Staying Hydrated

Your body is made up of somewhere between 50% and 75% of water depending on your age and gender. It is so important to keep hydrated so that we can function well. Organs like the brain, heart, liver, kidneys, skin all need water to perform well. If you starve yourself then you starve your organs too.

Almost everyone leads a busy lifestyle these days and by not drinking enough water often affect our abilities/leads us to feeling tired, fatigue, unnecessary snacking and to suffer headaches. It seems absurd to think that when we experience these things, often the remedy is just simply better hydration.

It makes complete sense when you think about it logically. When we suffer a headache it’s your brain’s natural way of saying “hey send some water up here”.

You can get hydrated through other drinks, not just water e.g. fruit juice, soft drinks, tea etc. but often these contain other things like sugar, caffeine, additives, colours and preservatives which of course are not so good for you and can undo your good work in the gym or impact your diet by stealth. Caffeine is also a diuretic which encourages your kidneys to work more. In large quantities you pee more and loose more water so controlling teas and coffees is important to maintain hydration levels.

Over the last couple of years whenever I ask people if the think they drink enough water, more often than not I get a ‘Yes’. Then I dig a bit further and ask how much water they drink each day – it is rarely enough.

How much water do you drink each day?