Is Britain the Most Dehydrated Nation in Europe?
The theme of World Health Day this year focused on ‘my health, my right’, prompting those to better understand their health and wellness, yet air up®‘s brand new study reveals a stark reality: 21% of Brits are dehydrated, as evidenced by the colour of their urine. This issue is compounded by the fact that 45% of Brits drink only one glass of water a day, with an additional 30% finding water boring so limiting their intake.
In response to these concerning findings, air up® has launched The Pee Paper, a pantone chart designed to assist Brits in easily assessing their hydration status. This initiative aims to address the pressing need for increased awareness and action regarding hydration levels across the nation.
The colour of urine serves as a reliable indicator of hydration levels, with clear pale yellow being the optimal hue, according to NHS guidelines. Urine colour reflects the concentration of waste products and fluids in your system. Medical News Today explains that the yellow colour in balanced urine comes from urochrome, a waste product resulting from the breakdown of haemoglobin – a protein found in red blood cells that enables oxygen to travel around the body. Darker shades of yellow suggest that an individual may be dehydrated and in dire need of water.
To ensure the nation monitors the colour of their pee, air up® has provided their Pee Chart:
For many of us, the importance of drinking water to stay hydrated is often associated with the need to quench a thirst under the heat of the summer sun. In reality, however, our necessity to stay hydrated extends to all times of the year, with the NHS recommending 6-8 glasses of water a day. As such, air up® has highlighted all the benefits of staying hydrated:
Brain function: it plays an integral part in focus and cognition
Physical performance: it helps us reach our best in the gym
Facilitates nutrient absorption and plays a vital part in healthy digestion
Lubricates and cushions our joints, spinal cords, and body tissue
Helps excrete body waste
Helps regulate our core body temperature
Siena Cid, air up®’s registered nutritionist and dietitian, comments on the importance of hydration:
“As strange as it sounds, eyeballing the toilet bowl is an easy way to get an indication of your hydration status. The colour of your pee will help navigate when to reach for your next sip.”
So how does air up work?
air up harnesses this clever bit of science by infusing flavoured air into every sip of water from the bottle. One of 28 different flavours will be added in bubbles every time you drink and it is this that will give your 100% pure water its flavour. Each pod contains natural flavourings and scents that infuse with ambient air to be added to the pure water, these flavours range from Lime and Orange-Passionfruit to Kola and Iced Coffee with ten others in between.
Who came up with this amazing idea?
The first prototype for air up was developed by Lena Jüngst and Tim Jäger in 2016 and spent three years in development, including a Master’s thesis on aromas, to combine innovative design and the neuroscience behind the idea and turn it into a real product. Since then, air up has successfully launched in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands, with more than one million customers already. Now Lena and the team are bringing this innovative way to drink water to the UK.
Where can I buy one?
air up’s reusable water bottles are available from their website. One bottle and three flavour pods is priced at £29.99 to £59.99, depending on the colour and material of the bottle. Each additional pack of three pods (flavouring a minimum of 15 litres of water) then costs between £4.99 to £6.99, depending on the flavour.
