Water Water Everywhere

As we age our health and fitness becomes more and more crucial. It’s only when you get older do you fully appreciate what a hugely negative impact lack of exercise and good diet actually has on your body. When you’re young you can get away with eating any old crap and never exercise but when you age that just isn’t an option, unless you’re happy to risk the likes of diabetes and heart disease.

I only started to change my health and diet when I reached my 40’s. I could see weight climbing on without me eating anything more than usual and I knew that would end up nowhere good, so I started to cut down the volume of sugar I was eating. I haven’t cut sweets out entirely - that’s just crazy talk - but I eat them more now as a treat rather than throughout the entire day. My weight still goes up and down, but it’s always at a level that’s healthy. All good. Or so I thought.

What I did not realise was how dehydrated I was.

I would easily guzzle 8 cups of tea a day and a couple of bottles of Coke Zero. All liquid so I can’t possibly be dehydrated, I thought to myself. But I was retaining a lot of water and couldn’t work out why since I was drinking all this liquid and I don’t have a high salt diet. I started to take Magnesium supplements but it didn’t make a bit of difference. So I took to t’internet and found some articles that talked about the vast benefits of drinking water. I found this Japanese article that basically says you should consume 4 glasses of water first thing in the morning, then wait 45 minutes before eating or drinking anything else. Allegedly it will brighten up your skin, your hair and make you more alert during the day as well as get rid of water retention.

So I decided to give it ago.

Every morning for the last 7 weeks I have been following the strict regime of drinking 4 glasses of water every morning as soon as I get up. As someone who never drank water, at all, let me tell you it’s been hard! For the first weeks drinking down those glasses of water was an ordeal. Glasgow water isn’t the tastiest and I think bottled water is none too pleasant either, so it was sheer determination that made me stick to it.

For the first 2 weeks I noticed no changes at all. Literally not a thing. However on week 3 I began to see some changes. Most notably how alert I began to feel during the day. Usually I start to flag midday and begin to feel very tired and listless. Whilst I’m not someone who takes naps, I would find myself having to actively fight against the desire to sleep. However 3 weeks into this water drinking regime I found myself feeling far more alert and awake for the entire day. As time has gone on, this is by far the biggest change I have seen. To the point I’m amazed by how different I feel. The other big change is the fact I have all but stopped drinking tea. After my morning water Prince B makes me a cuppa but after that I simply no longer have the urge to drink tea at all. I think perhaps my tea addiction was actually my body screaming out for water because it was dehydrated. Instead, I find myself drinking more water - Ok yes it has a smidge of diluting juice in it, but it’s water none the less.

Nearly 2 months in, it’s still no easier drinking the water though and so I mix it up with a little lemon sometimes, or if I really can’t face it I will add a tiny few drops of diluting juice to make it taste of something. And whilst I haven’t noticed any difference regarding my hair or skin, the difference it has made to my alertness has been astounding and the reason I am going to continue doing it. I am also not retaining a fraction as much water as I did which is another huge plus point.

The Japanese believe that water is the key to good health and helps your body fight everything from colds to cancer and after seeing the effect it’s had on me, I can well believe it.