2022 brings about many goals and aspirations for the next twelve months. For example, a few enlightening and exciting goals are learning new skills, picking up new hobbies, traveling to another country, or the pursuit of losing weight and redefining our bodies through a well-rounded fitness routine.
Twelve months offer plenty of time to set goals, lay plans, and accomplish them. It’s essential to have a solid foundation of physical, mental, and emotional health to bring us to the finish line with an overwhelming feeling of accomplishing such an audacious goal. Appreciating the work our bodies and minds endure when working hard at our jobs, managing sleep, and the energy we spend within our social relationships are all significant factors allowing us to live out our goals. However, we aren’t going anywhere if we are sick, injured, or out of shape.
To develop a healthy foundation of physical, psychological, and emotional health, setting the groundwork of a healthy diet and sufficient exercise schedule are some of the most critical factors for optimal health. Finding a local gym and showing up two to three days per week is a fantastic start. Ensuring to avoid too many sweets and alcohol consumption are also pertinent tactics. However, let’s peel back the onion even more to unveil one of the simplest, yet effective, tactics to refine our healthy lifestyle efforts: the amount of water we drink. If I were to reveal any secret to revising our health and fitness tactics without conducting a six-month lifetime fitness coaching course, it would be to drink more water.
Water makes up about seventy percent of our body. However, if we think about what our bodies are filled with, we might appreciate water more. Blood is a liquid. Any liquid needs water. Our blood carries electrolytes, vitamins and minerals, hormones, carbohydrates, proteins, healthy fats, and most importantly, oxygen to our body’s cells and working organs. A lack of water concentration in our blood leaves us with a thicker and more viscous consistency in our blood.
Imagine a creek stream that hasn’t seen any rain in a few months. The flow of water slows down and resembles a pool instead of a stream. When there is a blockage in our plumbing lines, the flow of water to a faucet is reduced. Too much grease being poured down the drain of a kitchen sink causes the water mixed with the grease to form a thick, dense fluid that travels slowly down the drain. These examples of water flowing in vessels associated with the delivery of water in our society are similar to the plumbing we have in our arteries and veins responsible for transporting blood. Suppose we have a slow-moving stream of blood in our bodies. In that case, the delivery of vital substances to our bodies is significantly decreased, increasing the possibility of contracting diseases and becoming physically weak. Illness and suboptimal physical strength can lead to a downward spiral which significantly hinders the ability to achieve the lofty goals we wish to accomplish in 2022.
Here are a few simple additions that serve as solutions to consuming more water in our everyday life activities:
- Drink a full glass of water first thing in the morning: As we sleep anywhere from six to eight hours, we enter one of the most prolonged periods throughout our day where little to no water is consumed. In other words, we wake up in a dehydrated state. Therefore, immediately after waking, fill a full glass of water to the brim and drink the entire glass. By implementing this routine every morning, the body will be primed up for the day and avoid insufficient hydration levels.
- Drink a glass of water after each meal: It’s easy to forget to drink water throughout the day. However, if we consciously connect a glass of water with an activity, we might drink more throughout our day. A ritual that will help us regularly consume water throughout our busy days might be to install the cue of drinking water right after a meal. For example, if we partake five meals per day, perhaps we can consume twelve ounces of water after each meal. This equates to sixty ounces of water.
- Aim to consume ninety-six ounces of water per day: Thirty-two ounces are in a liter. There is a wide array of bottled water companies that come in this size. By simply buying one of these bottles, drinking it, refilling it, and drinking it again, we can efficiently drink sixty-four ounces of water. Combine this with the water consumed from drinking a glass first thing in the morning and the ritual of drinking water after each meal; we can manageably meet drinking ninety-six ounces of water.
2022 will be an exciting new year of health, activity, and accolades waiting to be conquered. To start the year off healthy, we can immediately make our lives bodies, minds, and spirits healthier.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
