The Answer to Exhaustion: Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!

Beep, beep, beep beep. The dreaded sound of your alarm clock reaches your ears. It’s 6 a.m. and time to roll out of bed. Your body is faced with the daunting challenge of leaving a semi-conscious state and arriving at the point of conscious mental function and increased working capacity of every system in your body. This includes elevated blood pressure and heart rate, and higher brain function. Unless you’re one of those rare morning people who embraces the early hours with vim vigor and vitality, the need for a caffeinated beverage is almost overwhelming. So you stumble out of bed hoping your senses won’t fail you as you make your way to the coffee pot (or tea pot) for a steaming cup of brew. Ahhhh. The jolt of caffeine is just the answer your body needs to come alive and face the day. … Or is it?

Water and your energy level

Most of us sleep through the night without drinking a drop of water. This means we go 6-8 hours without any water intake IF we have a glass just before we go to bed and immediately when we wake up. Isn’t it a bit ironic that the first thing we reach for when we awake is a beverage that depletes our body of still more water?! Caffeinated beverages are diuretics, meaning that coffee, tea and many soft drinks stimulate urination and water depletion from our bodies. Most of us agree that when we’re tired or low on energy, we need more oxygen to our brains. The chemical formula of water is H20, meaning that there are two atoms of hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen in every molecule of water. So…if you really want your brain oxygenated, reach for ‘natures ale’. It’s natural, low cost, and an effective energy enhancer.


How much water should I drink?

Here’s the easy answer. Take your body weight and cut it in half. This number equals the number of ounces of water you should drink per day. Example: Mary Jo weighs 150 pounds. 150 /2 = 75oz. Mary Jo should drink a little more than 9 -8 oz. glasses of water per day. This amount is very conservative and would need to be supplemented for strenuous exercise, exposure to heat, or pregnant and nursing mothers.

Do the 3 week challenge

Let’s face it: most of us want a more technical and complicated answer to vim, vigor, and vitality. We’d rather embrace a sensational sports drink or the latest energy bar with a catchy logo. The fact is, the majority of these are loaded with sugar and/or caffeine, which bankrupt our bodies of their energy stores. Try giving water the benefit of the doubt for just three weeks. If you go for style, buy a sporty new flask exactly the size of your required intake. Fill it up each morning and pace yourself throughout the day to have it finished by bedtime. Be prepared for some side effects however. Lowered blood pressure and cholesterol with significant weight loss often accompany adequate water intake. Drink up!