We’ve all heard about the importance of maintaining good hydration. Drinking water has many benefits and you may not know all of them.
Among others, it gives us more energy, helps us maintain muscle tone, lubricates our joints properly, prevents us from overeating, helps our brain and improves the appearance of our skin.
Conversely, not drinking enough water can lead to an increase in cortisol, the stress hormone. We will be in a worse mood and less able to cope with work and a busy day.
This is why it is so important to stay well hydrated, to take care of both physical and mental health.
We know that it is not always easy to drink water throughout the day. In fact, most of us do not drink enough. That’s why we’ve prepared this guide with simple tips to help you drink the water you need throughout the day.
4 tips to have a correct hydration:
- Women should drink at least 2,7 litres and men 3,7: To check if we are drinking enough, we can look at the colour of our urine. If it is clear that we are well hydrated. If it is dark, we are dehydrated and if it is very dark, we are extremely dehydrated. To be able to drink enough throughout the day, it is best to buy a reusable bottle and carry it with us at all times. We can also drink a couple of glasses of water every two hours, for example. There are also applications that can help us.
- Avoid drinking caloric beverages: We must avoid the consumption of sugary drinks, soda, alcohol, even sports drinks. It is best to drink water or water with tea. In this way, as well as keeping ourselves hydrated, we will be reducing our consumption of sugar and calories.
- Drink water as soon as you wake up: Even if you are not thirsty, it is important that you drink water when you wake up because your body has not been hydrated for 6 to 8 hours, so it is dehydrated. If we drink water when we wake up, it will help to activate our metabolism. If you leave a bottle of water or a glass you will be able to drink when you wake up. Also if you wake up in the middle of the night.
- Hydration should be part of your training plan: Drinking when you are training is just as important. It is not enough to have a bottle at hand; you must drink several times while you are training. You have to drink before, during and after sports. Because when we make an effort we lose liquids and strength. We must replenish them and keep ourselves hydrated to have energy to continue training. If you are one of those who forgets to drink water, you can set an alarm to remind you.
As you can see, these are not radical changes in our routine. They are small changes that will help us drink more water. If you are one of those who thinks that water is too bland to drink alone, you can introduce some lemon wedges or any fruit you like, this will give it a special touch and you will like drinking water more.