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3 Tricks to Nix Fatigue and Boost Your Energy This Summer

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Love warm weather but wish you didn’t feel so draggy? Just a 2.5 percent drop in hydration can dampen energy, but a few tricks can boost it and help you enjoy the rest of the summer season!

Snack on Watermelon 

Heading outside? Savor watermelon first, and you’ll feel up to 40 percent more lively for hours. The juicy treat is up to twice as hydrating as H2O, say Scottish scientists.Which means it’s ultra-effective at blocking the type of low-grade dehydration your body registers as tiredness. Credit watermelon’s abundance of “gel water,” a form of fluid your body absorbs more deeply, keeping you hydrated without triggering the frequent need for a restroom.

Chill Your Chair 

Even if you spend more time indoors than out on hot days, warmer weather triggers your body to perspire. And when cells lose more water than they take in, they can’t function optimally. The result: a 10 percent drop in summer energy, say University of Connecticut investigators. For a simple fix, pop a basic cooling gel pack inside an old pillowcase and place it on the back or seat of your chair. Its chill will dissipate slowly, helping keep your core body temperature slightly lower and blocking fatigue-triggering perspiration — all without having to crank up the A/C (and your electric bill!).

Sip a ‘Lemonade’ Nightcap

On hot nights, we lose a liter of water as we breathe. One fix: Before bed, sip “electrolyte” lemonade. The blend — made from eight ounces of water, the juice from half a lemon, a pinch of sea salt and two teaspoons of raw honey — has potassium, magnesium, sodium, and chloride to rebalance fluids and help cells lock on to hydration so you awake refreshed, say scientists at the European Foundation of Environmental Sciences. 

A version of this article originally appeared in our print magazine, Woman’s World.

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