Water and Hydration for Your Health
Fall is officially here! While summer is when we are more frequently reminded to stay hydrated, it's important to stay hydrated year round! This month I want to share some thoughts on how better hydration can help you stay healthy this fall! Symptoms and signs of dehydration are all around us. They can include...
- fatigue
- anxiety
- depression
- cravings
- cramps
- headaches
- hunger
- heart burn
- joint pain
- back pain
- migraines
- fibromyalgia
- constipation
- colitis
If you have any of these symptoms these can be signs of dehydration. Before you panic, let me share some more info with you. Grab a glass of water and keep reading...
In order to stay hydrated, tap water isn't the answer, even though it sure seems like it is! In order to make our tap water safe, the city has to add chemicals to it. The water coming into our homes is all chemically treated, and those chemicals are dehydrating to your body. If you're drinking city water out of the tap you're contributing to your dehydration.
So What Do You Do?
There are a lot of different ways we can treat our water to make it better for us. In order to stay hydrated your water should be filtered to help eliminate these chemicals. The most common is a Brita filter, which takes care of some of these chemical but not everything. The system that I use, is the GREATEST. You can pour pond scum water through and it'll come out clear and clean. It's called the Berkey Water Filter. This is the gold standard of water filters and the cleanest water you can get. The Berkey filters out chlorine and all the nasty chemicals contributing to our dehydration. It's what I use in my home and it's fantastic!
Any sort of filter is better than no filter for your water. And bottled water isn't always what they say it is either. Spring water is ideal because it's from the ground and it's re-mineralized as it comes out of the ground. Spring water sources are all over the place, you just have to know where they are. Contact your city to find out if there's a spring near you! If you're in King County there's a great spring in Lynnwood, WA.
Here's the most desirable to least desirable options for water filtration:
- FRESH spring
- Berkey Water Filter
- Reverse Osmosis filtration
- Distilled
- Brita, Refrigerator Filter, Pur Water Filter
- Bottled Water
- Tap Water
So why is water so important?
- Water moistens oxygen for easier breathing
- Water cushions bones and joints
- Water absorbs shocks to joints and organs
- Water regulates body temperature
- Water removes wastes
- it flushes toxins
- it prevents tissues from sticking (what causes stiff muscles)
- it lubricates the joints
- it empowers the body's natural healing process
- transports nutrients throughout your body
To stay hydrated there's an easy formula for water consumption:
Your Body Weight divided by half equals how many ounces of water you need to drink per day.
So, a 150-pound woman needs to drink 75 ounces of water a day.
Now, if she drinks any dehydrating beverage you need to add an additional 1.5 ounces of water for every ounce of dehydrating beverage she consumes.
So, if this same 150 lb woman drinks one 8 oz cup of coffee, she needs to drink a total of 87 ounces of water (75+12 ) a day.
Dehydrating Beverages Include:
- Coffee (decaf included!)
- fruit juice/drinks
- canned iced teas
- vegetable juices
- alcohol
- soda/carbonated beverages
- teas (caffeinated)
Hydration is a vital part of your health and wellness. I know this is a lot of information and can seem overwhelming. Start with a water bottle you LOVE (ideally stainless steel or glass) and figure out how many of those you need to drink a day. Let's say you need to drink 4 of them, put 4 rubber bands on the top of the bottle and as the day goes on move them to the bottom as you've consumed a bottle of water. It's an easy life hack to keep you honest and help you succeed!
To Your Health!
Heather Halliday
NTP, CNE, CFSP, LMP
Essential Wellness, NW
Email Me, if you have any questions.