There isn’t a human on planet Earth who would argue that they don’t need water. Yet such a large number of humanity neglects its most essential substance. Think of yourself like a hot air balloon, except instead of hot air, you are filled with up to 60% water. If a hot air balloon has no hot air, it can’t float around aimlessly. If you don’t have water, you can’t human around aimlessly…Yeah, I got your number.
Here are 5 reasons you should be hydrating early and often that you may not have previously considered.
Hipster poncho is not required for your early morning glass of water.
(Photo by Autri Taheri on Unsplash)
You lose a ton of water when you sleep
Respiration and perspiration are two things people do in their sleep. It’s obvious that you become less hydrated whenever you sweat (perspiration), but it’s also true that with every exhale (respiration), water also leaves your body. Eight hours of sleep is probably the longest time you go each day without hydrating, all while breathing and sweating. Tomorrow when you wake up, ask yourself if you’re thirsty.
In the morning routine, I prescribe for my clients, a large bottle of water is the first thing they put in their mouth each morning.
PT and dehydration is a recipe for the silver bullet…If you know what I mean.
Photo by Lance Cpl. Jesula Jeanlouis
You need water to lubricate your joints and muscles
A study on dehydrated men measured muscle soreness and water intake, and found that soreness became worse the more dehydrated the subjects were. This makes sense, as water is what makes your blood flow through your veins. Your blood transports repair cells and new proteins to your muscles to repair them. If you’re dehydrated, of course, it would take longer to repair any pain points in the body.
Many of our joints are buffered by little pillows of fluid that act as shocks for our movement. In a dehydrated state, those bursae are much worse at absorbing the impact on our joints.
If you are going to train first thing in the morning, or do anything that requires you to use your body, it is a great idea to lubricate your joints and muscles before going to battle.
Cranky and confused as to how you got so lost in the middle of some mountain range.
(Photo by Martin Jernberg on Unsplash)
A 1% loss of water will make you cranky
Doesn’t sound terrible, but since mornings are the time of day when people are the most cranky, why add one more element into the mix. Life is hard enough, you can make it a little easier by having a glass of water. It’s that simple.
To clarify the study, if you lose 1% of your body weight in water, you will start to feel adverse effects, including crankiness and fatigue. If you’re a 200-pound male, that’s a 2-pound loss. This is easily possible after a hard workout in a hot gym or in a full combat load. It’s even more common just from neglect and consumption of diuretics (coffee) in the morning.
At 2% dehydration you’d probably be too dumb to figure out how to drink with your gas mask on.
(Photo by Master Sgt. Ralph Kapustka)
A 2% loss of water will make you stupider
Same study as above but worse results.
Let’s just assume you have a job in which you are required to do physically demanding things, then immediately afterwards are expected to make decisions that put your friend’s lives on the line.
*cough* *cough* Am I speaking to the right audience here?
A 2% loss of water will make you measurably worse at those decisions. This takes that CamelBak slogan “hydrate or die” to an uncomfortably realistic level.
If you start your day in a deficit by not hydrating and then do a bunch of training that leaves you in a further deficit, a 2% loss of water is not only possible, but probably a common occurrence.
No more late night home urinalysis sessions if you heed this wise advice…
(Marine Corps Installations West – Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton)
More water early means less waking up to squirt
The most practical reason to drink water early in your day is to practice what I call front-loaded hydration.
The older I get, the more often I have to wake up in the middle of the night to piss. I know this is common from looking at the research, talking to my peers, and from checking that my prostate isn’t inflamed.
This is why I recommend front-loading water intake early in the day.
You need to drink to hydrate. Five clear urinations a day is what you should be aiming for to ensure you are getting enough fluids for all of your body processes.
However, there is no law that says that you need to drink an equivalent amount of water at each meal or in each hour of the day. By drinking the majority of your water early in the day, you are lowering your water requirement just before bed. This means fewer late-night runs to the head and more uninterrupted sleep.
You will die from no water faster than you’ll die from no food. BUT, you’ll die from no sleep before you die from dehydration. High quality sleep is the key to a happy and healthy life. Develop some hydration practices to facilitate more restful sleep.
