How to Get a Healthier Life is Part III of the 5 x 5 Success Plan. Good Hydration is essential to life itself and is Part 3 of 5 of the series. All common sense, easy-to-do, tips that gets you on a healthier life path.
If you missed the first two parts, please click on the links:
Don’t miss Part IV about ‘Good Rest’ – e.g. sleep and (less) stress, and Part V – a Bonus about essential ‘Me-time’, full of pampering tips that only take 5 minutes, and yet make a huge visible difference — inside and out. Why not Follow The GOODista for updates?
Get a Healthier Life: Small Steps for a Big Leap
Each of the 5 tips, take 5 minutes to do. It is not a diet, or some fad. This is a method to introduce some healthy changes by ‘thinking’, exercising, eating, drinking, and resting. The idea is to get you inspired. These are small changes for wellness and energy that help you every day. These small steps will get you going, acting, thinking differently and before you know it — you are on a new path: A journey to health and wellness.
A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think. – Eleanor Roosevelt
Get a Healthier Life: Good Hydration
Without water life cannot exist. Our planet is covered by 70 % water. Our bodies are made up of 60 – 70 % water. We need to replenish the water we ‘spend’ every day, and the recommended average is 6 – 8 glasses/day.
While we can grasp that — we spend a lot of time running around in our busy lives, and don’t think about drinking enough. Especially in colder climates, we forget, or don’t feel thirsty. We drink a lot of that is not that good for the body, such as excess amounts of Coffee, Sodas, Wine, Beer, Spirits… While these drinks may be nice, they actually starve us of nutrients, add extra sugar, and drive away water – which is of course not do good. How about drinking just water?
Get a Healthier Life: 5 Good Hydration Tips
Are you up to standards with your hydration? Here are some tips for you to pick and choose from. Remember – just like the tips of Moving, Mindfulness and Good Food – Each of the 5 tips, take 5 minutes to do.
Lemon in Water
Start your day with a big glass of water, with lemon in it. Drink it slowly – 5 minutes to allow it to get into your system, wake it up, replenish it from a long night – and the lemon help push toxins out. A great way to start your day hydrated!
Sip, Sip, Sip
Take 5 minutes every hour, to replenish the water levels and give yourself a break at the same time. Get used to carrying a small water bottle around and sip, sip, sip. Of course, have a coffee, or tea – but make sure you combine with ‘just’ water. This way you drink before you get thirsty – which in itself is actually a sign that you are near dehydration.
Make Wine into Water
Think for 5 minutes, before your first alcoholic drink of the day. Enjoy wine, or beer, with food, and make it a special occasion. Alcohol steals nutrients, water, and adds calories (if you are into that). One glass of top quality red wine per day, does have health benefits. Can you keep it to ONE glass only? How about turning wine into water as often as you can?
Go ‘Wild’
Go ‘wild’ – try new healthier drinks. Juicing and Green Tea for example. They fill you with nutrients, keep you hydrated, kickstart your metabolism and fight disease all in one go. Take 5 minutes, and read about these two great drinks. Green tea is famous for its health benefits, and tastes wonderful with cinnamon, honey, lemon – or just on its own. Learn how to make your own vegetable / fruit raw juices, and reap the benefits of getting ‘greens’, and all the goodness from minerals, nutrients and such good taste in one go. Check out the Recommended items below.
Drink Natural
Do you know what is in Coke, 7Up, Fanta, Spite, etc? Not to mention Red Bull, and other such ‘energy drinks’. Take 5 minutes and ask yourself if you understand what the E-numbers mean, and why drinking them make sense? How about trying drinks that some from natural sources: H2O, Coffee, Tea, Juice, etc. Just imagine the sound of children playing, rather than the sugar ecstatic screams that normally accompany a Soda pop session.
These tips are all very do-able, right? If you wonder why hydration matters to your health, check out the resource loaded facts below.
Facts about Hydration and Dehydration
For an adult living in a temperate climate, The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly 3 litres (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day. The AI for women is 2.2 litres (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.
- Your Body is made up of chemical components, of which water is about 60 percent of your body weight.
Your body needs water to function. - Water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells, provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.
- Water keeps you skin clear, and moisturized. If you don’t drink enough water you get added wrinkles, tighter and flaky skin.
- Your body uses water to function, and water is used up by breathing, sweating, toilet visits, tears, and spitting.
- Water needs increase with exercise, gardening, house work, and intense discussions. Water helps you do these activities more easily as your body gets replenished. Without enough water you get sluggish, tired, and grumpy – all signs of dehydration.
The food and drink you costume also take away water from the body. Foods with lots of sugar, salt and processed foods will steal nutrients from you. They also cause water retention. Alcohol and coffee are known ‘water thieves’.- Your mind, and brain needs water to help you with your thought process, and keeps the ‘main computer’ working well.
- Water actively helps a number of ailments. For instance: Rheumatoid joint pain frequently decreases with increased water intake as water brings more circulation to the joints.
One effect of not drinking enough, is that the heart has to pump extra hard to make up for the loss of liquid. This is not good at all, for anyone suffering from a heart condition. Please use your brain, and be kind to your heart by drinking enough. - Not enough water can lead to dehydration — which basically means that your body cannot carry out normal functions. Mild dehydration drains your energy, makes you tired, grumpy and sluggish. Severe dehydration can be fatal.
Are now convinced hydration is important, as well as what we drink? :). 
What other tips do you have about hydration? Please share, comment and let us all know!
Come back to The GOODista for Part IV: ‘Good Rest’ i.e. sleep and (less) stress, and of course Part V: ‘Me-time’ special. This is a bonus bit on how 5 minutes can make a visible difference – inside and out! Top tips of how to compliment the New You with great products, and little tricks that have been picked up along the way.
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Recommended Resources on Good Hydration:
LINKS:
- Water, Hydration and Dehydration – Dorchester Health
- What is Dehydration? – Medical News Today
- Dehydration Effects – Boots WebMD
- Benefits of Drinking Water for the Skin – University of Wisconsin Hospital
- Daily Body Water Losses – The Nutrition Doctor
- Water Retention: An Effect of Salt, Sugar and Processed Foods – WikiHow
- Alcohol and Dehydration – BiologyAbout
- Alcohol Myth Buster – National Health UK
Dear Goodista, I first realised I needed water when working out of an air-conditioned office on the 45th floor when posted to NYC. That is now some good 25 years ago. I discovered I got headaches, until then totally unknown to me, after a few hours at my desk. So, a big glass of water, constantly refilled during the day, was my solution. And the headaches disappeared right away. Yes,it is called dehydration. I have continued to practice this in all my different locations, equatorial Africa, souther Italy, Sweden….Water is, as you say, life! Thank you for all your wisdom, and for all the facts you provide us with!