I know for a lot of people continuously drinking water throughout the day can be tough, especially with all these other soft drinks and other flavored drinks out there and advertised and how good they taste. One cannot make someone drink more water, it's all up to you and whether you want to better your life or not. But before you decide to just totally ignore all this I want to give some facts about drinking water. Plain water, none with that sugary powder artificial stuff you find on a grocery shelf.
Why We Need Water
1. Your body is made up of about 65% water, brain 70% and lungs about 90% and it needs to be replenished daily! You aren't made up of soda, gatorade or energy drinks so why drink it throughout the day if it's not doing your body any favors except dehydrating t?
2. Water is used by your body, it's not just hanging out in there, it's being used up daily by your joints and organs during every day tasks, even sitting still water is being used throughout your body to keep your body temperature normal, nourish and protect the brain, spinal cord and many other tissues so the need for it is not only when your working out and doing any kind of strenuous activity, it's also needed while your even just sitting around reading a book!
3. DEHYDRATION! Did you know as soon as you become thirsty you are already dehydrated? The only way you are going to fix this is by gulping down some water! You don't want to drink anything, especially at this time anything with sodium, it's one of the main causes of dehydration and it will only make you more thirsty, more dehydrated. Dehydration can have major consequences, dizziness, fainting, headaches, irritability and this is merely the early stages of dehydration. The longer you go without replenishing your body with pure water the worse you will become. You can last about a week with damaging symptoms until you whither into a coma and die.
4. Soft drinks and other drinks that just aren't pure water actually take away our water supply from our bodies when we drink them. So every sip you take of that sprite or pepsi, you are depleting your body more and more of one of the main things in your body sustaining your life and helping your body operate.
5. Healthy, clear skin. Your skin cannot stay hydrated without the proper amount of water, you cannot simply throw some lotion on your face and carry on. For one most lotions have ingredients such as alcohol that, just like the inside of your body, will actually dry out your skin. Your skin will get a lot more hydrated and healthier by a glass of water than just a squirt of lotion so drink up!
6. Water helps your body in the fight against from the smallest cold to a troubling disease. All during my fight with Chronic Lyme I made it a point to drink plenty of water to help replenish my body and fuel it for the daily fight against the disease. Especially since this disease caused me to have lots of migraines, weakness, fatigue and so many other symptoms water helped me lessen or completely get rid of so long as I kept up with my water intake and added it to my treatment plan my doctor had me on.
How Much Water Should You Drink?
I'm sure you've heard it said "Recommended water intake for a human is 8 cups a day" Well, seeing as no two humans are alike how can there be a single recommendation of water intake for a human? Everyone has a different body type, different weight, and different lifestyle.
Recommended water intake from the ISSA Personal Trainer Course Book:
- This does not just apply for the days you work out, decide which one best describes your lifestyle such as what you do for work and how it effects your body so drink the needed amount you calculated daily.
Step 1: Select and appropriate need factor
0.5 - Sedentary. no sports or training
0.6 - Jogger or light fitness training
0.7- Moderate daily weight training or moderate training 3x a week
0.8 - Moderate daily weight training or aerobic training
0.9- Heavy weight training daily
1.0 - Heavy weight training daily plus sports training, or "2 a-day" training
Step 2: Multiply weight (in pounds) by the appropriate need factor to arrive at the recommended water intake in ounces per day.
example: my weight 120lbs x my need factor 0.8
120 x 0.8 = 96oz per day or around 3 liters per day
Now, it's always best to drink plain water. I always hear people complain after I tell them "I don't like the taste of plain water I need to put something like crystalite for flavor" well first off it's not that you "don't like" the taste of water, you are just so use to having some sort of sugary taste to it which is yet an other addiction to break from that is not easy but is possible. One way you can break yourself from it is by adding natural flavor, cut up strawberries, plop in some blueberries, pineapple, fresh lemon and any other fresh fruits to your water if you must have flavor. But do your best to take yourself off that too by just constantly drinking water, you will get use to it, the sugary artificial flavor packets for water is an addiction but once you break it plain water will become a new addiction!
How to manage your daily water intake
See the picture at the top of this post? This is a GREAT way to get yourself disciplined to drink all the water you need by the end of your day! Take any water bottle you have, doesn't have to be a gallon jug or plastic, you can use a re-usable one so long as it completely takes the amount of water you need daily and put time marks on it to give you a certain time to finish a certain amount of water before the next time comes to the next line! It really is that simple! I'm not telling you to drink all that water at once and it can be intimidating when you look at it all but once you break it down it becomes a lot easier to manage!
One thing I even did to remind myself to drink water (even something to remember as simple as that was tough with this disease) I placed a bunch of notes all over my house that said "drink water". I know it sounds crazy but there was nothing normal about my life while I was at my worst and it worked! Whatever it takes to help you remember, do it!!
I hope this helps you all realize the importance of drinking water, how much YOU as an individual should be drinking daily to meet your needs and how to make sure you get that needed amount on a daily basis!
Love to all and keep up the great work! And stay hydrated! Your entire body will thank you :)
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