I hope you have enjoyed the last few weeks and are now settling nicely into the New Year! I had a lovely time catching up with friends and family members and generally reflecting on the year behind us…I think most people do that and last year for me was so very unexpected and wonderful! For that I am truly grateful and I am really looking forward to what the year ahead has to offer.
As many people choose January as a dry month i.e. they don’t drink alcohol, I thought this month we could dive into a few details about water. It is something I have a love hate relationship (I love feeling amazing when I drink plenty of it but sometimes don’t enjoy getting there!) and people often ask me about it too so here are a few thoughts:
Water: Interestingly water covers almost 70% of earth’s surface, our bodies are made up of about 75% water (when we are born) and our blood has a similar salinity to the oceans’, a coincidence? Maybe! As much of the water on the earth is sea water there is only about 3% available for us to drink and much of that is now contaminated so just be aware of what you are drinking. I really dislike the taste of tap water so I tend to drink bottled water, but that is really a personal preference, the bottom line is your body needs water to function properly so it’s important to drink water no matter if it’s bottled, tap or filtered. Each of these has had bad press so listen to your body and decide what is right for you.
Dehydration: Take a look at your shins is the skin on them dry or flaky? If so then the likelihood is you are not drinking enough water. We tend to get busy and then forget about our bodies and our need for water, this starts a process within us of scavenging water from places like our organs, our skin being the largest of those. Water is used in many important processes within your body and is an excellent solvent, i.e. it dissolves many substances, both good for you, to take into or around your system and toxic where it is generally trying to take it out of circulation, so it is vital for us to replenish our supply on a continuous basis.
When we are dehydrated water can also be taken from our blood, which can lower our blood pressure and cause dizziness as well as affecting brain functionality. It can also be taken from our stomach which means the colon isn’t properly lined with mucus and so digestion becomes impaired, having a knock on effect of causing us discomfort and depriving our body of much needed nutrients. I could list many many more issues that not drinking water causes, but you get the picture…… its important!
Drinking: So how much should we drink? My training suggests you multiply your weight in kg by 0.033, to give you the number of litres per day you need to drink. For example if you weight 60kg then you need to drink 1.98 litres per day (60 x 0.033 = 1.98). What I have found is once my water intake hits that quantity I tend to have a natural pull to drink more and have drunk 3litres on occasion without trying. As with everything you need to find the right balance for you and if you are more physically active on some days than others you will need to up your intake.
My last note on this is that during the winter I am not a huge fan of water, as the idea of drinking something that is cool is not my idea of fun when I am struggling to stay warm anyway! Due to drying weather and central heating there is as much need at this time of year, to stay hydrated, so to get around this I drink mugs of hot water. This means I get the comfort from a hot drink and the hydration I require without that sense of dread that comes with drinking a cold glass of water!
For more help with your lifestyle choices, more information about the therapies I offer or to book an appointment please call me on 07814 019180, email wellbeing@familymcp.com or go to my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/lorimcphersonwellbeing
Wishing you success and happiness in 2015!
Health and happiness
Lori