You're Probably Not Drinking Enough. But It's Not Just About Water.
- 8 hours ago
- 6 min read
How to stay hydrated in hot weather
Right now, as I'm writing this, the Met Office has issued a Red Extreme Heat Warning for much of England and Wales.
Temperatures are forecast to hit 39°C by Wednesday, with humidity so high that the forecasters are describing it as oppressive. This is not a standard British summer. This is different, and your body knows it.
If you've noticed your energy dropping, your head feeling thick, your skin looking a bit dull, or your workouts feeling harder than usual, hydration is one of the first places I'd look. Not because it's a simple fix, but because most of us are already starting from a low base before the heat even becomes a factor.
And before you say you drink plenty of water, let me gently push back on that. Because drinking enough is only part of the story.
So How Much Should You Actually Be Drinking?
The standard advice of eight glasses a day was never especially scientific, and in weather like this it's almost certainly not enough.
A useful starting point is 35ml per kilogram of body weight per day in normal conditions. In this heat, that goes up. If you're exercising, you need more again.
A 65kg woman, for example, is looking at around 2.3 litres as her baseline. Bump the temperature to 37°C with high humidity, add a gym session, and that figure can easily climb to 3 litres or beyond.
The simplest honest check? Your urine colour. Pale straw means you're doing well. Anything darker than that and you're playing catch-up. Clear isn't necessarily better either, incidentally. It can mean you're over-hydrating and flushing electrolytes you need.
The Part Nobody Talks About: Electrolytes
This is the reframe that changes everything for most people.
Water is not enough on its own.
When you sweat, you don't just lose water. You lose sodium, potassium, magnesium, and chloride. These are electrolytes, and they're the minerals your cells use to move fluid around, fire nerve signals, and keep your muscles working.
If you replace the water without replacing the electrolytes, you can end up feeling worse than before you drank anything. Headaches, fatigue, muscle cramps, that particular brand of brain fog where you can't quite form a thought, all of these can be signs that your electrolyte balance is off.
This is especially relevant if you've been sweating a lot, which, in the current heat, most of us have.
And it's particularly important for women in perimenopause, where hormonal shifts can affect how the body regulates fluid and sodium in the first place.
The solution is not to reach for a neon sports drink. Most commercial electrolyte drinks are packed with sugar, artificial sweeteners, or synthetic additives I wouldn't recommend to anyone. You genuinely don't need them.
My Go-To Homemade Electrolyte Options
I've shared a couple of these already on my socials, but let me put them all in one place because right now they're more relevant than ever.
Coconut Water Ice Lollies
If you've seen my post on these, you'll know I'm genuinely enthusiastic about them.
Pure coconut water is one of nature's best natural electrolyte sources. It contains potassium, magnesium, and a small amount of natural sodium, and it has enough natural sweetness that you don't need to add anything.
I pour coconut water straight into lolly moulds and freeze them. That's it. After a gym session in this heat, they are genuinely restorative. Cold, hydrating, and giving your body back what the sweat took. If I'm feeling fancy, I'll add a squeeze of lime, some raspberries or some frozen mango pieces, but the plain version is just as effective.
The Classic Homemade Electrolyte Drink
This one is worth having in the fridge as a base:
• 500ml cold water
• Juice of half a lemon or lime
• A pinch of good-quality sea salt or pink Himalayan salt (sodium is your main electrolyte loss in sweat)
• Optional: a teaspoon of raw honey if you need energy quickly, or leave it out if you don't
It sounds too simple, but it works.
A Note on Salt
I know some of you will be hesitant about adding salt to anything. We've been told for so long that salt is the enemy. But in the context of heat, significant sweating, and hydration, sodium is your friend. It helps your body actually hold onto the water you're drinking. Without it, the fluid passes through without doing the job you need it to do. Use a good quality, unrefined salt and don't overdo it; a pinch is enough.
Eat Your Water: Foods That Help
Hydration doesn't only come from what you drink. Around 20% of our daily water intake typically comes from food, and in hot weather, leaning into high water-content foods is one of the smartest things you can do.
I posted recently about keeping chopped watermelon in the fridge, and I stand by it as one of the easiest summer nutrition wins.
Watermelon is around 92% water, it contains natural sugars for a gentle energy lift, and it has lycopene (a powerful antioxidant that supports skin health in UV exposure) and, usefully, a small amount of potassium and magnesium.
Other foods worth leaning into right now:
• Cucumber — around 95% water, cooling, and easy to add to everything
• Strawberries — 91% water, and a great source of vitamin C
• Courgette — underrated hydration food, 95% water
• Celery — contains natural sodium as well as water
• Lettuce and leafy greens — up to 96% water depending on the variety
• Tomatoes — around 94% water and rich in potassium
• Peaches and nectarines — perfect season for them, and both are around 88% water
These aren't supplements or superfoods. They're just real food, and in this weather they do a lot of quiet work for you.
What Not To Do
A few things that genuinely make hydration harder in hot weather:
• Alcohol. It's a diuretic. It actively makes you lose more fluid than you take in. A cold glass of rosé feels cooling but it's working against you. If you're drinking, match every alcoholic drink with a glass of water.
• Too much caffeine. Your morning coffee is fine. Three or four cups on a hot day is not helpful. Caffeine has a mild diuretic effect and can also affect how well you absorb fluid.
• Leaving it too late. Thirst is a late-stage signal. By the time you feel thirsty, you're already behind. Sip throughout the day rather than trying to catch up in one go.
• Drinking only plain water when you've been sweating heavily. As above. Water alone won't cut it. You need those electrolytes back.
A Word for Women in Perimenopause
If you're in perimenopause, hydration deserves extra attention right now.
Oestrogen plays a role in how the body regulates fluid balance, and as levels fluctuate, some women find they're more prone to dehydration, or that their thirst signals become less reliable.
Hot flushes, which are already a significant symptom, become more intense in external heat. Sweating during the night is compounded by high overnight temperatures.
Getting your electrolyte balance right can make a meaningful difference to how you feel through this heatwave, both in terms of energy and in how you're managing symptoms. It's not a cure, but it's one of the things within your control right now.
The Short Version
Drink more than you think you need.
Eat your water through food.
Add natural electrolytes through a pinch of salt, coconut water, or a simple homemade drink. Skip the commercial sports drinks.
And if you're exercising in this heat, those coconut water lollies are not just a treat, they're doing real work.
Your body is working hard to keep you cool right now. Give it what it actually needs.
Want to Talk Through Your Own Hydration and Nutrition?
If you're finding that no matter what you drink you still feel flat, sluggish, or like your body isn't quite right, it might be worth looking at the bigger picture.
Chronic dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, and hormonal factors can all overlap in ways that are worth untangling properly.
I offer a free 20-minute chat for anyone who wants to talk through what's going on and find out whether working together might help. No pressure, no agenda, just a proper conversation.
