People who spend time outdoors in the warmer months are constantly reminded by their bodies that they need to grab a drink of water. The rest of us, however, need some help. Spending more time indoors in climate controlled environments means that our bodies often don’t get the natural signals for hydration.
Feeling thirsty indicates that you are already dehydrated but there are other signs, such as dark- colored urine, dizziness, fatigue, and dry skin. That means that your organs and internals just don’t have enough liquids to work as they should.
Even if you are not sweating buckets because of the heat, your body is still releasing pressure water all day long. Respiration (breathing), perspiration, urination and other things are happening all the time inside your body. Other factors like age, activity level, diet and your general wellbeing will also change how quickly or slowly you lose water. And constantly spending time indoors in air conditioned spaces and dry air does not help either.
The bottom line is that dehydration is an easy trap, that you definitely don’t want to fall into, especially since it can seriously weaken your immune systems barriers. The mucus membranes in your lungs and sinus passages are your front- line defense against infection. If you aren’t getting enough water, these tend to dry up and become much less effective.
If you are trying to stay on top of your water drinking game, our friends at Aqcua Eva have given us some hot tips to help us out:
Make a conscious decision
Like everything else in life, if you don’t make an actual decision and commit to it, you probably won’t be seeing any positive results. Buy enough water to last you a couple of weeks and keep a bottle around you so you retrain yourself to just automatically reach for it when you feel thirsty.
Warm it up
It seems like the default is to drink cold or room temperature water, but have you tried drinking warm water? Heat up the water and add a slice of lemon or fresh mint leaves for flavor and enjoy your caffeine and sugar free health boosting beverage.
Routines work for you
The easiest way to drink more water is to just make it part of your daily routine. Leave a bottle of water on your bedside table so you see it as soon as you wake up. Commit to drinking a glass of water before every meal, every two hours, or after brushing your teeth. Set a timer if you have to until it becomes a habit.
Use Tech
There are several water intake tracking apps that can help you stay on top of the amount of water you are drinking and to see if you need to glug down another glass or not. You can even incentivize it. If you hit your goal every day for a week reward yourself with a small gift. You can even recruit a friend to keep you accountable. Challenge each other to drink your water, the loser has to buy the winner a fancy water bottle.
Staying hydrated really does affect your health and your wellness, so make sure that you are getting your daily requirement of 7-8 eight-ounce glasses a day. It is an effort that will be rewarded in the short and long term.
You can find Acqua Eva in supermarkets, co- ops, restaurants and roomserviceq8.com. For more information and great health tips, follow @ acquaevamiddleeast.
