How to (and Why) Increase Your Water Intake

Every minute we lose fluid continuously in so many ways: skin evaporation, urine, stools, and even breathing … even crying might count.

Understanding our water needs is actually quite simple. When our water intake does not equal our output, we can become dehydrated. Dehydration can be life threatening the reason why we should drink plenty of water every day.

But dehydration is an extreme event where the lack of water becomes obvious. Our bodies adapt to “low water” conditions by inducing various survival mechanisms. Often we get used to drinking less water than we should, because we do not feel the urgency. In reality, without enough water, our cells start shrinking, our joints lose their fluidity and start eroding, our blood becomes thicker than it should, our cognitive power reduces … and these are just a few examples of what can happen as a progressive result of insufficient water intake.

We were taught at school that water is essential for human health; over 60% of the human body consists of water but most of us do not drink enough. This time we should and we must drink plenty of water daily!

Drinking enough water has very little to do with knowing why, but a lot to do with changing habits.

Here are some important ways to change your habits to increase your water intake:

Drink a tall glass or two of water after waking up.
Drink a glass of water 30 minutes before meal time.
Drink a glass of water before taking a bath/shower.
Drink a glass of water before bedtime.
Drink a glass of water to compensate for each caffeinated drink (which has diuretic properties).
Drink more quantities to compensate when you live in a dry environment.

If you just get into the habit of doing that, you will consume about 80% of your daily water needs.

Water Is Your Daily Dose of Detox

Upon waking up in the morning, drinking water cleanses our body and helps activate our internal organs. Do we realize that we lose about 2% of our water through the night when we sleep, and at 5% dehydration, our brain starts to shut down? That surely explains a lot for me!

It is important to rehydrate and help support our mental function, and a great way to do it is to start our morning with a couple of glasses of water. Squeeze in some fresh, organic lemon juice into your morning water and enjoy the incredible benefits of this often under-rated fruit.

Water Aids Digestion & Improves Blood Circulation

Also, drinking water before meals helps our body digest our food very well and drinking a glass of water before taking a bath or shower helps lower our blood pressure. At the end of the day, a glassful of water before bedtime helps our body regulate the flow of blood and potentially avoid conditions that could lead to strokes or heart attacks.

Getting Children Into the Water Drinking Habit

For those of us who have children, it is crucially important to train them early to drink water regularly. Most of our habits are formed early in our lives, and once formed, they are difficult to shake off. If you do not develop the habit if drinking water, you automatically develop the habit of NOT drinking it.

What to Do If You Are Finding it Hard to Shake Off the Bad Habit

Despite the knowledge, there will always be people who will find it hard to drink sufficient water every day. Here are some suggestions that might help:

Use a good filter in your tap water faucet and change it regularly. People sometimes get put off by bad odors in unfiltered water.
Flavor experiment or try something fun in your water by adding lime, lemon or cranberry juice. No sugar please.
Drink water instead of sodas, canned preserved juices, sweetened teas or coffees.
Make your water visible and available always. Carry it with you in a favorite bottle, or place your water and dispenser in a convenient place where you can grab a glass right away.
Eat nutritious and water-rich foods such as fresh fruits and vegetable containing water. Making soups and salads helps!

Remember, some people can live without water for days when they get trapped in an island even if they have nothing to eat. While they can survive and recover, there could be damage done to the body that may not be reversible. But what is probably even more harmful is the effect of not drinking enough water over years … that results in chronic dehydration that you may not even be aware of.

Drink enough water. It makes us look young and allows us to thrive, not just survive! Live the moment .. go grab yourself a glass of water NOW.

“This article reflects the opinions of the author and those of any of the source articles and should not be mistaken for medical advice. None of this information is evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and it is not meant to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.”