Drink Water Now!

It's amazing how there's so much focus highlighted on our diet and what kind of exercise we should engage in, but very little discussion about the importance of drinking water. When you think of it, that's wild because people can survive days without food but will die without water. No amount how healthy we make our diet or how much we exercise, the results will be ineffective or weakened if we aren't properly hydrated. Let's just take a moment to let that reality marinade in our mind.

And incorporating water intake into our habits isn't difficult. It's just easier to neglect it. But we should all make our health a priority. This is a simple one, too. So why not? I've heard people say they forget, which is common. You're trying to develop a habit that you're unpracticed in, but again it isn't difficult to correct that.

Buy a water bottle. If you work in an office, fill your cup with water. Set an alarm on your phone to drink water. Prefill cups with water at home. If you find the taste of water to be too boring, give it a kick of flavor with lemon or lime juice. That'll provide electrolytes for your body which can regulate your body's salt water ratio, too. In fact, drinking a tall glass of water with fresh lemon juice first thing in the morning is one of the best things you can do for your body. It stimulates digestion and helps flush out toxins.

Ignore the rule that you should drink 8 cups of water a day. That generalized guideline is too impersonal. People of different size, fitness level, and physical state of health require different amounts of water intake. To determine how much water you should drink, divide your weight in half. Whatever that amount is is how much water you want to drink per day. For example if you weigh 100 and you divide that in half, you get 50. So 50 ounces of water is how much you should drink each day. Keep in mind that 8 ounces equals 1 cup of water. So this person is recommended to drink a little over six cups a day. Ideally you want to have consumed at least half your daily water intake by midday.

Now keep in mind that if you exercise, sweating dehydrates your body. So you want to have more water. If it's hot, you'll also want to drink more water. The recommended water amount is based on your weight only; it doesn't consider your fitness lifestyle or environmental exposure. You also don't want to wait until you become thirsty to start drinking because by then, you're already dehydrated. What you want to do is provide your body with a consistent amount of water to maintain a healthy level of hydration.

Your body needs water to perform all its essential functions. Without proper hydration, your body will seek other means of resources such as recirculating existing water or functioning at a slower rate. Many organs will also be compromised and not be in an optimal state of health. With so many responsibilities, your body won't alert you of its requirement of water until absolutely necessary. By then your body's already operating inefficiently. So do yourself a favor and enjoy H2O! Your body will thank you!