Feel Great Drinking… is it just about thirst?

Ican still hear my mother declaring, when I was a child, ‘I don’t ever get thirsty,’ and almost being proud of the fact. She claimed drinking (far too many) cups of strong tea every day was enough. Today, lovely readers, as that sunshine starts to get warmer, we’re not going to talk about being parched in the Sahara, but about everyday hydration.

Our bodies are 60% water

(I can remember that from O-level biology) and we lose it gradually through the day – not just by sweating, but through evaporation, breathing, weeing and in our stools. So it all needs to be topped up. All those nutrients in our blood are carried along much more efficiently if we are well hydrated.

Think of it as a tidal wave of goodness. If you’re parched, then everything slows down and the heart has to react to this sluggish blood flow by trying to pump even faster to heave the thick blood around your body. Hence, you might notice your pulse rate rise, even when you’re seated.

Cells that don’t maintain a good balance of fluids can shrivel and don’t function as well, and those laughter lines become disconcertingly deep after a few hours without water. We become less alert, our concentration levels drop and lethargy sets in, possibly followed by a low mood. Headaches, nausea

(I’m on a roll now!), cracked lips, constipation and bad breath can all be consequences, too. Muscles will also fatigue without nourishment from water, and I don’t just mean after a workout.

Sometimes we think that we’re hungry when actually we have a raging thirst. The NHS recommends six to eight glasses of water per day, but we’re going to dispense with tiresome counting and take a simpler approach – a litre bottle filled up twice each day. That is our hydration challenge and we’ll view it as a valuable serum for our insides. Let’s get glugging!