Your guide to living a healthy life with MS
  • Home
  • About me
  • Lifestyle and MS
    • What is MS? >
      • Types of MS
      • What causes MS?
      • Symptoms of MS
      • How is MS diagnosed?
      • How is MS treated?
    • Stress and MS
    • Smoking and MS
    • Healthy weight >
      • What is a healthy weight for me?
    • Alcohol and MS
    • Sleep and MS >
      • Sleep hygiene tips from the MS Trust
    • Importance of hydration
  • Keeping active
    • Latest MS-specific physical activity guidelines
    • Benefits of exercise >
      • UK Physical Activity Guidelines
    • Components of physical fitness
    • What sort of 'exercise'?
    • Exercise for managing symptoms
    • Exercise and relapse
    • Tips for exercising with MS
  • Diet
    • What is a healthy diet? >
      • 7 tips for a balanced diet
      • What is a portion?
      • 5 tips from the MS Society
      • Diet to reduce risk of further diseases
    • The diet debate in MS >
      • 'Best Bet' diet
      • Overcoming MS (OMS)
      • SWANK
      • Wahls protocol
    • Diet to manage symptoms
    • Dietary supplements >
      • Vitamin D
      • Vitamin B12
      • Essential Fatty Acids
    • Tips for cooking with MS
  • Blog
    • Blog posts (PDF)
  • Contact
    • Useful resources

The importance of hydration

As you have probably been told from a young age water is very important for optimal wellbeing.  Water makes up around two-thirds of the body's weight and it is needed second only to oxygen for the body to function. 

​Water:
  • is the medium in which all of our cellular chemical processes take place
  • enables the transport of nutrients and gasses around in the blood
  • provides lubrication of our joints and protection for our organs

​
The intake of many items in the diet can complicate the levels of hydration in the body (fluid balance) meaning that the amount of water you take in can be compromised as it is additionally needed to deal with:
​
  • sugar
  • salt
  • caffeine
  • alcohol 

Dehydration - even to a small level - can be  problem in MS as it can make some of your symptoms worse.

​
Fatigue
There has been a handful of studies recently suggesting that hydration status could have an impact on levels of fatigue in MS.  Whilst this is this is yet to be 'proven' it would make sense as for people without MS, a reduction in hydration can make them feel tired - so It would for this hypothesis that the same was true of people with MS.  This research is being tested at a number of sites in the UK so we await the results, but it's one of those tips that cant harm if you try as water is so important for bodily processes.

​
Other symptoms
The MS trust focusses on the importance of hydration in  terms of increasing symptoms of:
  • urinary tract infections (which can be exacerbated by certain DMD's too)
  • tiredness - notably at this stage they do not mention fatigue so we really do need to wait and see
  • constipation

The recommended amount of water to be taken in per day is between 1.5 and 2 litres; more if you are exercising or if the weather is particularly warm.


Picture
Hydration and body temperature
Staying adequately hydrated helps to maintain a consistent body temperature which can be important for PwMS if you experience Uhthoff's phenomena: where symptoms are affected by increases in body temperature.  It can be particularly important if you are able to exercise, that you take in water regularly to manage the symptoms. 

Sources:
Active IQ (2016) Personal Training manual
Department of Health (2012) Manual of Nutrition
​MS trust (2014) Diet factsheet

Picture
HOME
ABOUT ME
LIFESTYLE
HYDRATION
DIET
SLEEP
CONTACT
ALCOHOL
STRESS
BLOG
SMOKING
KEEPING ACTIVE
RESOURCES
DIET & SYMPTOMS
HEALTHY WEIGHT
ACTIVITY & SYMPTOMS
Copyright 2020  HealthyLife MS.  All rights reserved.
PwMS: persons with MS
Photos used under Creative Commons from Wilson Hui Pai Shih
  • Home
  • About me
  • Lifestyle and MS
    • What is MS? >
      • Types of MS
      • What causes MS?
      • Symptoms of MS
      • How is MS diagnosed?
      • How is MS treated?
    • Stress and MS
    • Smoking and MS
    • Healthy weight >
      • What is a healthy weight for me?
    • Alcohol and MS
    • Sleep and MS >
      • Sleep hygiene tips from the MS Trust
    • Importance of hydration
  • Keeping active
    • Latest MS-specific physical activity guidelines
    • Benefits of exercise >
      • UK Physical Activity Guidelines
    • Components of physical fitness
    • What sort of 'exercise'?
    • Exercise for managing symptoms
    • Exercise and relapse
    • Tips for exercising with MS
  • Diet
    • What is a healthy diet? >
      • 7 tips for a balanced diet
      • What is a portion?
      • 5 tips from the MS Society
      • Diet to reduce risk of further diseases
    • The diet debate in MS >
      • 'Best Bet' diet
      • Overcoming MS (OMS)
      • SWANK
      • Wahls protocol
    • Diet to manage symptoms
    • Dietary supplements >
      • Vitamin D
      • Vitamin B12
      • Essential Fatty Acids
    • Tips for cooking with MS
  • Blog
    • Blog posts (PDF)
  • Contact
    • Useful resources