Did you know approximately 78% of the human brain is made up of water?As the cold weather sets we can easily forget to keep our water intake up. But just because you don’t feel thirsty in in the cooler temperatures does NOT mean you don’t need to drink water! In fact, when you feel thirsty your body has already lost at least 1% of it’s water.Only being dehydrated by 1% may not sound like a big deal, but it can have a MASSIVE impact on your body’s functioning and performance.
1% dehydration causes your blood to thicken and your heart rate to increase, placing more stress on the body.
Remember, the brain is close to 80% water, so dehydration by as little as 2% can affect your mood, concentration and energy levels.
Losing 3% or more of your water weight reduces your muscle endurance, power AND strength, so your ability to exercise is dramatically hindered.
Dehydration makes it a lot harder for your body to use your stored fat as an energy source.
That’s right, drinking water affects your body’s ability to do EVERYTHING, even burn fat!
The average adult loses about 2.5 – 3L of water each day – just breathing for a day uses over half a litre! If you add exercise into the mix as well without proper hydration you are putting your body under an enormous amount of physical and mental stress.
The solution?
Aim for 2 – 3L of water per day, PLUS an additional litre for every hour of exercise you perform.
Get a 1L water bottle so it’s easy to measure your intake.
Set alarms on your phone to remind you if you usually forget.
Have at least one glass of water with every meal.
Want to check if you are drinking enough when you workout?
Give yourself a SIMPLE HYDRATION TEST: Weigh yourself directly before and after your session and take note of how much water you drink – if your weight is lower at the end of the session you have sweated more than you have hydrated, so you need to up that water intake! (Keep in mind if you eat or go to the bathroom in between your weigh ins it will not be an accurate indication).