The rules and regulations regarding just how much water we should be drinking seem to change regularly, depending on who is espousing them, which can be rather confusing for the layman. One thing is for sure though, we all need water and we all need to drink water on a regular basis – how much we need to drink depends on a number of personal circumstances.
Drinking water regularly is in all likelihood the most important thing that you can do for your body as it cannot function without it; in actual fact, as lack of water in your body can make you really ill. Most people only think of drinking something when they feel thirsty, which is basically when they are already around 2% to 5% dehydrated, and then it is very often a cold liquid that is either carbonated or sweetened, and that is not the same as drinking pure water.
The fact is that your body needs water in order to grow and function optimally and if you only drink other liquids it will start to affect your health; you will get headaches, a dry mouth, dry and flaky skin, urinary problems, infections, indigestion and colon problems, and much more.
It is imperative that you stay hydrated, which means drinking more water, especially if you are ill, running a fever, hot, or sweating from the temperature outside or from doing some sort of physical exercise.
Drinking the required amount of water for your gender, weight, state of health and lifestyle is actually not as difficult as it may sound and can be achieved by starting off your day by drinking a nice big glass of water first thing in the morning to counteract the night’s drought and kick-start your system and then drinking several glasses of water throughout the day.
If you are doing any sort of exercise, drink water about an hour before you exercise and then again immediately after; if it is long-distance or endurance exercise you might want to drink a sports drink that contains electrolytes.
Eat water-rich fruit and vegetables such as watermelon, berries, oranges, celery, lettuce, apples, spinach, potato, cauliflower, cucumbers and tomatoes. Eat reduced-fat dairy products, such as yogurt and cottage cheese instead of sugary snacks or cookies.
Finally, invest in a water cooler that can provide you and those around you, be it at work or at home, with chilled, fresh, pollutant-free drinking water so that there is no excuse not to drink water.
Get bottled water coolers and mains water coolers from Living-Water.
