting that you can drink as many of those marshmallow topped, cream laden hot chocolates as you like and still be in the peak of health, but we are stating that by drinking hot water drinks (not just hot water) you will achieve more than just one goal – you’ll warm yourself up, increasing your body temperature; you’ll feel  comforted which increases your sense of well-being and if you’re drinking the right hot drinks, you’ll keep yourself hydrated, which means you’re maintaining your good health.

Don’t be fooled. Unless you were hibernating for the last few decades, you should no doubt be aware (by now) that sugar-free doesn’t equal better health.  In fact, the ‘cheat sweeteners’ can be as bad for your waistline if not worse than could good old granulated sugar. If it tastes oddly synthetic, chances are it usually is.

What’s left, then? Quite a bit actually. Here are a few ideas to keep your precious little self hydrated, your tummy warm; and you fighting fit this winter:

  • Install either a hot and cold water cooler or a hot water boiler at your premises. Visit it, often.
  • Once you’ve installed your hot water maker, speak to those around you – ask them what hot water drinks they enjoy which don’t pack on the pounds.
  • Go exploring. Virtually of course. You’ll find plenty of benefits arising from good hydration habits and a number of tips about hot water drinks at the AquAid Water Coolers blog There’s plenty to choose from, each which will hopefully inspire your hot water drinks journey.

However you choose to warm up when the weather is cooler, we wish you happy hydration health.

Hot Water Boilers Save Energy, Money and Time

Hot Water Boilers Save Energy, Money and Time

With the need to be more environmentally friendly and energy conscious, water boilers offer the ideal solution. Compact, space saving and eco-friendly, they offer the perfect hot water dispense point for every workplace.

Whether you are looking for a more compact wall-mounted water boiler or a larger water boiler for a bigger office, AquAid can meet every requirement.

By not being on the boil for extended periods of time and providing boiling water only when it is needed, water boilers save time, money and natural resources. This provides a considerable decrease in the electricity used to heat your water. Furthermore, with the water being available instantly, there is no need for anyone wanting hot drinking water to have to wait for a kettle to boil, thereby saving a considerable amount of time and energy.

Wall mounted water boilers are a good fit for smaller offices or for large office buildings with multiple kitchens. They are easy to mount and can be positioned out of the way to ensure your canteen or kitchen space is not wasted.

With easy installation and mains fed power, there is no need to rewire the kitchen or installation area to fit a water boiler.

A water boiler is the perfect addition to your office, conference room or kitchen. Offering a wide range of high-quality hot water dispensers, you can rely on our experienced and WHA accredited engineers to provide efficient installation, all backed with AquAid’s proven customer service.

If you are looking for an office hot & chilled water combination, AquAid has the perfect solution for you.

We offer a range of compact and very stylish water dispensers providing all the hot water and/or chilled water needed. These water dispensers are available in a selection of modern, appealing finishes which will look good and fit seamlessly in any boardroom, conference centre or kitchen, giving staff, customers and visitors alike constant access to boiling hot water and cool drinking water, all in an instant.

Not so sneaky winter hydration tips

Not so sneaky winter hydration tips

Sneaky because maintaining good hydration habits in winter can be just that: studies show that we can be up to 40% less thirsty in winter.

Dehydration is less noticeable in winter: During the summer in the UK, it’s far easier to equate how thirsty we are with how dehydrated we may be.  Hot weather tends to make us sweat more, making dehydration much more noticeable. However, in winter, thirst isn’t as immediately apparent and perspiration turns to water vapour very quickly.  As an example, when you step outside from a warm environment into a cold one and you can see your breath – that’s water vapour, which means you’re dehydrating.

Staying hydrated in winter helps us stay warm: Our bodies use water to help maintain our core body temperature. Dehydration can cause our core body temperatures can drop. Therefore the benefits of staying hydrated in winter are twofold: we stay hydrated and we keep warm when it’s cold outside.

… And gives your immune system a welcome boost:  Our instinct in winter is to hibernate, especially indoors. Modern life, however, makes this untenable: we’re in and out of doors on a daily basis and the radical changes in temperature can easily and negatively affect our immune system as our systems fight to bring our body to the right temperature. That’s why it’s important to make sure we don’t decrease our water intake during winter.  A good hydration habit is one of the simplest and best ways to keep the immune system boosted and ready to battle common winter illnesses like colds and flu. Whether you’re at home, at work, at school, installing a water cooler or hot water boiler will help you to easily keep up your water consumption, with refreshing drinking water available at the touch of a button.

Weight maintenance and loss:  The cold weather can often lead us to exercise less and eat more. Weight gain because of this is often further exacerbated by not staying hydrated through winter. Maintaining hydration enables our bodies to be more efficient at breaking down fats and converting them to energy.

A few tips to maintain proper hydration during winter:

  • Keep water in your line of sight – keep a water bottle on your desk or put a glass next to the kitchen sink to remind you keep drinking. Remember too, AquAid have a range of desktop and countertop water coolers making them the best reminder there is.
  • Set yourself a reminder – An alert on your phone can remind yourself to top up your water bottle.
  • Eat water rich foods – soups, salads or fruit as mentioned in our series on water rich fruit.
  • Plump up your plain H2O – Adding a slice or wedge of lemon, lime or even cucumber gives your water an extra refreshing burst of flavour.

At AquAid Water Coolers, we provide a wide range of water dispensers to a broad and diverse set of customers from small, medium and large businesses through to medical facilities, universities, colleges and schools.

With more than 24 years’ experience in the provision of the right water coolers, water boilers, Instant Taps and water fountains to more than 34,000 customers, you can be assured that we will have the right water cooler to help keep you properly hydrated, whatever the time of year.  Speak to us, we’ll be happy to help.

Five to One Water Cooler Must Haves – Part II

Five to One Water Cooler Must Haves – Part II

  1. Low Maintenance

You don’t need to worry about tedious maintenance and upkeep with a new water cooler. Unlike most appliances, they are very easy to maintain. Most units only require that you keep the dispenser or dispensing area clean. This usually means emptying the drip tray as needed. Aside from this, you need not worry. All our WHA accredited sanitation engineers and delivery drivers have undertaken mandatory hygiene training and we automatically sanitise all bottle-fed water dispensers every 3 months and all mains-fed water dispensers every 6 months.

  1. Features and Accessories

All AquAid Water Coolers offer features and options to best suit where they’re installed. For example, we assess whether you should be installing a bottle fed or mains fed water cooler and will recommend accordingly.  A drinking chart is provided to illustrate how much water you should be drinking every day. For school installations, AquAid provide individual water bottles for the children.

  1. Convenient Water with a Pure Fresh Taste

With a water cooler, you can enjoy the convenience of on-demand water whenever you want it. The water is pure, fresh and great tasting. Our bottled water is sourced from natural springs from three locations around the UK and our mainsfed coolers have advanced filtration systems providing you with clean, fresh drinking water. Best of all you’ll enjoy not having to bring your own bottled water purchased from stores every day as you’ll have access to water all day.

  1. Charitable Aspect

Imagine that by your drinking water you’re benefitting those in need, and then speak to us because this is something that AquAid do. For each water cooler purchased and bottle of water that we deliver, a donation is made to the charities that we’ve supported since AquAid began.

  1. Drink More Water

Many people that install water coolers for themselves, their staff, children, patients and customers find that they drink more water because it’s readily available. This means that you can enjoy a healthier lifestyle because you are drinking the recommended amount of water per day.

Whatever your drinking water, water dispenser, hot water boiler and Instant water taps requirements, AquAid has more than twenty five years’ experience in the provision of the right water cooler for your work place – wherever you’re situated and whatever space you occupy throughout England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.