Water is the essence of life. It makes up 75% of our bodies**, and when dehydrated, we run the risk of all sorts of issues, both physical and mental. They say you can survive over three weeks without food, but you can die in as little as five or six days without water. We quite literally need it to survive, and science can’t seem to decide how much, whether it’s 8 cups, or 2 litres, or if drinking tea and coffee count despite a caffeine content, and if there’s really a difference in hydration between sparkling, or flavoured, or distilled versus spring. There’s really a lot of debate about water.
I know two things about water. The human body is actually comprised of approximately 55-75% water, with women being as low as 45% water, healthily no less, because we naturally carry more fat that water. This is because muscle contains 75% water, and fat contains 10% water, NOT the the human body as a whole.
The other fact I know about water is that it’s terrible. It tastes like nothing, and I derive no joy or pleasure from consuming it. I realize this is childish and petulant, but it’s just something I cannot get over or through, or at least easily. I don’t drink water, because I don’t like it.
I tried a number of things to work on my bad water habits. ‘Flavoured’ waters gave me headaches, and just the colour of the koolaid ‘squirts’ was a strong indication of how bad they are for you. I tried fruit infused water for a while, even bought myself an infusion bottle, but even that was lack luster for me. Essential oils really turned my entire water habit around, something I’d like to write about in more detail in the future. I have a bottle of peppermint in my office for regular habits, and I work through a rotation of other oils at home in a glass jar, and between work and home, I drink between 2-3 litres of water a day.
For the first time in probably my entire life, I’m actually drinking a healthy amount of water. Or, at least my perception of a healthy amount of water, which seems to be an opinion that changes both in the science world, and the people I interact with.
The bottle I keep at work is my fruit infusion bottle, as it’s large, in charge, and could be used as a weapon when full in the event of the zombie apocalypse. Having a bottle this size is convenient. I drink water at varying paces, so I don’t need to get up in the event I’m downing water quickly. It also helps with oil diffusion, as peppermint is a strong concentration, and a drop a glass is too much (I use two or three drops every time I fill the bottle). I don’t care if my water is cold or room temperature, so it just lives on my desk, in the corner of my eye, encouraging hydration.
I fill it, once, sometimes twice a day, at the water cooler in our communal kitchen. Oh boy does this bad boy spark some conversations. Everyone I work with has weighed in on my water bottle at some point, to let me know just how big the bottle is, and just how much water it holds. How can I drink that much, how is that healthy? Why am I forcing myself to drink water? If I’m not careful, my organs are going to shut down, and then I will DIE because I drink too much water.
Trust me, I am at no risk of dying because I drink too much water.
I use a number of health and activity based apps, most of them with water drinking algorithms. With my height, weight and activity levels, I should be drinking between 2-3 litres of water a day. As previously stated, I can hit 2 litres of water every day without trying too hard. Some days I drink more, some days I drink less. I have gone a week without touching my water bottle, and there are days that I fill it four times. Someone walking to the water cooler to fill their glass four or five times is the same amount of water as me, so why is that same person so concerned about how much water I’m drinking? That’s a legitimate question my friends!
Personally, I drink when I’m thirsty, and being active, I get thirsty. I don’t follow a water schedule, or chug down a litre at the end of the day to make sure I hit a certain amount. As mentioned, I can go days barely drinking a cup of water, or days where I can’t drink enough. I just try to listen to my body, and hydrate as it asks for it.
How do you drink water? Are you like me and need some encouragement, or does it come easily? Any one else out there experience what have in my office? Or even tell me about your favourite water ‘facts and stats’, I’ve heard so many in my office, I wonder what things are weird common knowledge facts (like the ‘75% of the human body is water’), that are just out of context snippets of science. Let me know!
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