Nearly half of all adults in the U.S. have taken one or more prescription medications in the past 30 days according to the CDC. While these medications help address serious health concerns like depression, cardiovascular health and diabetes, they can also pose workplace safety risks caused by dehydration. This is a risk too often unrecognized and left unaddressed.
Dehydration happens when the amount of fluids taken into the body doesn't replace the amount of fluids going out; most often fluids are pushed out through sweat and elimination. When a deficit results, electrolytes in the body go out of balance.
At its worst, dehydration can cause seizures and shock. More commonly, dehydration causes fatigue, dizziness and confusion. It can disrupt a person's ability to work safely by undermining their physical strength and dexterity, as well as their cognitive function and judgment.
Maintaining healthy hydration levels is a concern in every workplace, especially those requiring physically strenuous work and those that expose workers to varying temperature extremes.
Risks to hydration
The CDC reports that 46.7 percent of adults in the prime workforce age group (20-59 years old) use some form of prescription medicine. The most commonly used medications in this age group are antidepressants, followed by analgesics for pain relief and then lipid-lowering drugs for high cholesterol.
Adults over the age of 60 are even more likely to be using prescription medicines regularly. For the over-60 group, lipid-lowering drugs are most common, followed by beta-blockers for high blood pressure and heart disease, and then antidiabetic drugs.
Dehydration is not always listed as a specific side effect of prescription medicines. For this reason, it often goes unrecognized as a potential risk, but prescription medicines have side effects that can lead to or indicate dehydration. These side effects include increased sweat production, decreased appetite, changes in bathroom habits, dry mouth and decreased thirst.
Like some medication side effects, alcohol can also lead to dehydration because, as a diuretic, it triggers increased trips to the bathroom that may result in expelling more fluids than are being taken in.
Encourage hydration health
Maintaining proper hydration levels in the workplace has always been important for health and safety. With more and more people taking prescription medicines as part of their daily health routine, there's a danger their hydration levels are being undermined in ways that could go unrecognized. Establishing and encouraging good hydration habits in the workplace will go a long way toward keeping people healthy and productive. Ways to encourage good hydration habits in the workplace include:
- Making sure hydrating beverages are readily available.
- Establishing regular hydration breaks.
- Integrate education on good hydration habits into your workplace wellness programs.
Supporting good hydration habits in the workplace leads to more than just higher productivity; it leads to better overall health.
For more information, visit www.sqwincher.com or call (800) 654-1920.
