Making Sure You Are Well Hydrated Is The First Step Towards Creating Better Health and Wellbeing.

As you probably know, your body is made of about 70% water and your brain 75%.

Water plays an essential role in ensuring that both body and brain function well. Water is used to perform various functions such as helping with circulation, temperature control, digestion, assimilation of nutrients and oxygen into the cells, and elimination.

As we constantly loose water through breathing, sweating, and elimination, we need to make sure that our body is hydrated regularly or the “machine” will slow down and even break down over time.

How Can You Tell Whether You Are Dehydrated or Not?

• darker colored urine
• dry lips or mouth

Some people will not recognize that they are dehydrated, they will experience some of the side effects of dehydration, such as:

• fatigue
• irritability
• headaches
• fuzziness
• decreased coordination

So to ensure that your body is well hydrated, drink water throughout the day, starting with when you get up, as your body is always dehydrated after a night of sleep.

And if possible, avoid meals time, as drinking water while eating will dilute digestive juices and slow down digestion.

How Much Water Your Body Needs

It will depend on various factors such as:

• your weight
• how hot it is
• how much you exercise

It is usually recommended to drink up to 1 liter of water per 30kgs of body weight daily.

If you need to increase your current water intake, do it progressively over the next 6 weeks, increasing to half the required amount in the first week and then increasing the amount of water you drink weekly by 10% for the next 5 weeks until you reach the required amount.

Although you will need to go to the bathroom more often than when you drank little, it is a small price to pay and will help prevent putting unnecessary stress on your kidneys.

Remember Also That The Quality Of The Water You Drink Is Important

Filtered or spring water are best, as they do not load your system with chemical contaminants, heavy metals and other pollutants.

Finally, You Will Want To Limit or Avoid Drinks Containing Caffeine

Caffeine is a diuretic and will contribute to dehydrating the body. It is also a stimulant and will affect the quality of your sleep and put a strain on your adrenal glands.

Not drinking alcohol or drinking it in moderation, with no more than 1 standard drink a day and with at least 3 alcohol-free days per week, will also help keep you hydrated as alcohol is a diuretic.

In excess, it also affects our ability to think clearly, to move and to sleep well and has been linked to numerous diseases.

Image Credit: Ian Sane