Hydration can help you avoid unnecessary surgeries, pain, and suffering.
The body is designed for survival and will adapt to almost anything with the proper resources. Your choice of drink, food, and supplements directly affects your ability to stay hydrated.
Being adequately hydrated affects how your body communicates with itself. The topic of hydration; how to hydrate properly, how to stay hydrated, and how to test if you aren’t hydrated is discussed.
When you are dehydrated, there is a lack of electrical current. All communications between mind and body slow down. Dehydration may explain feeling tired or cloudy.
Hydration when adequate will resolve so many problems. Problems will be avoided as you learn how important it is to hydrate.
Electrical current is needed for the nerves of the body to work correctly. The electrical neural net system in the fascia (a jellyfish type goo substance) is the stimulant for your ATP (energy) to be turned on.
Alcohol, prescription medications, and the use of some supplements promote dehydration. For example, turmeric has benefits, but when taken daily can dehydrate you. The focus on staying hydrated becomes more critical, depending on what you are putting in your body.
To illustrate a secondary level of body pain associated with dehydration, let’s look at the spine. The spinal column has a natural separation. Between each vertebra are a disc and fluid.
When you are dehydrated, less space exists between the vertebra, and the result is often grinding discs, which can result in bulging and protruding discs. Hydration is a primary key for not wearing your spinal column out.
Balancing Your PH
It is essential to understand how the body’s inner world of pH challenges hydration. Highly acidic food and drinks such as soda rob the body of minerals taking from organs, cells, tissues, and bones.
When the body’s pH balance is acidic, electrolytes are used to combat this imbalance, which promotes dehydration. A person’s bone density and why a person would easily break bones is in part due to the body’s quantity of minerals.
Liquid Intake
During various bodywork sessions, clients communicated stories of the family members having car wrecks. Neither wreck was severe; however, one resulted in ruptured discs, and the other resulted in many broken bones. In both cases, the persons involved drank mostly diet soda.
Soda causes leeching in the bones, which causes excess calcium to enter the bloodstream that can result in kidney stones. The kidneys regulate electrolytes and all liquids. If your kidney area feels uncomfortable, this is something to notice and check-in to see if you are hydrated.
Diet
Diet and pH go hand in hand. Choosing what to eat and drink directly influences the process of hydration and your alkaline versus acid balance. Your body wants to maintain an average pH level of 7, which is neutral. If you drink more alkaline water than acidic liquids, your body does not have to work hard to balance at a pH of 7. However, the opposite is not exactly true.
Certain foods and beverages promote an acid pH in your body. They include sugar, gluten, processed foods, coffee, dairy, meat, carbonated water, artificial sweeteners, soda, alcohol, and fried foods. Your body has to work harder when you have an acid promoting diet.
Why stress your body more by eating against your alkalinity and ultimately challenging your ability to hydrate?
The Earth and You
Humans are 70+% water by makeup similar to the earth. Coincidence, I think not. Dehydration is the loss of body water, with or without salt, at a rate higher than the body can replace it.
To keep hydrated, you cannot drink in excess the next day for what you did not drink the day before. More time is needed to saturate. Just like draining a lake, it is not going to fill up overnight magically.
Take hydration seriously because you are a microcosm of the whole, and as you heal, so does the world around you. Staying hydrated is the first step to health. You matter!
Overheating Is Serious
If you perform strenuous workouts, long runs, or any activity that heats the body while you are dehydrated, you are walking on thin ice. And that ice won’t help cool your body. And neither will the natural cooling processes of your internal system. The natural cooling processes of your body can’t occur when your body is both dehydrated and overheated.
When the body core temperature reaches 108 F and you are dehydrated a systematic shut down of your body/organs takes place. You begin to burn from the inside.
Even a slight overheating while dehydrated challenges the systems of the body. If you repeatedly overheat your body when dehydrated, 4 or more times within a short period, complete healing cannot happen naturally. The internal burning of the body is eating muscle and will also cause muscles to tear. This level of repeated overheating kills your pancreas and then causes cirrhosis of the liver. The thyroid stops working, and the body systems are continually stressed, resulting in a slow shut down of the rest of the organs.
Eight to ten years later, with no resolution, this condition can be fatal. Alcohol only amplifies the problem.
Most people feeling pain resort to drugs, drink, or prescription meds to cope. Unfortunately, these methods mask pain and often hurt you more in the long run. Once the internal burning begins, the temperature in the head and the body cavity are not the same, and the body cannot regulate itself properly.
Eastern medicine will resolve this condition. Applying the medicine using chi (energy) and the proper bodywork technique is crucial. Knowing how to read these signs when assessing the person is everything.
Severe Dehydration
Please keep in mind that severe dehydration can lead to death, and the only way to prevent any of these maladies is to stay hydrated.
A Test For Dehydration
How to know if you are dehydrated? A quick and easy test for dehydration is in your hands. Use two fingers and gently pinch the skin on the back of your hand (not the palm). Do not pull up to release, instead let go. When your skin bounces back to flat quickly, you are hydrated. If it takes more time than immediately, you may be moderately dehydrated. If the skin is prolonged to return you are severely dehydrated. You are massively dehydrated when you let go and your skin is standing up like a tent.
This test only requires you, and you can test anyone else just as quickly. Simple, fast, and accurate. Based on your results act accordingly. In the case of severe dehydration “tenting of the skin” see a good doctor or visit the REMEDY ROOM (if you are in New Orleans) for a fast way to hydrate safely.
Symptoms Of Dehydration
Some symptoms and signs that you are dehydrated may also include: the color of your urine is dark, dry skin, confusion or crankiness, cramping in your muscles, cravings for sugar, headaches, fatigue, increased thirst, and the list goes on. Knowing what it feels like to be hydrated is a good gauge for knowing when something feels off.
How To Hydrate
How do you hydrate? Electrolytes are lost when dehydration occurs, and they get flushed out of your system when consuming too much water. Have you ever seen the jugs of water with cut lemons with the peel still attached?
Lemon is a great detoxifier for the liver
The skin for lemon and lime have naturally occurring electrolytes. When consumed, these electrolytes absorb into the muscles. Drinking water is necessary, and to make sure the water reaches your cellular system squeezing lemon or lime into the water is beneficial. Drinking juice with low sugar content mixed with water works well for those not interested in just water.
Soda, coffee, and other beverages can affect the acidity/alkaline level required to be at homeostasis. It is important not to overstress the body. Note drinking water is ideal for hydration. However, you can drink electrolyte drinks like Gatorade; although, the dyes used are not the best for your body, and the sugar levels tend to be high. Pedialyte, the clear choice versus the flavored/colored for the same reason is better. These drinks usually contain a preservative which has a downside. However, it is hard to avoid. Both of these options contain electrolytes which assist in hydration. Another option is buying a substitute electrolyte powder to add to your water.
Time Frame For Proper Hydration
How long does it take to hydrate? The best option is to remain hydrated and to check in with your body regularly to know where you stand. Pedialyte every other day helps speed the hydration process. The average time can be close to three weeks to hydrate the whole body properly.
However, it can take from three to six weeks or more to properly hydrate a body. If you drink water with lemon or lime and occasionally sprinkle sea salt or substitute electrolytes in your water hydration can occur more rapidly. Once hydrated to stay hydrated follow the same suggestions daily.
How Much Liquid And Which Foods Keep Me Hydrated?
The magic question is how much do I need to drink to stay hydrated? A general rule of thumb is if you are thirsty you are already dehydrated. The body needs four ounces every thirty minutes throughout the day.
A macro guideline is to divide your body weight in half and drink slightly more than that in ounces each day. The body should get 80% of its water via liquid and 20% via food. Good suggestions for hydrating foods are soups and watermelon.
Watermelon is a great source for hydration
Watermelon is an excellent source for electrolytes, which is a crucial requirement for staying hydrated. Taking into consideration your activity and bodyweight the real answer must be determined by you and how you feel. You have the signs to check and have been shown a simple test of pinching your hand to understand. To stay truly healthy, you must self-doctor(care), and monitor hydration happens faster. Your well being.
Become educated and informed. If you are thirsty drink (water). As you become in tune, when you ask your body/system/gut, the answers inside will guide you well. Staying hydrated is not rocket science. Living a healthy life includes staying hydrated, and being hydrated is important enough to merit your inner scientist pay attention.
We have a course on hydration
Take Back Your Life
By staying hydrated, you take back your life from the lows of dehydration. Do it!
Stay hydrated my friends.