Is Your Office Dehydrated? Signs Your Team Doesn’t Drink Enough

If you asked people what they think of as an “office problem,” dehydration is probably not the first thing on their mind, but even mild levels of dehydration can impact energy, concentration, and mood.

So here are 7 signs that your workplace may be suffering from dehydration.

1. It strikes like hitting a wall and leads to the 3 pm slump

If half of the office crashes in mid-afternoon, lunch isn’t to blame. Tiredness can be exacerbated by low fluid intake.

2. It is not uncommon for headaches to surface (and often during stressful, busy days)

There are many reasons you can get constant headaches, but dehydration is easy to eliminate.

3. Everyone’s living on coffee

If water is replaced wholly by hot drinks.

4. Dryness of the eyes, mouth, or throat

All of these “little” symptoms can be ignored – which may immediately seem arbitrary, but are genuinely easy to fix with frequent hydration breaks. For Water Cooler Wales, consider www.waterforyou.net

5. People forget to take breaks

It follows that in the case of back-to-back calls and time-blocked meetings, no one rises or refills a glass.

6. The water point is inconvenient

Nobody is going to touch the tap if the kitchen’s on a floor-up, it runs slow, or tastes strange.

7. The water cooler is constantly devoid of fluid (or no one fills it)

An empty bottle, a full drip tray, or dusty cups can be clues that hydration is not part of the routine.

A simple fix

Simplify water: a clean dispenser in the right place, cups available (as needed), and quick reminders to drink (“get your cup of water before next meeting”). Small changes add up fast.

Nina Brown