Dehydration during menopause: Why to drink more water?

Verified by Dr. Vaishali Sakpal Rane (MBBS, DGO Obstetrics and Gynaecology, DNB Obstetrics and Gynaecology)

Menopause is that transition period of a women’s life where they undergo a roller coaster of physical and emotional symptoms like hot flashes, night sweat, mood swings, urinary complaints, headache, joint aches, anxiety, forgetfulness and much more.

Drinking plenty of water and keeping your body hydrated can help in nearly every symptom of menopause. Oestrogen (a hormone) helps to keep your body hydrated, but during menopause, as the oestrogen levels decrease, your body finds it difficult to be hydrated enough.

Dehydration during menopause can cause various problems like

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• Dehydration increases the severity of the menopausal symptoms. Hot flashes and night sweats make you lose water and get dehydrated which impacts the  nervous system and further triggers more hot flashes and night sweats, this forming a vicious cycle that worsens the condition.

• Drinking limited water causes your urine to become concentrated, it appears dark and may also have a smell. This concentrated urine irritates the urinary bladder and causes UTI-like symptoms. So even if you are drinking less water, you feel the need to go to the washroom frequently.

• Dehydration during menopause is well-known to trigger headaches. It causes brain fog and difficulty to concentrate and affects decision making ability.

• Reduced water intake affects your joints and muscles too. It causes painful and stiff joints due to reduced amount of lubricant in the joints. You get easily tired and fatigued if your body is dehydrated.

• Palpitations can occur because of dehydration, especially in the night if you also get night sweats.

• Your alimentary canal needs lots of water to digest food properly and excrete out the unwanted and processed food. Dehydration decreases the mobility of the digestive tract causing constipation and bloating.

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A well hydrated body can help from developing these symptoms and if you are already having these symptoms, having a hydrated body will help you in decreasing the severity. One cannot emphasise more on the importance of hydration. 

Some women may find it difficult to keep themselves safe from dehydration during menopause, some complain that they don't like the taste of plain water, some simply forget or keep delaying drinking water. But simple changes in  the lifestyle can help you cope up with this.You need to have at least 1.5 -litres of plain water everyday other than your tea or coffee.

Aerated drinks, tea ,coffee and alcohol don’t keep you hydrated, they rather flush out the water from your body causing dehydration during menopause. If you don’t like the taste of water, you can flavour the water by squeezing lemons or adding strawberries. This will help to make it more palatable.

Keep yourself well hydrated during this transition through menopause. If you have any queries do consult the experts at gytree. Our team of health experts are always there to help you sail comfortably through the menopause transition.