She's All Wet

This morning, I thought I would talk a little about water. We've all heard it..."Drink gallons of water every day!" No? Ok, I suppose gallons would be a bit of an exaggeration. Did you know you can kill yourself by drinking too much water at one time? I doubt most of us will ever have to worry about that.

It is obvious that when you workout and sweat that you need to rehydrate. It might not be obvious that if you workout in the pool, you need to rehydrate too. I am not the best when it comes to drinking water as much as I should. I do keep a refillable bottle of water near me all day though. As soon as I think I am thirsty, I drink some!

I have heard all the suggested amounts and ignored them for years. One of my goals is to strive to be better about re-hydrating my body. These are my beliefs about water:

1. You don't have to drink eight glasses of water per day.
   
2. If you are thirsty, you are dehydrated.
3. If you need to use a lot of lotion, you are dehydrated.
4. If you need to use a lot of chap-stick, you are dehydrated.
5. Water flushes out your system better than anything else.
6. When I wake up, I try to remember to drink at least one glass of water, before coffee, before eating breakfast, before brushing my teeth. I need to start the day with a drink of water, as soon as I can.

Step number six above, is a new goal of mine. I have made it a point to drink as much as I can, as soon as I can, after getting out of bed. My refillable bottle is on my nightstand, and I grab it as I head off to the kitchen to make coffee. I don't want ice cold water, first thing in the morning. My bottle of water is just the perfect temperature to have then! The photo above is the actual type bottle that I own. It is made by Rubbermaid and is readily available in many grocery stores or department stores. They are BPA free too. We have a built in filtration system for water from our fridge. That is what I use to fill my bottle. (This is one thing you can do to help the environment too...the amount of plastic water bottles in the landfills is enormous!) I own several bottles and change them out every few days. I wash mine in the dishwasher to disinfect them. I used to reuse regular water bottles. Then I read about the chemical reactions and that they are not as sanitary as these other ones that I bought. Whether it is true or not, I prefer to use my own refillable bottles over the store bought bottled water bottles.

How much do we need to drink per day? Do you think it is something like eight, eight ounce glasses per day? Would you be surprised that you might not need so much???
It is true! Although most of us never drink enough water, thinking that we have to drink a half gallon or more per day is not true either. Just keep it in your brain that if you ARE thirsty at all, don't ignore the feeling. You do NOT have to go get a full eight ounce glass either! Four ounces at a time is a lot easier to swallow.

• Make it a point to get a few ounces down before, during, and after exercising.

• Don't forget to get a little water in your system before and after pool exercises too.
• Drink a few ounces, before anything else, in the mornings.
• If you even have a hint of thirst, be sure to get a drink.
• Strive to take a sip or three, every time you can, throughout the day.
• Don't worry so much about the amount of water that you think you have to drink in a day. Listen to your body 'more better', as it will tell you when it needs water.

Let's raise our glasses for a toast! CHEERS!
Until next time, bye for now!