Each week my aim is to provide you with a simple tip
Something small you can do that will hopefully bring some more sunshine into your day.
I can’t decide if this week’s tip is a really obvious one, or a really not-obvious one…
Let me know what you think!
This week’s tip is to drink more water.
Hydrate yourself!
Did you know that being dehydrated can make us feel irritable and even anxious?
It can make us feel tired, contribute to brain fog and yes, it can even contribute to sadness and low mood.
When we first wake up in the morning, we’ve not had anything to drink for several hours…
So it’s important to make sure we replace what’s been lost either through sweat or urine.
But I know a lot of us don’t immediately think of grabbing a glass of water as soon as we get up!
Your brain is up to 75% water
So if you’re dehydrated, that’s going to affect how your brain functions.
Being dehydrated can also raise our stress hormones such as cortisol.
And it can affect our energy levels too!
Everyone is aware of that old rule about getting 8 glasses of water per day
But really, the amount of water we need depends on the size of our body and how active we are.
It’s also important to space out your drinking throughout the day.
If you get up and gulp down 8 glasses of water, great, you’ve hit an arbitrary target.
But your body will absorb what it needs, and you’ll excrete the rest as urine
And then by the end of the day you’ll still be dehydrated.
People disagree about whether other drinks such as coffee or fizzy drinks can count as part of your daily total
That’s up to you – but I do think there’s a lot to be said for a nice, refreshing glass of water
And it’s free!
You can get water from your tap, get a cup of tap water if you’re out to lunch
And in a lot of cities these days there are even fountains provided for refilling water bottles.
Why not try it over the next few days
Set yourself a daily hydration target to hit, and make note of how you feel.