I don’t know about you but personally I have a hard time maintaining a good habit of hydration. I’ll do good for a while (like when training for a 1/2 marathon) and then I just stop for some reason. I know that staying properly hydrated is important and even more so if your sick/active/pregnant.
So in order to encourage myself to drink more I thought I would do a little research on why proper hydration is so important. The first website I went to made it pretty clear check out these facts from Curiosity.com (a part of Discovery.com)
- It dissolves nutrients and minerals, and it helps to move them around our bodies.
- Human blood is more than 80 percent water.
- Water flushes waste products out of our kidneys and livers, lubricates our joints and keeps our eyes, mouths and nose tissues moist.
- It regulates human body temperature and protects our internal organs.
- Our lungs are 90 percent water
- Our brains are 70 percent water.
- In fact, about 60 percent of the average human body is water.
OK so the body is made of water pretty much, I think I knew that from science back in the day but its good to be reminded. So what happens to your body without water? Well lets just say nothing good:
- Light Dehydration can cause dizzyness, dryness of the mouth and headaches.
- Severe dehydration can make your pulse weak and cause rapid breathing, convulsions, loose skin and sunken eyes.
- Untreated dehydration can eventually lead to heart failure and death.
OK those all sound like great reasons to stay properly hydrated. So how do you know if you are. Well the AVERAGE person needs 8-8oz servings of water per day. Umm what is average? Well good question. To me that seems like a good starting point but honestly the best way to regulate is by paying attention to your output. Yep your urine. You want to make sure you maintain a healthy light yellow color. Drink too much water and your urine will be come clear and too little it will become dark yellow. We are looking for something in between that.
If you need some extra insperation, look for an app on your phone to help you keep track.