Health: Beat Mumbai's summer heat by drinking plenty of water

1. WATCH YOUR SKIN: The basic fluid level of your body goes down when you consume less water. Due to this, the tension in your skin goes down. Less intake of water leads to dry-looking and wrinkled skin. The area around the eyes get dark and sunken. It is necessary to apply moisturiser to lock in the skin moisture.

2. MUSCLE CARE: Your muscles tend to shrink when you drink less water. This leads to a feeling of tightness in the muscles, especially the long muscles like your arms and legs.

3. KIDNEY MATTERS: The kidney function level goes down and an extreme case of dehydration can also lead to kidney failure.

4. ALERTNESS: Your body is deprived of the adequate requirement of electrolytes especially sodium. This makes your mind less alert and leads to somnolence, a state of feeling drowsy.

5. BE REGULAR: If you have a large quantity of water at one go, it makes you feel satiated and hence your hunger goes down. Hence, it is better to have the right quantity of water at intervals rather than at one go.

6. SCALP OILINESS: Less water intake also spoils the water to oil balance of your skin, which can affect the scalp.

7. CONSULT A DOCTOR: Those with existing heart, kidney and other ailments should consult a doctor to check the ideal amount of water intake. The wrong intake can lead to aggravation of the ailments.

8. DRINK MORE WHEN IT'S HOT: The intake of water should be high between 12 noon to 4 pm as it is the hottest then. One should ideally have between 2 to 2.5 litres of water in a day. This should be increased to up to 3 litres on hotter days.

Inputs courtesy: Dr Behram Pardiwala, internal medicine co-ordinator, Wockhardt Hospital and Dr Madhuri Agarwal, consultant dermatologist, Yavana Aesthetic Clinic