How much percentage of water makes up the Earth? It’s 71% and how much percentage of water makes up a human body? It’s up to 60%. This clearly tells how crucial it is to stay hydrated
Before going any further, just make a note of how much water you’re consuming on a daily basis. This will help you in assessing if you’re meeting the required levels or not. The colorless liquid which we drink not only quenches our thirst but it’s a vital mineral that our body needs on a daily basis.
Why Staying Hydrated Is So Important?
This might be the silliest question asked, but once answered (and read) I’m sure you will come to know the importance of drinking a glass of water every hour.
Think it like this, during a hot summer day you get back home and after switching on the air conditioner, you figure out that your mouth is as dry as the Sahara Desert. You rush towards the refrigerator and you see a bottle of soft-drink and a bottle of water (both being equally chilled). Which bottle would you pick up first and force down your throat to quench your thirst?
It’s a bottle of water! While soft-drinks can wait for a while, but if you don’t get water when you need it, things can be worse. Which is why it’s important to stay hydrated not only in summers but in every season.
Dehydration is the situation when you lose more fluids as compared to what you have been taken lately. Let’s not take dehydration casually because its ill-effects are hazardous and it feels like a nightmare.
Symptoms of Dehydration –
- Headache.
- Dizziness.
- Sleepiness.
- There is hardly any urine coming out of your body.
- Dark yellow or amber-colored urine.
- Decreased skin elasticity.
- Low blood pressure.
- Drying up of mouth.
So, How Much Water is Needed to Stay Hydrated?
Good question! Taking enough fluids every day regulates your body temperature, joints lubricated, prevents any kind of infections and for the smooth functioning of organs.
The amount of fluid a person needs in a day varies on several factors including age and weight. But you should not be taking less than 20 glasses of water every day.
One easy hack to check if you’re hydrated enough is to keep a check on urine. If your urine is usually colorless or light yellow in color, you don’t need to worry about hydration, you’re doing good! But if your urine has a dark yellow or amber color, it clearly tells that you need to add more glasses of water to stay hydrated.
Some Ways To Do That –
So far, you know how much water you should be drinking. Have you noted down how much water you’ve been drinking lately? Is it matching the required standard?
If it is, that’s perfect but if it is not there’s nothing to worry about it. In fact, in this list we have kept drinking water last on the list. Drinking water is so obvious, so why talk about it all the time! Rather, we will take you through some other way with which you can stay hydrated.
- Oatmeal –
Dual benefits here. Apart from being healthy and rich in nutrients, oatmeal also helps in hydrating. While you cook oatmeal (either in water or milk) they tend to absorb it. This means that apart from munching oatmeal, you’re also taking care of hydration levels. You can also sprinkle chia seeds overnight which will soak up to 10 times their weight in extra liquid and keep you full entire morning.
- Try Munching These Stuffs –
When someone tells you not to have pasta and noodles, just tell them that they have decent water in it which helps in hydration levels. Pasta and noodles are not as bad as people think they are. Here is the list of other food items which will help you in stabilizing water content in your body –
- Grapefruit
- Grapes and oranges.
- Watermelon.
- Fruit juice.
- Sports drinks or flavoured drinks.
- Chicken breast
- Soups and stew.
- Some Veggies to Keep You Hydrated –
Celery is considered to be a powerful electrolyte food. 2-3 mineral-rich stalks to celery can replenish an athlete’s sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc levels after an intense exercise.
Then we have broccoli which contains 90% water along with other nutrients. If you don’t like munching broccoli (like me) then you can also try peaches, pineapples, plums, raspberries, cucumbers, tomato, green cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, and spinach.
- Any Smoothie A Day, Keeps You Hydrated All Day –
Any smoothie reaching your stomach is helping you in your hydration levels as well. I have been sipping chocolate smoothies a lot after knowing that they also help us in maintaining water levels. I mean, why should I (just) drink water, when I have a plethora of other things to drink and munch?
- And Finally, Water –
Water is an inevitable resource. Apart from carbonated and sweet drinks, it’s water that actually quenches your thirst. When at home, just keep drinking a glass of water every hour or two. To make your skin glowing and young, you need to drink lots and lots of water! Don’t even ask how much, just keep drinking as if it’s your beer!
& Finally, Some Helping Hacks –
- Always carry a water bottle with you. It might look childish, but don’t forget that we all need water and why be concerned about what anyone has so say on it?
- Set an alarm for every hour or two which will remind you to have a glass of water.
- To check how much hydrated you are, notice the color of your urine and you will come to know how much have you been taking care of yourself.
- Don’t think that when you will be thirsty, you will have 5-6 glasses of water in one go. That’s not what we will suggest. To have a prolonged effect, have a glass of water every hour.
Summing Up:
I have been writing for a year now, but it’s for the first time that I’m sitting down with a bottle of water and taking a sip every now and then. Partially because it’s lockdown and I can’t have a beer and partially because, after knowing what magic drinking water does, I’ll definitely increase how much I’ve been drinking.
