How Much Water Do You Need To Drink?

Many of us know that we are supposed to be drinking at least eight glasses of water a day, but have you ever thought about why?

For a very simple compound with no colour, no taste, no odour or no nutritional value it is incredibly important.

In fact, it is a substance we can’t live without. Water makes up to 75% of our body mass.

“Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.” – Steve Maraboli

In case you forgot your school science lessons, it is involved in almost every one of our bodily functions. From regulating temperature to assisting the life-sustaining chemical reactions that take place.

This makes consuming enough of it every day crucial to good health.

Eight Glasses

I know I should be drinking at least eight glasses through the day. Warning! Here comes a but, but it is an effort to drink those eight glasses.

Then I go and read an article where some supermodel bragged about guzzling five litres a day. So how much should we drink?

The British Dietetic Association assures us that for the average person consuming between 1.8 and 2.0 litres is the right amount.

For my science nerd brain, I found an easy way to calculate this. Drink 1 ounce of water for every 2 pounds of your body weight.

If I weigh 83kg that is about 184lbs, so for my bodyweight, I should drink 92 ounces of water each day. Or 2.6 litres. Did I nerd you out there?

This intake should increase if it’s a hot day or if you are involved in physically strenuous activities.

And you may even need to drink more during winter when central heating can dehydrate the body.

Don’t Leave It Too Late

A dry tongue or a parched throat was my old trigger to get a drink. Then I learned that these symptoms occur once dehydration has already started.

We naturally lose water throughout the day. Through our sweat, respiration, bowel movements and urine. So we need to keep our water levels as constant as possible.

Drinking at regular intervals ensures our body’s fluid balance stays healthy.

Regular drinking of water brings some superficial benefits too.

Hydrated skin is great skin. Include drinking water as part of your daily moisturising routine for a healthy complexion.

It helps to maintain our skin because it works as our cells waste removal service. It clears away unhealthy toxins and pollutants that stop the cells from functioning at their best.

The  ultimate detoxifier

The body’s energy production can only take place in a fluid environment. So drinking a glass of water can also make you feel more alert and energised.

Water also works wonders for your digestive system. It acts with fibre to move everything through the system.

Increasing your liquid intake and eating plenty of fibre will maintain an efficient digestive system. That will help prevent problems.

Related Post: What You Need To Know About Childhhood Obesity

Drinking enough water helps to lubricate your joints. Improves your circulation and aids the body’s absorption of essential nutrients.

It can also contribute to weight loss if used as part of a healthy diet as it contains no calories. It can replace a snack in our attempt to feel ‘full’. Hmm. Is that why that supermodel drinks 5 litres a day?

I Need A Drink

The body is quick to show us that it lacks water. In the past, I was guilty of missing these early warning signs. I mistook the headaches, fatigue, loss of concentration and irritability for other things. Chalking them up to hunger, a bad night’s sleep or even stress.

“Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.” – Wallace Stevens

A consistent failure to drink adequate amounts of this hydrating liquid can result in serious problems. A condition known as chronic severe dehydration.

This causes the body cells to become weak and vulnerable to disease.

There are many consequences of this condition. Some include high blood pressure, depression and dyspepsia. Colitis, back, neck and rheumatoid arthritis pain can also develop as a result.

The Urine Test

But how can we be sure we drinking enough of the stuff?

There is a crude but useful answer. Do the urine test! Urine is a wondrous thing. Seriously! It tells us a tremendous amount about the state of hydration.

As an absolute minimum, a healthy adult should produce urine in the volume of 0.5ml/kg/hour. But it isn’t just about volume, the colour of the urine tells us a lot.

Your pee will be a pale straw colour when you are well hydrated. If it is dark (like the colour of apple juice), it is time to start drinking more water.

The type of water you choose isn’t important. Drinking water of any kind is beneficial for most people.

However, you should drink liquids such as tea, coffee and energy drinks containing caffeine in moderation. They have a diuretic effect (make you pee) and do not count towards our daily target of two litres.

There are tastier alternatives in case you get bored. You might like to try adding a twist of lemon or lime.  Decaffeinated tea or coffee and fruit or herbal infusions are also pleasant substitutes.

The foods we eat can provide a lot of moisture. Our digestive system absorbs liquid from the food that we eat. So increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables can support our increased daily intake of water.

Work It Out

You train hard. You demand a lot of yourself, so you want to get the most out of your body. Adequate hydration means the difference between a great and mediocre performance. So, are you properly hydrated?

It is the ideal fluid for hydration. Follow these tips, and keeping yourself properly hydrated should be easy. As little as 2% dehydration can start to hinder your body’s ability to perform.

Two hours before exercise drink 0.5 litres. Ideally, we should weigh ourselves before and after working out. Then drink 1.5 litres for every kilogram of weight we have lost during that time.

If you exercise for more than 60 minutes, sports drinks containing carbohydrate or electrolytes may be useful. They contain minerals such as sodium and potassium. These minerals help the body to absorb and retain fluid faster. You can use these drinks both during and following exercise.

Sports drinks replace electrolytes lost through sweat, but they can be high in calories. Use them sparingly – especially if you are trying to lose weight.

Healthy Habits

It is important that we get into healthy hydration habits. Drinking a glass of water each morning when we wake is a great start. I should have one before bed too but dislike getting up in the middle of the night to pee.

I know it can be a struggle to keep up regular water consumption through the day. So now I put a 2-litre bottle on my desk in the morning and aim to finish it before leaving work. And take another one with me whenever I am travelling.

“In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans; in one aspect of You are found all the aspects of existence.”- Kahlil Gibran

Eating two to three servings of fruit and vegetables with every meal is an excellent way to hydrate. Most are packed with vitamins and minerals needed by the body and are loaded with water.

My two areas for improvement are having a glass before each meal and having a drink after each trip to the bathroom. Drop a comment to let me know your areas of improvement are.

Seems the right time to have a nice, cold glass of water and then get out there and be OUTSTANDING.

How To Get Back On Track With A Healthy Diet

Despite our good intentions everyone tends to ignore their diet and overindulge at times. For me, an all too common weakness is fresh bread or red wine.

Sometimes it is both. And at other times it is whatever is nearest.

So I go on a binge.

Let’s call it Christmas or barbecue season or the weekend. Binge enough and pretty soon I am out of condition.

While there are plenty of fad diets out there offering magical fast solutions to weight loss.

You have your detox diets. It might be a diet emphasising single foods (cabbage soup), or a diet stressing nutrients (high protein).

Or the restrictive one which disallows certain combinations of foods (food combining).

And there are also diets that dictate what you can and can’t eat (blood groups).

But are the diets based on sound evidence or wishful thinking?

Remember what your Mom said, “If it sounds too good to be true….” The promise of a quick fix and claims that sound too good to be true will identify an unsound diet regime.

Go back to the basics and remember there are no good or bad foods.

Any diet that singles out foods or groups of food are likely non-evidence-based.

And if followed for a long time could lead to nutrient deficiencies.

Diet Perils

As a result, there have been several warnings about a high protein low carbohydrate diet. The American Heart Association state it may be ineffective in the long-term.

And of greater worry, if followed for more than a short time could pose serious health risks. Yikes!

A simple premise: any diet that leads to you reducing the calories you consume will lead to weight loss.

I hope that my life is long term, so I prefer to think about my health long term as well.

An important point, for the sake of our health, we should all be exercising daily.

So if you need to lose weight exercise is a beneficial part of the weight loss equation.

Being physically active should not be something we start next week. Not something we begin as a new years resolution or even start tomorrow.

It’s something that should be a part of our everyday life.

Taking part in regular physical exercise is the best thing we can do for our health.

Regular exercise is the key to a desirable body weight. And to reduce the risk of developing many diseases.

Related Post: Childhood Obesity

Obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, colon and breast cancer to name a few.

And let’s not forget another important part of it maintaining our mental well-being too.

The guideline that we engage in 30 minutes or more of physical exercise daily is justified.

So why is it that all too often our good intentions fall by the wayside?

If exercise is not part of your life, then it requires a different approach.

Try out lots of different types of activities. Some people will like doing weights in the gym. For others, it may be dancing, and for others, it’s a brisk stroll in the park.

Try different activities to find something you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy it, there is no chance it will become part of your everyday life.

So try three lots of 10 minutes to start with and take it from there.

And don’t go for it all out, especially if you have not exercised for a while, break yourself into exercise gently.

Besides if it’s calories you are aiming to burn, then you will burn the same calories if you run 2 miles or you walk 2 miles.

The difference is one will take you longer.

So how do we fuel these bursts of energy?

No matter what type of exercise you do your body will always use some glucose for energy.

Glucose is formed from the breakdown of carbohydrates in your diet. Those are the starches and sugars you eat.

Glucose is stored as glycogen. But the body can only store a limited amount of glycogen

Your glycogen stores need to be kept topped up to avoid fatigue. Eat too few carbohydrates and you become sluggish.

Combine low glycogen stores and exercise and you get dizzy. That tends to destroy my desire to exercise.

So even if you’re trying to lose weight, don’t cut back too much on the calories.

You need to fuel to exercise

Do you think of snacking as something naughty? Low-fat carbohydrate snacks can be an essential fuel supply for your exercise.

Want to improve your performance exercising? Eat 25-50 grams of rapidly absorbing carbohydrate just before you exercise.

It will also help maintain blood sugar levels and prevent you feeling lightheaded.

“Just like keeping a healthy diet is important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, eating the right foods is just as important for getting the most out of your workout.” – Marcus Samuelsson

Replenish your glucose stores by eating some carbohydrates within two hours of exercising.

You can choose from, bagels, apples, sandwiches, cereal bars or bananas. You just need to find something you fancy.

So what about your diet? The primary goal is to get active, so it’s crucial you have enough calories to have the energy to exercise.

If you cut your calorie intake and increasing your activity levels, what happens? It is going to leave you pretty short of energy, and the first thing you will give up is exercise.

Hence why the optimal diet recommended is low-fat and high-carbohydrate. Firstly, so you ensure the supply of carbohydrates for energy fuel.

But also because gram for gram carbohydrates have less than half the calories of fats.

It’s grams of food we have on our plate not calories!

Naturally, anything over-consumed will result in weight gain.

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Nutritional experts talk a lot about satiety? Have you heard about it?

Satiety is the satisfied feeling that you get when you have eaten enough. And it has a massive part to play in reducing hunger.

Different nutrients have different effects on how full you feel. Choosing one nutrient over another has the potential to influence your appetite.

The research is unequivocal on this. If you have a higher fat intake, you are more at risk of poor appetite control, overeating and obesity.

If you have a higher complex carbohydrate (starch) intake, you tend to eat less fat and tend to be leaner.

The advice is to increase intake of complex carbohydrates to aid weight loss.

If more of your total calories come from complex carbohydrates, it leads to a decrease in fat. In turn, this results in a reduction in overall calories consumed and leads to weight loss.

Time to let go of the quick-fix solutions and set realistic targets. Just as well, the cabbage soup diet made me gassy.

Make sense? And shift concentration away from weight loss and onto body fat loss.

Losing 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1.0kg) per week is more than enough to ensure long-term good health.

Start exercising now and track your size and your weight (muscle weighs more than fat but takes up less room).

Focus on being fitter and leaner

Keep in mind that keeping weight off is just as hard as losing it in the first place.

Finding a goal that keeps you motivated helps me.

I will splash out on a few new wardrobe items in my new size as the frugal part of me won’t let them go to waste. That works for me.

What’s your trick to get back on track with healthy eating? Drop a comment to let me know.

If you are committed to being healthy read this post on how much water you should be drinking, then get out there and be OUTSTANDING.

How Important Is It To Manage Your Sleep?

Sleep is often managed poorly and we often force ourselves to working long hours in order to maximise productivity.

Too many times I have found myself scrambling to meet the demands of a busy schedule.

Juggling so many roles and responsibilities my life tends to be hectic. Sometimes it gets downright chaotic.

My default solution was to get by on less sleep. It seemed like the only answer.

Reports said that Margaret Thatcher, when prime minister, ran the country sleeping less than four hours a night.

Catching ZZZ’s is for wimps.

If she did that, I should be able to be productive on five fours.

Then I discovered that even minimal sleep loss can take a substantial toll. It affects your mood, energy, mental sharpness and ability to handle stress.

So I was not performing any better by burning the midnight oil.

Worse, over the long-term can wreak havoc on your mental and physical health.

Want to improve the quality of your waking life?

If you understand your nightly slumber needs and how to bounce back from sleep loss, you can get on a healthy sleep schedule and kick ass when you are awake.

Why is sleep so important?

This includes your productivity, emotional balance, health, immune system, creativity, vitality and even your weight.

No other activity delivers so many benefits with so little effort!

Sleeping isn’t a time when your body shuts off.

While you rest, your brain stays busy, overseeing biological maintenance that keeps your body running in top condition.

Preparing you for the day ahead.

Do you get your car routinely serviced?

That is how I tend to think of my nightly slumber.

Without enough hours of rest, you won’t be able to work, learn, create, and communicate at a level even close to your true potential.

Regularly skimp on shut eye or your ‘routine servicing’ and you’re headed for a major breakdown.

And that could be mental or physical.

The good news is that you don’t have to choose between health and productivity.

In fact, you’ll likely get much more done during the day than if you were skimping on your shuteye and trying to work longer.

Yes, I had to learn this through trial and error.

Myths and Facts about Sleep

Myth: Getting just one hour less bedtime per night won’t affect your daytime functioning.

Fact: You may not be sleepy during the day, but losing even one hour of rest can affect your ability to think properly and respond quickly.

It also compromises your cardiovascular health, energy and ability to fight infections.

Fact: Although this sleeping pattern will help relieve part of a sleep debt, it will not completely make up for the lack of sleep.

Sleeping later on the weekends can affect your bedtime-wake cycle.

It is then much harder to go to bed at the right time on Sunday night and get up early on Monday mornings.

Myth: Your body adjusts quickly to different rest schedules.

Fact: Most people can reset their biological clock, but only by appropriately timed cues.

Consequently, it can take more than a week to adjust after traveling across several time zones or switching to the night shift.

Myth: Extra sleep at night can cure you of problems with excessive daytime fatigue.

Fact: The quantity of sleep you get is important, sure, but it’s the quality of your sleep that you also have to pay attention to.

Some people sleep eight or nine hours a night but don’t feel well rested when they wake up because the quality of their nap is poor.

How many hours of sleep do you need?

There is a big difference between the amount of sleep you can get by on and the amount you need to function optimally.

According to the National Institute of Health, the average adult sleeps about 6.7 hours per night.

In today’s fast-paced society, six or seven hours of bedtime may sound pretty good. In reality, though, it’s a recipe for chronic sleep deprivation.

I get it. You are able to operate on six or seven hours of sleep.

But would you feel a lot better and get more done if you spent an extra hour or two in bed?

Sleep requirements vary from person to person, but most healthy adults need between 7 – 9 hours of bedtime per night to function at their best.

Children and teens need even more.

Think that up to age 5 they should get between 10 – 13 hours and at age 17 8 -1 0 hours per night.

And despite the notion that our sleep needs decrease with age, most older people still need at least 7 hours of shuteye.

Since older adults often have trouble sleeping this long at night, daytime naps can help fill in the gap.

The best way to figure out if you’re meeting your sleep needs is to evaluate how you feel as you go about your day.

If you’re logging enough sleep hours, you’ll feel energetic and alert all day long, from the moment you wake up until your regular bedtime.

You might want to think again.

Researchers at the University of California, discovered that some people have a gene that enables them to do well on six hours of bedtime a night.

This gene, however, is very rare, appearing in less than 3% of the population.

For the other 97% of us, six hours doesn’t come close to cutting it.

The importance of deep sleep and REM sleep

It’s not just the number of hours you spend asleep that’s important, it’s the quality of those hours.

If you spend enough time sleeping but have trouble waking up in the morning or staying alert all day, you may not be spending enough time in the different stages of sleeping.

Each stage of sleep in your sleep cycle offers different benefits.

Two stages are are particularly important.

Deep sleep is the time when the body repairs itself and builds up energy for the day ahead and REM sleep is mind and mood-boosting.

You can ensure you get more deep sleep by avoiding alcohol, nicotine, and being woken during the night by noise or light.

Improving your overall sleeping pattern will increase REM sleep.

You can also try sleeping an extra 30 minutes to an hour in the morning, when REM sleep stages are longer.

Signs that you’re not getting enough sleep

If you’re getting less than eight hours of sleep each night, chances are you’re sleep deprived.

What’s more, you probably have no idea just how much lack of rest is affecting you.

How is it possible to be sleep deprived without knowing it?

Most of the signs of sleep deprivation are much more subtle than falling face first into your dinner plate.

Do you remember what it feels like to be truly wide-awake, fully alert, and firing on all cylinders? If you have made a habit of skimping on a nap, you may not.

Maybe it feels normal to get sleepy when you’re in a boring meeting, or struggle through the afternoon slump, or doze off after dinner.

The truth is that it’s only ‘normal’ if you’re sleep deprived.

You may be sleep deprived if you:

• Rely on your alarm clock to wake.
• Feel that you need to catch up on your on the weekends.
• Feel you need the snooze button to get enough ZZZ’s.
• Can’t get through the day without a nap .
• Find it nearly impossible to get your tired body out of bed.
• Drift off  in warm rooms, meetings, or lectures.
• Get drowsy in the afternoon.
• Feel sleepy when driving or after heavy meals.
• Nod off while relaxing or watching television in the evening.
• Be fast asleep within five minutes of hitting the sack.

The effects of sleep deprivation

You might think that losing a little bedtime isn’t such a big deal.

Surprise! Sleep deprivation has a broad range of adverse effects that go way beyond daytime drowsiness.

Not getting enough slumber time affects your coordination, judgment, and reaction times.

In fact, sleep deprivation can affect you just as much as being drunk.

The effects include:

• Premature ageing.
• Fatigue, lack of motivation. and lethargy,
• Irritability and moodiness.
• Increased risk of depression.
• Impairment of motor skills with a greater risk of accidents.
• Reduced sex drive.
• Decreased problem-solving skills and creativity.
• Indecision.
• Impaired concentration, learning, and memory problems.
• Inability to manage stressful situations.
• Difficulty controlling emotions.
• Frequent infections and colds.
• Risk of weight gain.
• Increased risk of serious health problems which include Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, heart disease,  raised blood pressure, stroke and certain cancers.

How sleep deprivation can add to your waistline

There’s a good reason for that. Sleep deprivation has a direct link to overeating and weight gain.

There are two hormones in your body that regulate normal feelings of hunger and fullness.

Ghrelin stimulates appetite, while leptin sends signals to the brain when you are full.

When you don’t get the sleep time you need, your ghrelin levels go up. This stimulates your appetite, so you want more food than normal.

Adding to that effect, when you don’t get the sleep time you need, your leptin levels go down.

This means you don’t feel satisfied and want to keep eating.

So, the more sack time you lose, the more food your body will crave.

Whether you’re looking to resolve a particular resting problem, or just want to feel more productive, mentally sharp, and emotionally balanced during the day, experiment with the following bedtime tips to see which work best for you:

• Sleeping disturbance may be a symptom of a health issue, or a side-effect of certain medications. So rule out medical causes for your bedtime problems.
• Regular exercise can improve the symptoms of many sleep disorders and problems. So get 30 minutes or more of regular exercise  but not too close to bedtime.
• Support your biological clock by going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, including weekends. So stick to a regular schedule.
• If you wake during the night feeling anxious about something, make a brief note of it on paper and postpone worrying about it until the next day when it will be easier to resolve. So postpone worrying.
• Caffeine, alcohol, and sugary foods can all disrupt your bedtime, as can eating heavy meals or drinking lots of fluids too close to bedtime. So be smart about what you eat and drink.
• Keep your bedroom dark, quiet, and cool, and reserve your bed for just sleeping and sex. So improve your sleeping environment.
• If the stress of managing work, family, or school is keeping you awake at night, learning how to handle stress in a productive way can help you rest better at night. So get help with stress management.
• Avoid screens, work, and stressful conversations late at night. Instead, wind down and calm your mind by taking a warm bath, reading by a dim light, or practicing a relaxation technique to prepare for slumber time. So develop a relaxing bedtime routine.

It does not matter what age you are or what you do with your time. If you want to improve the quality of your waking life make sure you get enough rest. Let’s all live an outstanding life.

What helps you to get enough bedtime?

Drop a comment below, and let me know how you keep yourself healthy. And you want to read about the perils of sitting for too long.