Importance of Water


Before focusing on my nutrition I had difficulty consuming the right amount of water per day.  Health authorities commonly recommend  8-ounce glasses, which equals to about 2 litres, or half a gallon. I would neglect this A LOT and unfortunately did not realize the side effects of not having enough water.
For one, my skin was always breaking out. I had never really realized why my skin was the way it was – but after an appointment with my Doctor, he had told me I may just not be having enough water.

Another thing I noticed was I had strange food cravings. I would crave anything from chocolate to a salty snack. I did some research about this and had read that cravings for sweets are more common because your body may be experiencing difficulty breaking down glycogen to release glucose into the bloodstream to use as fuel.

A third thing I noticed was headaches…and oh my goodness these were a very common occurrence for me. I had a headache probably 4-5 times a week. Even mild dehydration can cause a dehydration headache and even trigger a migraine headache. Since it’s often not clear what is causing a headache, drinking a full glass of water and continuing to sip more fluids during the day is an easy way to ease your pain if, in fact, dehydration is contributing to it.

After doing research on the health benefits of water, and after all the things that I noticed with my skin, body, cravings and headaches I decided to set alarms throughout the day to remind myself to drink water. As annoying as the alarms were- I would make sure to always have a glass of water every time my alarm went off.

After doing this for about 2 weeks – I didn’t need the alarms. My body naturally knew to drink a glass of water. I instantly noticed a difference in my skin after a week of staying hydrated and I also can’t remember the last time I had a headache. Our bodies consist of 60% water. The functions of this liquid include digestion, absorption, circulation, the forming of saliva, spreading nutrients across the body and maintaining body temperature. If the intake of water is insufficient, we may become dehydrated (which is what was happening to me). 
Often overlooked, water is arguably the second most important compound life is dependent on; oxygen being the first. Stay hydrated!

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