by Fern Shaw | Nov 28, 2012 | Health and Hydration
Water helps keep you hydrated, which is important because every single cell in your body needs it in order to absorb nutrients and expel waste products. But what are some of the less well known benefits of drinking water?
1. Drinking Water Is Good For Your Skin
Water naturally moisturizes skin and ensures proper cellular formation underneath layers of skin to give it a healthy, glowing appearance. If you don’t drink enough water, you’ll suffer from dry skin, and you’ll be likely to use more creams and lotions to moisturize which will only relieve the dryness temporarily.
2. Drinking Water Helps You Lose Weight
One of the benefits of drinking water is that it helps you lose weight as water suppresses your appetite, so you don’t eat as much. Drinking plenty of water also prevents fluid retention, because your body won’t try to retain water if it’s getting enough. Drinking water also helps your body burn stored fat. If you’re not drinking enough water, your liver will be forced to help your kidneys detoxify your body. When you drink plenty of water, your kidneys don’t need any extra help, so your liver will be able to metabolize stored fat more efficiently.
3. Drinking Water Helps You Build Muscle
Another benefit of drinking water is that it makes your muscles stronger. That’s because water carries oxygen to the cells of your body, including those of your muscles. Drinking plenty of water enables your muscles to work harder and longer before they feel tired thereby allowing for better muscle building.
4. Drinking Water Makes You Smarter
Drinking water can increase your cognitive function. Your brain needs a lot of oxygen in order to function at optimum levels. Drinking plenty of water ensures that your brain gets all the oxygen it needs. Drinking eight to ten cups of water per day can improve your levels of cognitive performance by as much as 30%! Do be careful though, to not drink too much water, as this can be damaging.
5. Drinking Water Can Prevent and Alleviate Headaches
A little known fact is that one of the main causes of the ‘tension’ headache is due to not drinking enough water. If you are prone to headaches – especially due to stress or being in a hot environment – make sure that you are drinking sufficient water. A good indicator is usually the colour of your urine. Urine darker than a pale yellow means that you are dehydrated.
by Fern Shaw | Nov 16, 2012 | Health and Hydration
The importance of drinking water cannot be underestimated. Water helps the body to perform many of the functions it needs to thrive. Without water a person’s body will literally begin to shut down. Thus, it is very important for people to obtain the proper amount of water each day to ensure healthy body function. An inadequate amount of water intake will lead to your body becoming dehydrated and this is very well known, but have you ever stop to consider the effects that this has on your body?
Dehydration can be broken down into three different levels depending on the severity of the situation and the effects of your body will vary accordingly as well.
Mild dehydration
- Your urine will become concentrated and turn an amber colour due to your kidneys conserving water.
- Constipation and/or bloating may be noticed.
- Dry skin, mucous membranes, and lips.
Moderate dehydration
- Fatigue.
- Dizziness / vertigo / lightheaded.
- Problems concentrating.
- Major reduction in urine production.
- Headache.
- Cold hands and fee
Severe dehydration
- Weak irregular heart beat (often racing) and low blood pressure
- Rapid breathing
- Failure of body’s heat regulation systems (sweating, for example)
- Confusion
- Vomiting and/or diarrhea
- Seizures
- Coma and death
by Fern Shaw | Nov 9, 2012 | Health and Hydration, Water Coolers
After reading all the facts about how drinking water benefits not only your staff but you bottom line as well, you have decided that now is the time to get some water coolers into your office. But choosing your supplier and what type of machine you use is no longer about who is the cheapest. Take a bit of time to get to know the different suppliers out there, it will be time well spent.
There are some very vital facts to take into account.
1) Can they deliver? There is no point having a water cooler with no water. Ensuring your water cooler company delivers when they say they will is paramount. Make sure you know when to expect your delivery but more importantly ensure there is a back-up plan. Knowing you can get an emergency delivery should you run out of water is just as important. Ensure your water cooler supplier is local to you otherwise it could be days before you see your much needed water.
2) Know where your water is coming from! You are paying good money for your water and so you should know that what you getting is pure, clean and filtered water with all the toxins and chemicals removed. There is a reason why you are paying for your water and not drinking it from the tap.
3) Have you chosen an ethical company? Who you choose to deal with and support reflects on who you are as a company. Pay attention to how your supplier cares for our planet and the people that inhabit it. Staying healthy in the workplace should not have a negative effect on the world outside your building.
by Fern Shaw | Nov 8, 2012 | Health and Hydration
As strange as it might sound, toddlers need to drink as much water each day as an adult does.
Toddlers between that age of one and three need to drink around 1.3L of water each day. If you actually look at the body weight of the average toddler and the amount of water they need to drink compared to an adult, then they need more than an adult.
The reason why drinking so much water is important to a toddler, is because they are growing so rapidly at that age. Their bodies need water to transport all the nutrients and supplement their muscles and cells need for all the growth taking place. Water makes up the majority of the mass of our bodies and it is important for proper brain development and mental growth. If you teach your child to drink water at an early age, you will be able to get them to drink water more regularly for the rest of their lives, without having to struggle to compete with soft drinks.
It is therefore important that parents, teachers and child minders make sure that these little ones get sufficient water each day. Many day care centres and schools are installing water coolers into their facilities to ensure that their children and staff can stay hydrated at all times.
With winter just around the corner, it is important to remember that your toddler has sufficient water intake during the colder days as well. Young children are at the highest risk of dehydration due to their small size. Even the slightest percentage of fluid loss can lead to dehydration. Encourage children to carry a water bottle with them, even from a young age. Make it a game to see if they can drink all their water each day and reward them when they do. This will teach them the importance of water and the value of it. Tests have proven that children who are correctly hydrated will have better mental and physical performance than children who do not stay properly hydrated.
Teach your child to enjoy drinking water from a young age and you can aid in their health for years to come.
by Fern Shaw | Oct 30, 2012 | Health and Hydration
Anyone who has picked up a health or fitness magazine in the last 10 years will know that drinking water has many health benefits. The human body is about 70% water so keeping well hydrated aids weight loss and keeps you looking younger and full of life. Experts recommend drinking 8-10 glasses of water throughout the day and the consequences of being dehydrated are well recognised. But is there such a thing as too much when it comes to hydration?
In this case, too much of a good thing is most definitely a bad thing. Sodium balance between the fluid outside and inside the body’s cells is vital to keeping the body’s systems functioning. When we drink too much water or fluid that has a low concentration of salts, the fluid outside the cells becomes very dilute and disrupts the balance. Water will move into the cells to equalise the sodium concentrations and the cells begin to swell. This isn’t a concern in most of the body’s tissues but in the skull there is very limited space to accommodate swelling of brain cells. The condition of low sodium concentration in body fluids outside of cells is known as Hyponatremia, and brain swelling is responsible for the majority of symptoms associated with this condition. Most common symptoms are fatigue, confusion, headache, muscle cramps and weakness, nausea and vomiting, and, if left untreated, can lead to eventual coma and death.
Don’t throw away your water bottle quite yet! Although serious, the condition is relatively rare and can be avoided. Certain medical conditions such as congestive heart failure, cirrhosis, and the syndrome of inappropriate anti-diuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) are associated with a higher risk of Hyponatremia. A growing concern is the incidence in recreational endurance athletes. With a constant supply of water along most endurance race routes, slower athletes have time to ingest large amounts of water – often because they fear becoming dehydrated – and are not exercising at an intensity that allows this excess fluid to be lost by sweating. Contrary to popular advice, thirst doesn’t indicate that you are already too dehydrated and the best way to avoid this condition during exercise is simply to drink according to thirst. Drinking sports drinks containing electrolytes will also ensure the sodium levels in your body remain balanced.
How much water should you drink each day? A simple question but with no easy answer. There are many guidelines but in truth your water needs depend on many factors which include but are not limited to your health, fitness levels and even where you live. Water intoxication is a very uncommon condition but unless you are running a long distance race or an infant, it is not something that one should spend too much time worrying about.
by Fern Shaw | Oct 29, 2012 | Health and Hydration
Just because the winter is approaching it does not mean that your basic body functions change. Therefore it is not advisable to change your water drinking habits just because it is getting colder. You may not be sweating as much but you still require water to transport minerals to protect your body from colds and flu during winter. In addition to this, with winter comes wind and extreme low temperatures and you expose yourself to heaters and fires causing skin conditions, headaches and dry coughs. All these conditions can be restored by drinking water and increasing your fluid intake.
Opting for a glass of water during winter, however, is not so easily done for most. Here are a few suggestions to help make it easier to drink water in winter:-
- Try herbal teas. Intensify your tastes buds with the variety of herbal teas that are widely available such as ginger, lemon, cinnamon and peppermint. Avoid drinking regular tea and coffee as they are high in caffeine.
- Heat your water up until nice and warm, but not hot. Squeeze in a drop or two of lemon. Very refreshing and yet warm. Fresh ginger and honey are also a good compliment to add to warm water.
- Learn about the benefits of water. The more your read about how good water is for you, both mentally and physically, the more your desire to drink water will become.
- Drink water only for a while. It is very hard for water to compete with sodas and sugary drinks. By removing these flavors it will allow your taste buds to become accustomed to the taste of water.
If you fall into a regular routine to drink enough glasses of water per day, your body will soon realise that there is enough water available and it would make you thirsty more often, resulting in you drinking more water and equipping your body to work at full capacity.
