TikToker Stuns Followers With Shockingly Accurate ‘Dehydration Check’ Tip
Dana Brems (@footdocdana), a foot surgeon and TikToker with nearly two million followers, recently posted a video detailing a “dehydration check” tip that’s startlingly accurate.
The original video, posted by TikToker Remus Bujor (@remus.bujor) shows the creator pinching the skin atop one of his fingers. “To see how dehydrated you are," he instructs viewers, "you need to squeeze right here. If [the skin] goes back down, you’re hydrated. If you squeeze it, and it stays up, you’re dehydrated.”
Brems nods along in agreement throughout Bujor’s testimonial, before taking center stage and telling the audience that his trick is actually a well-known way to check for dehydration.
“This is known as the skin pinch, or the skin turgor test,” Brems explains. “When you’re well hydrated, your skin has greater elasticity and quickly returns to its original shape after you pinch it. On the other hand, dehydration leads to decreased skin elasticity and a slower return to normal.”
According to MedlinePlus, the skin turgor test is scientifically sound and easy to perform. You can check yourself by squeezing “the skin over the back of the hand, on the abdomen, or over the front of the chest under the collarbone.”
If you find difficulty pinching your skin in the first place, you might be suffering from edema. Edema is a condition in which fluids accumulate in tissues and cause swelling. Edema can be treated by eliminating excess salt from your diet, and taking diuretics to decrease excess fluid.
The Mayo Clinic recommends that women drink 11.5 cups of water each day, while men are recommended to drink 15.5 cups daily.
