Hydration Keeps You Healthy and Can Affect Mood

It’s no secret that not drinking enough water can have a negative impact on health in both the short and long term. Even setting aside long term health effects like kidney damage and seizures, dehydration can cause more immediate problems like headaches, lethargy, joint pain, inability to concentrate, nausea, vomiting, and memory loss. Obviously, suffering from any combination of those symptoms is likely to make for an unpleasant day where not much work is getting done.

Not drinking enough water isn’t just bad for health; it can affect behaviour as well. Studies have shown that even slight levels of dehydration can have a negative impact on people’s mood. Obviously, people who are feeling irritable are less likely to get along with co-workers or get their work done, and probably won’t want to even be at work in the first place. When employees have access to plenty of water, it can drastically improve people’s moods and make work a more pleasant environment to be in

Reasons to Stay Hydrated

Drinking Enough Water Makes You a More Efficient Employee

Just 1% dehydration has been found to decrease worker productivity by 12%. The more dehydrated the worker becomes, the further his or her physical work capacity degrades, with 3-4% dehydration bringing about a 25-50% decline in worker performance.

The evidence is that being hydrated is associated with better cognition and mental performance, and helps combat tiredness and fatigue, all of which can help organisational productivity”, Derbyshire argues. “Also, there is a legal requirement on employers to provide access to water”.

How Dehydration Affects Worker Productivity

Because of all the reasons mentioned above, employees should do everything they can to drink enough water throughout the day. Employees who take steps to stay hydrated will not only improve the quality of their work, but the quality of their lives outside of work as well.