Hydration and Productivity for Lawyers

While most studies on the effects of dehydration focus on athletes and individuals who perform manual labor, proper hydration is also essential for lawyers. Proper hydration helps ensure that our muscles can operate at peak efficiency—it also helps ensure that our minds can operate at peak efficiency.

Understanding the Importance of Hydration

Just how important is proper hydration for lawyers? Consider this from the Journal of the American College of Nutrition: “Being dehydrated by just 2% impairs performance in tasks that require attention, psychomotor, and immediate memory skills.” Although the authors go on to note that the ability to perform “working memory tasks and executive functions is more preserved” with mild dehydration, as lawyers, we should not find any level of cognitive impairment acceptable in our work. Additionally, other studies have further elucidated the productivity-impairing effects of dehydration—finding that a 1% drop in hydration can cause a 12% drop in productivity, and a 3% to 4% drop in hydration can impair productivity by an astonishing 25% to 50%. To be clear, this is focused specifically on productivity in the office setting. It is also worth noting that, over time, dehydration can have serious health consequences as well. According to the Mayo Clinic and Cedar-Sinai, the effects of chronic dehydration can include persistent headaches, fatigue, dizziness (which can lead to fainting), low blood volume, seizures, and kidney stones, among others. Of course, if we need to take time off from work to deal with these issues, our productivity can drop to zero.

Avoiding Loss of Productivity Due to Dehydration

With this in mind, lawyers should make hydration a daily priority—both for themselves and their clients. Here are some tips from the Mayo Clinic and Cedar-Sinai:

• Use a reusable bottle to track your daily water intake. For most people in a temperate climate, staying fully hydrated means drinking anywhere from three-quarters to a gallon of water per day.
• Don’t just drink coffee. While caffeine isn’t necessarily dehydrating, coffee is a diuretic. While it is important to go to the bathroom regularly, going too often can have dehydrating effects.
• Make sure you’re getting electrolytes. Another reason not to just drink coffee is that you need to make sure you are getting electrolytes. Electrolytes are important for hydration and various bodily and cognitive functions.
• Know the signs of dehydration. If you are having trouble focusing on your work or your short-term memory is failing you, this may be an early sign that you need to hydrate. Abdominal pain and swelling, fever without other flu-like symptoms, dry mouth, and infrequent urination are also signs of dehydration.
• Don’t be afraid to seek help. While the solution to dehydration is often simply to drink more water, you shouldn’t be afraid to seek help if you have questions or concerns. Dehydration is a far more common problem than most people realize, and if ignored for too long, it can potentially have long-term effects.