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Habit #1 for September:
Drink enough water
It's the most
amazing substance in the universe. It's the only substance found naturally on Earth in all three states of matter -- solid,
liquid, and gas. It's what makes life on our planet possible.
It's the foundation
of all known life. Photosynthesis uses it to create energy. The body's metabolic processes rely on it.
You can survive
weeks without food, but only a few days without water.
You swim through
it, skate over it, bathe in it, cook with it. It creates energy to run machines. It's in the air you breathe. It
can break down mountains and carve deep canyons. It is literally marvelous -- something to marvel at!
SO WHY
AREN'T YOU DRINKING ENOUGH OF IT?!
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It's a fact that
most of us don't drink nearly enough water.
Fluid, yes, but
water, no.
There are plenty
of excuses for not drinking water, but there are only two real reasons:
Your local water
is bad.
You’d rather
drink something with flavor.
Time for our
very first rule:
Rule #1: Any beverage that is not water,
juice, broth, or milk is a Potion and should be treated as such.
Step One: Learn why drinking lots of water is so important.
- Your body is made mostly of water (somewhere between 60 and 70 percent) but your brain is
nearly 85% water!
- You need a constant supply of water to provide enough liquid for your blood and other fluids
to function properly, and to maintain your blood pressure.
- You are constantly losing water to the atmosphere just by breathing. During hot weather, or
when you’re sick, or when you exercise you can lose a phenomenal amount of water very quickly.
- You may not be literally dying of thirst, but you are probably elevating your blood pressure,
feeling fatigued, and possibly overeating to compensate for your lack of proper hydration.
- Even under the best of circumstances, moderate to severe dehydration is always only a few
hours away. Here is a quick rule of thumb. If You Feel Thirsty You Are Already Mildly
Dehydrated!
- The early stages of dehydration may show no symptoms at all. You might also be ignoring those
first signals. You can feel thirsty for several hours without realizing it, especially
when your mind is occupied with something else.
Do you ever experience
mild fatigue for no apparent reason? What about mental fogginess? Maybe you just
put it down to the weather or “having a bad day” but it could very easily be caused by mild dehydration. The next
time it happens to you, quickly calculate how much water you’ve had in the last 24 hours and it’s a good bet that
it was less than your body needed.
How often do
you grab something to eat because you’re “kind of hungry?” We frequently misinterpret thirst signals as
hunger signals. People typically get 40% of their fluid needs from their food, so it’s understandable that the two signals
might sometimes get confused. The next time you have an attack of “the nibbles” try drinking 12 or more ounces
of water and waiting about 20 minutes before munching on something. If you were
actually thirsty and not hungry the craving may have passed by that time.
Many people live
for years in an almost constant state of mild dehydration without even realizing it. Most of them believe that they're
drinking plenty of water. But are they? If you made a list of every bit of liquid you’ve consumed in the last
24 hours how much of it was just plain water, with no additives?
For many people
the answer would be “little or none” and much of the fluid they did take in was diuretic, which means it actually
causes water to be flushed out of the kidneys much quicker than normal.
Beverages with
caffeine or alcohol are common diuretics. Did you know that for every ounce of a caffeinated beverage you take in, your body
flushes out the same amount or more!
“What’s
the big deal?” you might be thinking. “Didn't you just say that you
can be dehydrated for years with no ill effects?”
Actually, I didn’t. Just because people can be dehydrated for years and still live doesn’t mean
they’re living well. Chronic dehydration:
- dulls your mental abilities
- makes your hair dry and brittle
- makes your skin wrinkle
- contributes to high blood pressure
- contributes to obesity
- makes you feel tired and sleepy
- makes your muscles cramp
- disturbs your sleep patterns
- causes or worsens stomach problems like heartburn, gastritis, and reflux
- makes depression worse
- aggravates arthritis
- aggravates chronic headache pain
And those are
just the effects that are well-documented. There are probably many other conditions
that are worsened by dehydration.
For instance, did you know that one major cause of the misery of crapulam alcoholis -- what Muggles call a “hangover” -- is not the damaging effects of the alcohol itself, but
the severe dehydration it causes!
Step Two: Learn why it’s important to control/limit your intake of all other beverages.
Let’s
review:
Rule #1: Any beverage that is not water, juice, broth, or milk
is a potion and should be treated as such.
The English
word potion comes from the Latin root word potare, which means “to drink.”
In its earliest days, “potionis” simply meant “beverage,” as opposed to “aqua,”
which is the word for “water”.
Over time
the word “potion” came to imply a beverage that had certain effects on the body. Some potions are curative, and
therefore medicinal. Others are deadly, and that is why the English word “poison”
is so closely related to “potion.” They both share the same root
word.
For this
class I consider any beverage that contains caffeine, alcohol, added sugar, or human-made non-nutritive ingredients (artificial
sweeteners, colors, or other chemical abominations) to be a Potion. I will accept no arguments on the subject.
- Water with a twist of lemon is not a potion but lemonade is.
- Apple juice is not a potion but hard cider is.
- Warm milk is not a potion but chocolate milk is.
I think
all of you would agree with me that one should only consume very limited quantities of any alcoholic beverages, even once
you are “of legal age.”
And you
are probably already cautious with very high calorie beverages. For instance,
while an occasional mug of butterbeer is certainly delicious, you probably shouldn’t have more than one per day.
And you
certainly wouldn’t willingly consume poison! The mere thought is just too
ghastly!
No, no
-- the potions that many of you are going to fight me over are those many, many
tempting beverages that have the drug caffeine as an ingredient. Not surprisingly, they are also the ones that are most likely
to contain artificial ingredients.
Make no
mistake. Caffeine is a drug. It is actually used to treat headache and
fatigue, and seems to improve the workings of certain other medicines. Muggles,
for instance, add it to the pain medicine they call “aspirin,” while wizard healers mix it with willow bark-based
concoctions (which, not surprisingly, contain the same basic ingredient as aspirin but in its natural form). Beverages that
contain caffeine are medicinal in nature and should be treated as such.
And there
is no difference between caffeine that comes from coffee, caffeine that comes from tea (theine), caffeine that comes from
guarana (guaranine), caffeine that comes from yerba maté (mateine), or caffeine that comes from kola nuts or cocoa. From an
alchemist’s perspective, they’re all identical.
Neither
a wizard healer nor a Muggle “doctor” would recommend taking 8-10 doses of this medicine per day. Yet that is precisely what many people commonly consume! You
don’t need to be an arithmancer to do the math – two to three cups of coffee in the morning, a cup of tea with
lunch, several carbonated beverages in the afternoon, dessert coffee with dinner – goodness! It’s no wonder many people have difficulty sleeping!
Consider
the following facts.
Caffeine
helps other drugs work better but it can also cause headache pain. If you regularly drink beverages containing this
drug you can get a whopping headache if you abstain for a day. This is because the blood vessels in your brain are expanding
back to their normal size and cause painful pressure, and thus, headache.. (Did I mention that caffeine causes your blood vessels to constrict? cough *drug*
cough)
Caffeine
causes dehydration by inhibiting ADH (Anti
Diuretic Hormone). ADH normally causes your kidneys to reabsorb water. Without enough ADH your kidneys won’t save sufficient
water, which then leads to dehydration.
Caffeine
perks you up by causing your body to release its own stored sugar into your bloodstream. While this does suppress your appetite
initially, when the caffeine wears off your blood sugar plummets and you feel hungrier and more tired than when you started.
If you are prone to binge eating you can probably blame your caffeine intake for
making the problem worse.
Caffeine
also makes your body release epinephrine (aka adrenaline). Adrenaline is the chemical your body releases to help you run away
from enemies. High levels of adrenaline cause an increased heart rate, dilated pupils, increased blood sugar released from
the liver, faster breathing, and blood vessel contraction. If you have problems with anxiety,
this is something you absolutely must avoid!
The half-life
of caffeine is about 3 to 4 hours in adults. The half-life is the amount of time it takes your body to get rid of 1/2 the
caffeine you drank at a given time. That means you should not drink caffeine within about 6 hours of bedtime or you may have
trouble falling asleep. (The half-life in a newborn baby may be as long as 30
hours!)
Adenosine
is the brain’s sleep-inducing chemical and caffeine prevents adenosine from doing its job. Caffeine molecules actually
take the place of adenosine molecules in your brain, preventing you from becoming
drowsy and dropping naturally off to sleep. This is great if you need to stay up all night or be particularly alert late
in the day, but not so great if you have to get up early the next morning.
Caffeine
is rather addictive. There’s even a word for the body’s addiction to caffeine – caffeinism. Caffeine increases the brain’s level of dopamine, the chemical that stimulates the part of your
brain that controls pleasure. While this may sound like a good thing, keep in mind that serious drugs like amphetamines, heroin,
and cocaine alter dopamine levels in a similar, albeit much stronger, way. The effects of caffeine are much less severe
than those of amphetamines, but they are similar.
“What
was that?” you say. “Addiction??? But Professor Swede! It’s
only caffeine! It’s not exactly deadly, is it then?”
Isn’t
it? While it’s nearly impossible to drink enough caffeinated beverages
for an overdose, Muggles have now developed caffeine pills that make it possible to actually take a fatal dose.
While
I don’t believe that most of you would abuse the substance to that degree, you need to realize that even a mild overdose
is unpleasant. It can cause:
-
dizziness
-
rapid
heartbeat
-
blurred
vision
-
drowsiness
-
flushed
dry skin
-
dry
mouth
-
dehydration
-
loss
of healthy appetite
-
nausea
-
stomachache
A more
severe overdose might cause those symptoms, plus:
Drug!!!!!
OK, then.
Step 3: Follow a new rule.
Rule
#2: Resolve to drink enough water to hydrate your body well every single day.
I don't need extendable ears
to hear all the groaning out there.
"But I hate drinking water!"
"I can't get going in the
morning without coffee!"
"Drinking _________ is my
only bad health habit -- I'm not going to give it up!"
"I play sports -- plain water
just doesn't cut it!"
"Wahhh!"
Believe me, I've heard all
the excuses. Some of them I've heard from my own lips. That's why I know that this is not always the easiest habit to
establish. But I firmly believe that all the other positive changes you might want to make will come much more easily
if you nail this particular habit down first.
Homework Alert:
Your goal for this month is twofold - to learn the habit of drinking enough water every day and to reduce the number of potions
you drink every day. Your actual homework is to post your thoughts and results in our class homework forum http://hol.org.uk/forum/index.php?showforum=163. You may start a post at the beginning of the month and add to it as you like,
or you can wait until the month is over or nearly over and post then. As long
as you post something by October 10 you will get 30 points for the homework and 30 points for the emails. (If you don’t
post anything you don’t get email points. They are essentially like extra
credit in other classes.)
"So, Professor Swede, how
much water should I drink???"
Well, dear students, I have
extensively researched this subject and I know the answer.
I have sneezed the dust off
the tomes of the ancient Greek healers to divine the truth.
I have climbed the arcane
pyramid of the USDA tribe to study their conclusions.
I have prowled the sticky
threads of a world-wide web to confirm my hypotheses.
And, yes, I have found the
answer to how much water you should drink!
The answer is..........................................................................
...........................................................................enough.
Yes! You should drink enough
water.
*crickets chirp in the sudden
silence*
Oh, all right. The
truth is, the amount depends on a lot of factors, including your size, the weather, your level of activity, your health, your
medications, and on and on. You can get a very precise formula here. Use their figure as a guideline and adjust it as necessary.
I feel I should point out
this comment they make regarding soft drinks:
“Soft drinks will also
count toward your daily total of fluid, just remember that sugar sweetened soft drinks and fruit juices add extra calories
to your daily diet that you don't need.”
I would add that regardless
of the number of calories they provide, soft drinks are non-nutritive, are loaded with chemicals, and may have caffeine. You
should indulge in them the way you would a dessert, and not rely on them as a regular source of fluid.
Does this mean that all you
can ever drink is water? Heavens no! (Surprised? Happy? Good!)
Face it -- you are already
getting at least the minimum amount of fluid you need every day to survive or you would already be a ghost! While some of
you may really need to increase your fluid intake, what most of you need to do is just to redistribute the types of things
you already drink.
Let's say that today I have:
16 ounces of coffee in the
morning
20 ounces of water at lunch
16 ounces of coffee in the
afternoon
8 ounces of water while
making dinner
8 ounces of wine with dinner
20 ounces of ginger ale during
the evening
That’s 88 ounces of
fluid, but notice that water only accounts for 28 ounce of the total. Because of the alcohol and the caffeine this would leave
me slightly dehydrated. I might end up overeating or snacking to make up the
deficit. Also, it’s likely that my energy levels would fluctuate wildly during the day.
If I adjust my intake, I
could have had:
6 ounces of water first thing
in the morning
8 ounces of coffee at breakfast
20 ounces of water at midmorning
6 ounces of juice at lunch
6 ounces of water at lunch
20 ounces of water mid-afternoon
6 ounces of wine at dinner
12 ounces of ginger ale in
the evening
6 ounces of water at bedtime
The total fluid intake only
increased by 2 ounces to a total of 90 ounces,yet the amount of water intake
went from 28 to 58. There is clearly more variety with better hydration, fewer empty calories, and less alcohol and caffeine.
Win!
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There are three final questions
to consider. Are "sports drinks" potions? What about herbal beverages? And how about flavored waters and “vitamin
water”?
First, sports drinks. When you are either exercising or working at a very physically demanding job they can literally
be a life saver. You lose a lot of electrolytes from your body (usually salts) when you sweat a lot, and plain water
just doesn't replace those. Professional athletes, for instance, use very precisely formulated drinks to make sure
they perform their best while protecting their health.
But when you are sitting
at a desk for hours on end and the most strenuous thing you’ve done is walk to the parking lot or the bus stop then
you’re just consuming empty calories and salts that you don't need. Sports drinks are not intrinsically any more
healthful than other soft drinks. If you are not pushing your body physically, then these are really just another variety
of soft drink. So, for most of us most of the time they fall into the category of "potions."
What about flavored water, “vitamin water,” or “enhanced” water? Don’t waste your
money. If you really don’t like the “taste” of water you’re better off buying plain bottled water
and adding your own flavoring, and then using it to wash down a vitamin supplement. Some “enhanced waters” give
you unneeded calories for a negligible nutritional return, while others cut out the sugar and calories and add chemicals instead!
You just don’t need them.
Then there’s the very large but somewhat vague category of “herbal beverages.” There are such
a bewildering variety of these available that I have difficulty even formulating a cohesive guideline for them. Here’s
what I’ve come up with for simplicity’s sake: If it’s not recommended for expectant or new moms you should
probably pass it by, or at least limit your consumption to a minimum. (The Celestial Seasonings company made a good chunk
of money from me when I was expecting – I must have drunk a liter of Raspberry Zinger ® every day for a couple of years!)
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MEDICAL WARNING!!!!!!!!!
IT IS ACTUALLY POSSIBLE TO DRINK TOO MUCH WATER!!!!
It is very difficult to do,
but people have been known to die from "water intoxication" and a related condition called hyponatremia.
Water intoxication
occurs when you have too much water and not enough electrolytes (usually salts) in your blood. Generally, drinking water
in stages over the course of a day will cause you no trouble - other than needing to take more frequent bathroom breaks.
Problems generally only occur if a huge quantity of water is consumed in a short amount of time, say an
hour or two.
Remember, your goal is to
drink ENOUGH water to hydrate yourself well, not to gorge on water. Just use common sense and remember that old adage about
"moderation in everything."
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