Proper Hydration: Chemicals and Calories

When you are tired or not feeling alert what do you reach for?  For most people it is time for a caffeine boost.  Did you know that caffeine is not what the body wants?  What your body wants is water.  At only 2% dehydration the body loses 12-15% of its work capacity.   Adults should be trying to drink 8 to 10 glasses of water a day.  The nice thing about water is it is natural and our body wants it, after all the human body is about 60% water.

I can’t talk about hydration and not mention why you need to stay away from soda (this also includes diet drinks my misguided friends).  Studies have shown that your favorite zero calorie diet soda may actually be worse for you than regular soda.  Diet soda has been linked to metabolic syndrome, which is a group of conditions that include increased waist size, increased blood pressure, and high fasting blood sugar  just to name a few.  Wait I thought that because they put the word diet on the bottle it was supposed to be good for you.  Guess the soda companies lied to us again.   A research study at Purdue University gave a group of rat’s artificial sweetener, and another group regular sugar and the artificial sweetener group gained more weight.  The other problem with soda is chemicals, chemicals, and more chemicals.  Anything that can dissolve a penny has no business going into your body.

If you are tired my recommendation is drink some water and get a little exercise instead of drinking soda and checking Facebook or Twitter.  In most cases the reason we are tired is that we have been indoors breathing stale air and looking at a screen.  It doesn't take much to get refreshed, all you have to do is go outside and stretch your legs for 5 to 10 minutes and you will feel better.