Dr Karan Raj is what some might call an “influencer doctor”. With close to 240,000 followers on Instagram and 4.1 million followers on TikTok, his words and advice are easily able to reach the younger generation.

While the doctor frequently posts stories about his daily life and is active in fighting misinformation about Covid-19, he also shares tips on looking after one’s health.

Last month, Karan posted about the signs and symptoms of dehydration. As Malaysians are all-too-familiar with hot weather, perhaps these four indicators are worth looking out for.

1. Sugar craving

When you’re dehydrated, you may crave sweet foods. Karan explains that because of dehydration, your liver struggles to break down glycogen into glucose.

This means there is less glucose in the blood which could potentially cause hypoglycaemia, resulting in discomfort or headaches.

2. Dry eyes

Tears are for more than just crying; “they also lubricate and clean your eyes”, explains the surgeon. Dehydration, therefore, leads to dry and easily irritated eyes.

3. Bad breath

Being dehydrated leads to less saliva in the mouth and more bacteria. The combination of the two leads to bad breath.

4. Looser skin

According to Karan, the “skin turgor test” can tell if you are dehydrated. Basically, you pinch the skin on the back of your hand or your finger at the knuckle joint, and see how long it takes to return to normal.

“The more hydrated you are, the more elastic your skin is and will bounce back immediately after being pinched,” he explains.

If it takes a while, it is a sign you are dehydrated.

Since it was posted, Karan’s Tiktok video on the skin turgor test has had 1.2 million likes and over 60,000 shares.