Suggestions on getting started:

 

1.     Keep a glass of water by your bed, this is a great way to remind you when you first wake up to have a drink.

 

2.     Use a water bottle, this allows you to drink water on the go or you can keep a water bottle on your desk so you can take frequent sips throughout the day. A water bottle also helps you to measure how much fluid you are drinking during the day. If you get to lunch time and still have a full water bottle you know you need to drink more.

 

3.     If you don’t like the taste of plain water, add a slice of lemon or lime, or a low-calorie squash. Water temperature also plays a huge part of you wanting to drink. We recommend that you keep it cool.

 

4.     Regular sips throughout the day are better than drinking large quantities at one time – specially too close to bedtime when you’ll likely need to get up in the night to go to the toilet.

 

 

Key Points:

 

·       Water plays a number of important roles in our body from; the basics of saliva, which is needed to breakdown the food we eat, to transporting the essential products around your body. Without fluid, our cells wouldn’t be able to function, breathe or burn glucose (sugar) for energy.

 

·       Becoming dehydrated can cause strain on your heart as the volume of blood circulating decreases. To compensate for this your heart rate and blood pressure increases.

 

·       Not only is water important for our physical health but also for our ability to think, remember, focus and mood. This is because the human brain is made up of 80% water¹. Therefore, when don’t drink enough fluid and become dehydrated both your physical and mental capacity are impaired.

 

·       Currently there isn’t a fixed amount of water that you should be drinking as this depends on a number of different factors including the amount of exercise you do, as exercise makes you sweat, the environment you live in, your current health status and for females if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.

 

·       Thirst is one of the key sensations that are telling you that you need to drink water. The colour of your urine also shows can show if you are hydrated or not, a pale colour shows you are drinking enough while a dark colour means you need to drink more fluids.