Do you prioritise hydration?

Without water your body will cease to function, so I guess you could say hydration is pretty important.

When I am setting up new clients and going though their questionnaires, one of the biggest things that usually jumps out at me is the lack of water they have been taking on board.

You’ll also see people have their training and nutrition down to a fine art with everything tracked and accounted for but neglecting hydration because it isn’t ‘sexy’.

The truth is, being adequately hydrated will make a HUGE difference to your results and how you feel and how your body functions.

Before considering anything else, we must first ensure that adequate hydration is present for the individual.

Water provides the body with lubrication. It helps to lubricate joints, tissues and organs. It is also a key part of saliva and digestive juices whose lubricating effects help with digestion. Without adequate water intake these bodily processes and organs would not function as well as they should.

It also has a huge role to play in temperature regulation within the body. When you are sufficiently hydrated your body is able to regulate its temperature through perspiration or sweating. By not drinking enough water to replace the fluids that you lose through sweating, your body can become unable to perspire/sweat enough to regulate your internal temperature, which can lead to heat stroke in extreme cases of dehydration. This is where your internal body temperature rises uncontrollably and can even be life threatening!

Water has a huge role to play in transportation also. It helps to transport nutrients and chemicals around the body through your organs, systems and tissues. Without water, nutrients would have no way to be delivered to the organs.  Adequate intake of water keeps the cells throughout the body full of nutrients and functioning properly. It also helps move waste through your digestive system before moving it out of your body.

Dehydration causes fatigue. Being hydrated sufficiently will mean that cognitive function and physical performance aren’t compromised.

Water even hydrates your skin preventing it from becoming dry.

Without water your liver and kidneys cannot function optimally and as a result the body metabolises less fat.

So how much water should you be drinking?

In general I would recommend that my females clients intake 3-4 litres of water each day and males to intake 4-5 litres.

There is absolutely zero prep time involved with water, there are no calories in water, you can take it everywhere with you and it’s free.

No excuses here guys!

Keep in mind that it is better to consume water continuously throughout the day as we can’t absorb it all at once.

I promise the toilet trips will get less frequent after a week of hydrating consistently. :)

#TeamInfluence