glass of water

How To Drink More Water (and 3 Reasons Why You Should)

If given the choice between water or a sugary beverage, most of us would probably choose the sugary beverage. Sugar is one of the most addictive substances on the planet, and if you live in the south, chances are, lemonade and sweet tea are your go-to drinks on a hot summer day. But I can promise you they are not doing your body any good, and if you keep consuming large amounts of sugar, you’re likely to see a steep decline in your overall health.

The fact is, we need water. We can’t survive without it, and nothing quenches your thirst quite like it—not soda, lemonade, sweet tea or Gatorade. And don’t let fancy brands like “Vitamin Water” fool you into thinking they’re better than the real thing, because they’re not. Far from it, in fact.

Good old-fashioned, filtered water is better than any other beverage you can put into your body, and here are 2 reasons why you need to consume more of it on a daily basis:

The human body is more than 60% water.

The brain and muscles are 75% water and bones are about 22% water. Blood is 92% water. (That’s pretty significant, considering blood is the very substance running through our veins.) You can’t go more than a week without drinking water and expect to survive. Your body needs it to live and to thrive.

75% of Americans may suffer from chronic dehydration.

When you wake up in the morning, you are most dehydrated due to the fact that you haven’t had water since before going to sleep. Not drinking water throughout the day leads to further dehydration. A lack of necessary fluids can cause multiple symptoms such as weight gain, disease, fatigue, and can even result in death.

So, we know that we need to drink more H2O, but how do we go about doing it? My suggestion is to make it a habit through daily repetition. Once it becomes a habit, doing it will be like second nature to you. Here are a few suggestions to help you make drinking more water a habit:

1. Know how much water you need.

Forget the standard recommendation of 8 to 10 glasses a day. In reality, you should be drinking at least half of your body weight in ounces of water every day. That means that if you weigh 150 pounds, you should drink at least 75 ounces of water a day to satisfy your body’s requirement.

2. Buy a water filter.

Filtered water is much more palatable and free from toxic chemicals. If you’re drinking water that doesn’t contain chlorine or heavy metals, you’ll enjoy the taste and be willing to drink more of it.

3. Squeeze fresh lemon into your water.

This also helps improve the taste. Plus lemon has detoxifying effects, which will improve your overall health. If you want to make homemade lemonade, consider using a natural sweetener, such as liquid stevia, in place of sugar.

4. Drink a full glass as soon as you wake up in the morning.

Before you brush your teeth, wash your face, work out or take a shower, make it a habit to drink at least one 16-oz. glass of water to recover from and prevent dehydration. Doing so will also help instill the habit into your daily routine and counts toward your daily required amount.

Do you struggle to drink enough water? Print this post and stick it on your refrigerator as a daily reminder to yourself, and if you found these suggestions helpful, share them with your friends and ask them to hold you accountable to these actions on a regular basis!

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