In Part 1 to this post, we talked about the importance of water quality and the larger issue of how plastic rubbish has really challenged earth to provide us with a safe water supply. Here in part 2, I would like to talk about how important proper water consumption is.
Let's start off with a bit of an extreme example that will clearly illustrate the phenomenon of dehydration...alcohol consumption. In my early 20's, I used to joke with my parents that in college I minored in drinking (alcohol). Both a rite of passage, and a way to blow off steam, many college students in America then, before then, now, and into the future will partake in this past time. For me, it was most weekends, during the fall and spring semesters. Summers were off for the most part. But, man, when we got back on campus late August... Let's just say we all made up for lost time.
Many a Friday and Saturday night saw myself and friends at a party consuming way too much beer and liquor. To the point where at least one of us would get sick, or pass out, or cause a scene in some way shape or form. As the standards were high for all of us from our studies during the week, we seemed to match this intensity during the weekends. To blow off all that steam that had been building up. The most important part of what I am getting at in this paragraph, however, is that we got our butts on campus bright and early Monday morning and got busy. In fact, most of us kept working during the sunlight hours on the weekend. We never lost sight of why we were there...to get an education while academically performing at a high level. And we most certainly did not let our social exploits ruin the potential for our near or distant futures.
One phenomenon I clearly remember from these partying days, at a party, was when one of us would have to use the restroom for the first time. Considering we were binge drinking the reason, um, should be obvious. Typically we would exclaim to everyone within an earshot that, 'I've gotta break the seal.' And when I would go, 'break the seal' I would notice that my #1, my urine, would come out clear...which was confusing at first. After several occurrences of this, upon mentioning this to my cohorts one eventually belted out, 'Oh yeah, it's because you’re drinking so many fluids.'
So when your body is saturated with water, your urine comes out clear. That's when you know you've had enough for optimal hydration.
However, when I was partying I was drinking alcohol. Beer and liquor is basically flavored water with a small percentage of that liquid containing alcohol of course. About that alcohol...
For those that don't know, alcohol has an interesting property to it called hygroscopy. Something that is hygroscopic attracts moisture to itself. If you are consuming an alcoholic beverage, said alcohol will pass through your system taking water from your body with it. And if you are doing so in large quantities, large amounts of water will be taken from your body.
This is why the next day I would wake up all lean and svelte when looking into the mirror with my shirt off. The night before had taken away a good chunk of my water weight off my frame. Not to mention I always had a hangover, which was essentially my brain severely dehydrated (headache) coupled with extreme exhaustion.
If you want to see the hygroscopic effect of alcohol in action do this. If and when it gets cold outside, and frost develops overnight on the windshield of your car when you leave it outside…um…do this. Take some rubbing alcohol, of say 70%, and spray it onto your frosted windshield and watch it melt away the ice without any heat...! Also, there exists evidence of rust within internal combustion engines that run on alcohol based fuels such as ethanol, or E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline). This fuel pulls moisture from the air which intern will cause iron cylinder liners to rust a little bit.
Practical and extreme examples aside, you can alleviate hangover symptoms by having a salty meal before and after a night out drinking. The next morning, a salty breakfast with lots of water will help get you back to normal (why this works I will discuss in a future post). None of this will take away any regret you have from your actions the night before however...haha.
When you go throughout your normal day, and forget to take in the correct amount of fluids any or all of these hangover symptoms will be present in a smaller way. Such as a headache and lethargy for instance.
In my own experience, intentionally taking in enough water has done a world of good for me. I've mentioned this before, but I am a HUGE F1 racing fan. Well, I am currently behind on all my grand prix's and need to play catch up, but, I have many years as a fan in the bag already. One thing I notice every time before a race, is all the drivers running to use the restroom. These grand prix can go up to two hours in very hot and humid climates all over the world. The drivers wear four layers of fire protective clothing, covered head to toe. The cockpit of these F1 cars get hot. The drivers lose lots of water weight as a result. They do carry some water to drink through a tube that shoots water in their mouth via an electric pump. But, this water mid race is often scalding hot due to the cockpit temps. One time, during a NIGHT race in Singapore, the drinks bottle broke in one of the drivers cars. As that city at night during that time of year is around 80-85 deg F, with near the same magnitude in relative humidity, the driver almost quit the race early due to dehydration. He kept on radioing into the pits that he could not continue. They encouraged him to carry on and he in fact did finish. So, to help stave off this level of dehydration during a race, the drivers drink lots and lots of fluids. This is why run off to use the toilet before the starts.
Some years ago I tried this out for myself. At the time, I was struggling mid pickup soccer session. These 'matches' would last two to two and a half hours when including warm-ups. I would feel myself get dehydrated, and was lacking energy with an inability to perform to my best. So, as an experiment I started to take in lots of water PRIOR to these pickup sessions. Then I would drive to the field, do warm ups, and just as the match was about to start go use the portable toilet on the premises. During the match, I would bow out to take in water here and there as I usually did. And guess what, my performance and recovery were much improved. I almost felt like I could go forever when compared to how I previously felt.
Likewise, during the day I try to keep my hydration levels up. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner I always have a tall glass of water. Throughout the day, when not eating, I am always trying to keep hydrated. During workouts, I carry up to ¾ of a liter of water with me. I consume the majority of it at the gym. Then the rest during my post workout snack. In the hours before bed, I drink several cups.
The idea behind hydration is to drink enough such that your urine is a light yellowish color. You should not be getting parched throughout the day when being proactive like this. You will also find a better state of well being, having less cramps, headaches, with normal energy levels.
Do not underestimate how important proper hydration is for your mind, body, and spirit. If something in any of these three areas seem off and you're not sure why, this may be a major reason.
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