Why Water is just … Better!

Why Water is just … Better!

When you start to drink more water, you’ll find that you drink less fizzy drinks and fewer high calorie drinks. There are a few major benefits to this:

  • Swapping water for fizzy drinks helps decrease your daily caloric intake.
  • The more water you drink helps you feel fuller, reducing the impulse to snack more.
  • Drinking water instead of heavily flavoured drinks helps trains your taste buds to enjoy the subtle tastes of whole foods that are less processed and lower in calories.
  • Drinking sufficient water will have a noticeable and remarkably fast effect (for the better) to your physical well-being.
  • Drinking water instead of reaching for the fizz will fatten your brain cells and not your body’s fat cells.
  • Fizzy drinks can act as a diuretic whereas water does not dehydrate you – it in fact achieves the complete opposite.
  • Drinking water, while you may not initially register it, is incredibly refreshing, whereas drinking fizzy drinks can increase your thirst and need for more sugar.

And while you might drink water to lose weight, you’ll find that it’s also good for your pocket. Have you ever thought about the annual cost of your fizzy drinks habit? For many people, it is substantial. A single diet fizzy drink during the day may not seem expensive, but over the course of a year, it adds up to a few hundred pounds.

Right now is a good enough time as any to embark on a drink more water, less sugary drinks campaign. Use your fizzy drinks money to buy a water bottle. Or, buy two – one to leave at the office and one to keep on you if your workplace involves being out of the office throughout the week.

Use the office water cooler to replenish your water bottle before you head out or often during the day if you work in-house.

Treat yourself – Drink Water

Treat yourself – Drink Water

Although it may be common knowledge that the adult human body is composed of up to 70 percent water, what may not be commonly known is that a huge amount of water is lost through metabolism, exercise, temperature regulation, waste transportation and digestion. Needless to say, it is essential for your health to stay hydrated.

Previously we’ve introduced ideas on how to encourage children to drink water, but what about ourselves? If you’re the kind of person who Pavlov Dog (excuse the very bad pun) salivates at liquid only is it’s fizzy, packed full of sugar or is a pretty colour, how do you ‘trick’ yourself into drinking the good ol’ H2O?

Add visual interest to your beverage.  Forcing yourself to drink eight, tepid glasses of water out of a boring plastic cup will feel like drudge central. Instead, purchase a colourful sports bottle or a trendy travel mug. Carry your fashionable cup with you and take small sips throughout the day. Don’t try and drink it all at once.

Chill slices of orange and lemon or whole grapes, strawberries and raspberries. Or, be adventurous and mix sliced fruit or mint with slices of cucumber. Fill a clear glass part way full with chilled fruit and top up with water from your water dispenser or Instant Tap. Not only will your water look interesting, but also the subtle flavours of the fruit, aromatics or cucumber will make for a tasty hydration hack.

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Surprisingly, about 20 percent of your daily water consumption comes from food. Some, such as cucumber, watermelon and tomato are nearly 90 percent water by weight. Cut up fruit and vegetable slices and carry them in a sealed container in your bag/backpack for a snack during the day.

Drink beverages other than water. Water is calorie free, but other drinks are good for you too.  Depending on your dietary requirements, drinking milk or vegetable juice can be nutritious. Tea and coffee count toward your daily water consumption, but exercise moderation as caffeine makes the body excrete water. Too much caffeine may also make you jittery. Avoid sugary juices and soda. Limit alcohol consumption as alcohol is a diuretic and may dehydrate you.

Teach yourself good habits. There have been some rather unsettling reports about the lethargy produced from computer and office bound work. Combat these by leaving your workspace and perambulating over to the water cooler area. While it might not be appreciated if you pretend that you’re stalking prey at a watering hole in the Serengeti, a quick confab with your co-workers while you replenish your water bottle will give your brain and body a break.

Stake your water bottle claim. Fun it up in your workplace by ensuring the water glass or water bottle you replenish at the water cooler is distinctive and ‘you’ branded and unlikely to be claimed by a magpie type colleague. Who knows, you could start a trend!

How to Revitalise the Brain if you’re not Dr. Frankenstein

How to Revitalise the Brain if you’re not Dr. Frankenstein

Does the title rhyme? I think it just might. We’re off to a great start then!

Of course, it isn’t necessary to harness lightning and channel electricity to create brainwaves or make us feel more alive. There is, in fact, a far simpler, less complicated and indeed, more pleasant method to achieve this.

Our brains depend on proper hydration to function optimally. Brain cells require a delicate balance between water and various elements to operate and when you lose too much water, that balance is disrupted. Your brain cells lose efficiency.*

Years of research have found that when we’re parched, we have more difficulty keeping our attention focused. Dehydration can impair short-term memory function and the recall of long-term memory. The ability to perform mental arithmetic, like calculating whether you’ll be late for work if you hit snooze for another 15 minutes, is compromised when your fluids are low.*

Over the course of a typical twenty-four hour period, the longest spell most of us go without fluid intake is the six to eight hours we spend sleeping. Sleeping is hardly the kind of activity that you sweat over, but that doesn’t mean you’re not losing water during the night. With every somnolent breath, you expel moisture, and the cumulative effect of a night’s sleep is to dry out.*

Ideally, it’s best to drink water soon after waking up. Alternatively, the next best option is to make frequent visits to the water cooler at work.

Drinking water from an AquAid water dispenser does more than just enliven you. It literally creates the implementation of sustainable water supply projects for millions of people who don’t have access to any water. So, not only will you feel like quite the bright spark each time you replenish your water from your water cooler, but also you’ll retain the knowledge that maintaining your hydration is helping others. No Dr. Frankenstein tactics required!

*source: article by Joshua Gowin Ph.D. at Psychology Today

The Rain and Drinking Water Polarity

The Rain and Drinking Water Polarity

You would be forgiven, what with the rain bucketing it down, if you’re viewing wet and water with a somewhat beady eye. For all the good it does and the fact it’s vital to our very lives and sustenance, it doesn’t hold sway when you’ve been rained on, constantly.

Is there a positive slant to these downpours, we ask?

We believe so.

Measuring rainfall beats trainspotting we’re sure of it. Is there anything more satisfying than comparing rainfall notes with your neighbours, workmates (read competitors):  Well, our rain gauge measured 17mm, not sure where you get 10mm from? See?  Promotes interest and healthy competition all round.

Rainfall replenishes the Earth’s water table. All of which means, healthy, thriving plant growth, whether that’s for oxygen creating trees through to crops and crops of your favourite veg.

Free car wash. Okay, perhaps not the best example but true nonetheless. Also encourages physical activity as you rush outside post downpour to wipe your car down so that it shines just as if it’s been freshly washed.

Rivers, lakes, dams refill. And all that goes along with that: Thriving plant, bird, animal and aquatic life.

But what of the polarity mentioned in the blog title? Well, whereas we may not appreciate water raining down on us, we can appreciate constantly available refreshing drinking water.

That would be drinking water dispensed from your mains-fed or your bottle-fed water cooler.  Installed by AquAid. Backed with services and sanitisations performed by our WHA accredited service technicians. Also worth consideration is that AquAid supply hot drinking water dispensers, hot water boilers and Instant Taps. So, if our rain happy reasons haven’t convinced you, it’s good to know you can make yourself – and your neighbour and your workmates – a piping hot cuppa at a moment’s notice. What’s not to like?

Water Cooler Health – Keeping Fit in the Office

Water Cooler Health – Keeping Fit in the Office

Aside from everything else that has occurred over the last two years, possibly one of the biggest changes was the advent of working from home, which brought with it Zoom meetings, Zoom meeting attire – pyjamas on the bottom, work shirt on top. These factors however seemed to snowball into creating a rather sedentary work creature – one of living in sleepwear morning until evening and sadly with that, a serious reduction in exercise or keep fit routines.

All very understandable of course, however, although our daily routines have forever changed, heading back into the office has become the norm for many of us. As has ditching our leisure wear and making a determined effort to dress for work.

The good news is even if you were an exercise powerhouse in the privacy of your home; you are still able to maintain a decent level of fitness while at the office.

If you look online, there are more office exercises than one can extend a desk donkey kick at, but the set from the NHS seems very sensible (and achievable). In part due to their suggestion to:

‘Wear loose, comfortable clothing and keep some water handy.’

We say as much as we know how easy it is to let workplace routines fall aside when you’re not in your usual workspace. Like taking regular breaks.  Stepping away from your desk.  Refilling your water jug or replenishing your water bottle at the office water cooler.

Taking breaks and exercising (even during working hours) are important, however, maintaining good hydration habits, by drinking water regularly, is vital to your well-being and ability to work smarter and not necessarily harder.

If you would like to install a water dispenser, hot & cold water cooler, hot water boiler or Instant Tap in your office, contact us at AquAid.  We’re nationwide for your convenience.

AquAid – How does Hydration Aid Education?

AquAid – How does Hydration Aid Education?

With 24 January being International Day of Education, we thought it important to highlight an often overlooked yet crucial solution which aids children’s education.

Dehydration in children can be difficult to spot

Most children show no obvious visible signs of dehydration, as symptoms such as lethargy, irritability and lack of concentration may be considered normal during class, more often in the afternoon however, we now know that these signs may be due, at least in part, to the effects of dehydration.

The brain cannot store water

No matter the age of the schoolgoer, learning requires the brain’s engagement. Because the brain has no way to store water, drinking water continually throughout the day is vital. When the body loses more water than is being replaced, dehydration occurs and brain function can be affected.

However, when the brain is operating with plenty of water, children are able to have greater clarity, creativity, focus and quicker thought processes.

Well-maintained hydration can boost learning

When we are thirsty, mental performance including memory, attention and concentration can decrease by up to 15 percent. Children are better able to concentrate as they are not as distracted by dehydration effects such as thirst, tiredness and irritability.

The role of nurseries, schools and learning centres

Children will achieve more when both their health and learning needs are met. Ensuring free access to water and promoting a regular water intake throughout the school day is a vital role for schools in promoting health and providing a healthy learning environment.

For more than two decades, AquAid has been involved in campaigns spearheading the importance of drinking water. We understand a hydrated child is a much happier child. Consequently, we have always encouraged our school customers to provide readily available drinking water for both the children and the entire school contingent.

Drawing from our wide range of high quality water dispensers, we offer a selection of Mains-Fed water coolers for large schools where the water consumption is high as well as Bottle-Fed water coolers for either smaller educational facilities or where there are no water mains available at a drinking water area.

We provide Touch-Free water coolers. Our water coolers are equipped with anti-bacterial taps for increased hygienic water dispensing and various drainage options to reduce overflow and spillage wherever possible.

Moreover, to help create and instil better hydration habits, we also offer free refillable drinking water bottles and free school posters to help keep water top of mind during the school day.