Don’t feel hungover…
Drink Water. I know, it’s a boring topic, but it is seriously the cheapest easiest way to help you feel better. Drinking water with things like tea, coffee and squash doesn’t’ really count (although it is better than nothing!). The average adult needs to drink 4 pints of water a day. When you drink tea and coffee or soda and squash, you actually need to consume more! Your body has to work harder to clear the extras when drinking all those fancy drinks, so you actually end up with a bit of a deficit.
Oh Spongebob… You need to make sure you drink water BEFORE you ever experience thirst. Thirst is actually a later stage sign of dehydration. Other signs include dry, chapped lips, fatigue, dry mouth, decreased urine output, or extra concentrated urine (dark yellow coloured).
I’m originally from Florida, so drinking water was just a way to stay cool. Here in the northeast, I know how much more difficult it is to want to drink cold water when it’s already so cold outside. I find if I’m needing a hot drink (after I’ve had my 2 cuppa a day quota), I boil the keetle, slice a lemon, and pour the hot water over the lemon. It’s a gentler way to have a ‘tea’ without taxing the filtration system of the body so much. And it’s hydrating!
Do whatever you need to get more pure water into your day. The most common advice I give is start drinking an extra glass of water a day. For example, if you are currently consuming zero glasses of water in a day, just start with one 8 ounce glass of water a day for the next week. The following week, I will ask you to drink two glasses of water a day… can you see what we are doing here? This method helps your body get used to the extra water so it won’t make you have an irritable bladder. However, if drinking more water is your excuse for more breaks at work, I’m happy for you to use that as an excuse too!
