Water and Dehydration

I think people are really starting to get tried of hearing that they need to drink more water. I know I was until I watched an episode of Modern Marvels about survival. The thing that caught my attention was when they said that most people are walking around dehydrated and they don’t even know it. I know this is true because about 5 years ago I found myself in the ER a few times in a couple weeks with the doctors having no answers for me, until the last time I was there. I was dizzy, felt weak, sick to my stomach and just awful.

My last trip to the ER revealed that I was dehydrated. It was a horrible feeling. I wouldn’t wish that feeling on anyone. And being only 18 I was confused. I looked at the doctor and said, “But I drink several pops a day. How can I be dehydrated?” He told me that pops are not a good source of hydration and actually help to dehydrate your body.

But what other benefits does water have besides keeping you from becoming dehydrated? Well, for one thing it keeps your joints lubricated and makes walking and exercising easier. Have you ever been absolutely worn out from exercising? Well, try taking a couple minutes to drink some water; you’ll be amazed at how fast you become reenergized. When exercising you really need to drink 2 cups of water 15 minutes before exercising and then 2 more cups right before exercising and then drink even more while exercising.

I know drinking water can be horrible. It’s tasteless, makes your stomach hurt if you drink too much, etc. But here’s some tips: simply adding some lemon juice to your water greatly improves the taste, also you can add items such as Crystal Lite to your water, tea and coffee (black or sweetened with Splenda) also counts as drinking water, so does eating things like watermelon which is 80% water. Another thing I learned from that show last night was your body needs a quart of water to survive. So the military tells their troops to drink at least 6-8 cups to make sure they have enough water in their system should something go wrong. Once you start drinking more and more water, your body actually starts to crave it. Also try doing a search on the Internet for ways to get more water into your system. One thing that seems to work for me is to drink 2 cups when I get up in the morning and then 2 before I go to bed and then I just have to get in 4 more cups throughout the day. I really hope these tips are useful for you and you’ll do some more research on the benefits of water and ways to get more water into your diet.