It’s week 2 of our Healthy Habits Challenge at Crossroads and this week the focus is drinking water. It seems to flow naturally (see what I did there??) from last week’s challenge to consume less sugar because replacing sugar laden drinks with water is an easy change that can make a big difference. But drinking water isn’t just a solution to consuming less sugar, it’s also important to make sure that your body is functioning at its best.
Drinking enough water is actually a sensitive subject in our house lately. My darling husband, Steve, is turning into the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I don’t know if you are all familiar with that character, but whenever anyone else had anything going on he would tell them “Put some Windex on it.” Now Steve isn’t following us around with a spray bottle of window cleaner but every time either of the kids or I complain about anything whether a headache or a stuffy nose or even a sore knee his response is ALWAYS the same… “Drink some water!”
My head hurts – Drink some water!
I’m hungry – Drink some water!
I’m so exhausted – Drink some water!
My throat is scratchy – Drink some water!
You get the picture. Naturally, the kids and I have been mocking his response and attempting to gang up on him to prove that he’s turning into a crazy person. So I did what anyone would do in this situation – I turned to the internet to prove my point.
Except this is where things went south for me on my mission to prove my husband’s insanity. Because you know what? This time (and only this time) he may be right.
We all know that humans are 60% water so obviously it’s pretty important to our survival. I know for me, when I think of dehydration, I think of an old cartoon character crawling across a desert and seeing a mirage of a glistening lake. Or maybe an athlete after an intense summer work out. Neither of those apply to me. But a funny thing happened in my quest to prove my husband wrong…I learned a thing or two or five.
- The effects of dehydration start to become noticeable when you lose just 2% of your body’s water content. You don’t have to be Wile E Coyote or an elite athlete to be dehydrated.
- Our muscles are 80% water so dehydration directly affects physical performance even for everyday tasks like hauling laundry baskets around or walking up a flight of stairs.
- Losing 1-3% of your body’s water has been shown to increase headaches and affect brain function. This can alter your mood, impair your memory and even increase anxiety.
- Dehydration increases histamine causing allergy and asthma symptoms.
- Drinking enough water can keep your digestive system happier, too. And let’s face it, when your digestive system is happier, everyone is happier!
So maybe Steve is right! Maybe the headache or the scratchy throat were truly cases of not drinking enough water. Maybe the answer really is “Drink some water”. Well except for the sore knee. Miles needed an adjustment. BIG TIME. That kid was a walking pretzel. BUT perhaps dehydration affected the muscles enough to causing the subluxations in his back and hips that caused the knee pain. Oh crap, did I just prove Steve right again? I think it’s time for me to get off the internet. I guess I’ll go drink some water.
Cheers!
Kathleen