Why you need to drink more water

Before you start reading this blog, please do me a favour: get yourself a glass of water. Then sit down and take small sips as you read through the blog.

Ready?

It sounds so cliché but it is so true; we are mostly made out of water. Overall the human body exists of about 60% water. Without water we wouldn’t exist. However, a lot of people do not drink enough water these days as we have replaced it by ‘fake’ drinks such as coffee, sports drinks, soft drinks, alcohol. Many modern drinks do not count towards your daily water intake, they actually make you lose water. Sugar, alcohol and caffeine in fact dehydrate your body. Signs of dehydration are everywhere in our daily lives. Think of fatigue, dizziness, constipation, headaches, dark (and sometimes painful) urine, dry skin and eyes and many more. But water is also known to be an excellent appetite suppressant which can help with weight loss.

When you Google how much water you should drink, many websites will tell you to drink 8 glasses a day but this information is not accurate and highly debated. The amount of water we need to drink differs per individual, per activity (when you do a lot of sports you need more than when you sit at the computer), and per season (needless to say you need more water in summer than in winter).

How much should I drink?
Humans are not camels; we do not store water so it is important you drink water throughout the day. By drinking for example 3 litres in one go (if you manage to do so) you have not met your daily requirement as you will simply pee out everything your body doesn’t need at that moment.

Humans are no camels
You want to keep an eye on the colour of your urine and make sure that it is light-yellow at all times. If it is clear, you have drunk too much, if it is dark yellow you are dehydrated. If you suffer from any of the symptoms I described (fatigue, dizziness, constipation, headaches, dark (and sometimes painful) urine, dry skin and eyes and many more) you have not drunk enough water.

If you are thirsty you are basically late. Being thirsty is a sign of your body it is in need of water. Prevention is better than cure, right?

When I tell my clients to start upping their water intake the most common comment I get is that they don’t ‘like’ the taste of water. There is an easy solution to that; add some cucumber, some lemon, watermelon, some mint or even some orange to your water to make it more palatable. And over time you will see that even ‘normal’ water becomes very tasty as you start to feel so much better.

A few more tips
I would like to end this blog with a few more tips which I always give my clients in their very first session and which often sorts out many of their health issues pretty much instantly.

  • Drink at least 2 glasses of water upon waking up. Your body has just gone 6-8 hours without it and is in need of it! Before you have breakfast, before you drink your morning coffee, before you shower; drink water!
  • Have several glasses of water all throughout your house/workspace where you spend most time, i.e. one in the kitchen, one on the dining table, one in the study room, one outside (in summer), one on the desk in your office, a small bottle in your car etc. Like this you will never have to walk far to get some water in and seeing the glasses will likely remind you to drink of it.
  • If you are not used to drinking water regularly, set a reminder on your phone every 10-15 minutes. When the alarm goes off, drink a few sips. You will see how quickly this becomes a habit and you can switch off the annoying reminder.
  • Drink room temperature water and not ice cold water. It is easier for your body to absorb a similar temperature liquid than an ice cold liquid.
  • If you do drink coffee, alcohol, soft drink etc., drink 2 glasses of water to compensate for the dehydrating effect.

Cheers!

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