I don't know about where you live, but it's getting hot in Denver! Water isn't a seasonal trend; it's essential all year round, during all stages of life and for every body.

Water is a staple of health, it's necessary for our body to function properly like maintain electrolyte balance, aide with digestion and move waste out of the body, keeps our skin looking fresh, essential for the building and structure of our cells, helps us sweat, creates saliva and digestive enzymes, is a component of our blood, lubricates our joints and protects our major organs. Not to mention, water makes up 60% of the adult body.

I know you probably know how important water is, but do you drink enough?

A general rule is to drink half your weight in ounces daily. For example, I weigh 150 lbs., so I aim to drink around 75 ounces daily, give or take, given the day's activities, like if I'm spending a lot of time outdoors and getting sweaty. I carry a 25 oz. S'well water bottle with me EVERYWHERE. It comes in the car with me, to work, to the gym, meeting friends, on my bedside table, you get it. If I drink three of these a day, I'm set, but to be honest, I usually drink more, I run pretty thirsty.

Hydration isn't solely about drinking enough water, but also making sure our body has a balance between water and electrolytes. The food you eat also plays a role in hydration, because some fruits and vegetables are made up of mostly water and electrolytes, like umm watermelon! Hot summer months are a perfect time to sneak fresh and hydrating produce into your routine like celery or bell pepper sticks for a snack, fresh cucumber or tomatoes into salads and sandwiches, watermelon for breakfast- yum, or enjoying pineapple or berries for a midday pick-me-up!

A good indicator of hydration? Pale or colorless urine. The more yellow-hued your urine, the more likely you need to drink more water, unless it's from vitamins. Also, by the time you experience physical thirst, there's a good chance you're already at some stage of dehydration. Other signs could be headache, fatigue, brain fog and even not enough trips to the bathroom.

Dehydration is considered to be a loss of water or excess loss of water compared to salt. Dehydration decreases the body's ability to circulate oxygen and nutrients and thus affects our ability to perform, whether it be exercise or cognitive. This is caused by either reduced plasma volume or changes in how our sweat glands work (like sweating less or not at all) in order to save water. Due to these changes, we may start to experience muscle cramps, exhaustion and heat stroke (no good) (1).

If you are a long-distance runner, etc. and logging exercise for 2-3+ hours, it is essential to replace electrolytes lost by refueling with salt tabs, gels and goos (Gropper, 2013). For those that are exercising for a shorter duration, a post workout meal should replace the nutrients lost- one of the reasons why it is so important to refuel after every workout!

*Fun Fact: I actually have first hand experience with exercise induced dehydration. I was hospitalized in 2014 after running my first marathon in LA. I ran the race, I finished, I made it home, but something wasn't right. I drank water and refueled during the race, but as it turns out, not as much as I should have. I felt as if I were to fall asleep, I'd never wake up again, my heart was pounding so hard. I had to stay the night there, I cried, I just wanted to eat pizza and clean my armpits, it was brutal. One of the reasons why I think accurate hydration awareness and information is important, but for everyone, not just marathon runners.

I love my S'well water bottle because it holds a good amount of water, keeps its temperature for 12 hrs and comes in a variety of sizes, colors and cool patterns. Most importantly, they care about creating a clean environment, giving to charities and it was founded by a woman, Sarah Kauss!

Want to find a perfect Swell for you? Browse some S'wells on the link below:

S'well Stainless Steel Water Bottle

My favorite tip is to purchase a water bottle you like! Not something that's easily discarded, if you lost it, you wouldn't care. Write down a reminder to fill it up and bring it with you. I don't recommend going out and purchasing a case of water bottles. More often than not, the water you're drinking is filled with microscopic pieces of plastic, never mind the plastic waste it produces. The World Health Organization recently launched a review to determine the risks of drinking tiny pieces of plastic in your water. If you're interested in reading more click here.

Not to mention, it takes approximately 450 years for those plastic water bottles to decompose! But they never fully decompose, just turn into smaller and smaller bits, that sneak into our water supply and get eaten by fish and other animals (https://futurism.com/plastic-decomposition/). Do the planet and your body a favor by investing in a reusable water bottle and a filtration system, if it's within your budget and necessary given your areas water supply.

*Plastic rant over*

So let's say you are currently drinking approximately 30 oz. a day and using the general rule, you should be drinking 75 oz. That's a huge leap! If you find that a little discouraging, start small; trying drink 10 or more ounces this week. Put a glass of water at your bedside table, drink it before you fall asleep- or if you worried about waking up to pee, drinking it an hour before bed. Then when you wake up, chug another glass. If you do this at morning/night you've already increased your water intake by 16 ounces! Not bad! Keep increasing your daily intake weekly until you reach your goal.

Thankfully, there a handful of free apps that help you track your water intake in a fun way and will send you reminders to drink up! To name a few:

My Water Balance
Daily Water Tracker
Drink Water Reminder

If you download and use one of these, please comment which one you try, what you like/don't like and if it's helping you drink more water!

Although the focus of this post is the importance of drinking enough water, I do want to mention that it is possible to drink TOO MUCH water. Electrolyte balance (like sodium) is important for our body to maintain hydration, if you're drinking an excessive amount of water, and I mean a lot, the salt level in your blood can drop too low and cause hyponatremia, which is very serious, although uncommon, unless your an endurance athlete that isn't refueling properly or due to certain medical conditions.

If you find yourself excessively thirsty and think you might be drinking too much, try adding a pinch of sea salt to your water. Table salt will not work, please do not use that as an alternative, as it does not contain the same mineral content as sea salt. Sea salt contains potassium and sodium which will help to balance out and improve hydration.

Now go take a swig of water!