Drink Water

"Drink water! Don’t be a heat cat!"

We’ve all heard that before.

Water is one of the six key nutrients the body needs to function. We don’t typically think of water as a nutrient, because we don’t think of it as “food”.

Why does our body need water?

Water is in, and plays an essential role in, every organ, system, and cell of our body.

Water surrounds our brain. More dehydrated you are, the less water you have around your brain to support its function. The brain is the calibration center of the body. The rest of body functions, including things like recovery, muscle gain, and fat loss, will not be going smoothly if the brain is struggling.  

Water is a component of all the blood that runs through your body. The more dehydrated you are the less blood you have to go around! This mean the body will have a harder time pumping blood to muscles for physical activity and to the skin to help cool the body off when it’s hot. Additionally, while dehydrated there is less blood to go deep into our fat stores to access fat for energy during rest and light activity.

And if that’s not convincing enough - water surrounds your intestines where digestion and absorption happens. Water makes up the inside of our cells and mitochondria where energy production occurs. Water is stored with carbohydrates that are the body’s primary source of fuel during exercise.

Water is everywhere inside your body and going day after day slightly dehydrated prevents the body from functioning optimally and can contribute to damage over time.

Typically we give a daily hydration goal (males: 3-4 L/day; females: 2-3 L/day) - but the reality is your hydration status changes by the hour. The body is constantly losing water through sweat, insensible sweat loss, waste elimination, and even, breathing. As you can imagine, the amount of water you lose throughout the day is highly dependent on your activity level and the environment you are in. Ideally, as health conscious Soldiers, we are constantly replacing the water we are losing throughout the day, and that’s the key to proper hydration. We cannot “catch up” on hydration by, at the end of the day, chugging our daily hydration goal of multiple Liters of water – we must sip water throughout the day – think drink water early and drink water often!

Here are some key tips to prioritize your hydration:

• Make a water sources part of your uniform, in- and outdoors.

  • • • Consistently carrying a water source with you allows you to sip water throughout the day. Consider investing in a refillable tumbler that will make it easy to meet your hydration goals. Tumbler sizes range from 16 ounces (a standard water bottle) to 128 ounces (equal to 1 gallon and 3.7 Liters). Make a hydration plan that includes where and when you will refill your water source if needed!

      • Monitor your urine color. Well-hydrated urine is pale, or “post-it note,” yellow. Clear indicates you may have drank too much plain water, too quickly. “Highlighter” yellow is a sign of dehydration and golden or darker yellows are a sign of extreme dehydration.  

      • Don’t wait to drink water until you get thirsty. This indicates your body is already mildly dehydrated.

• Drink 8-16 ounces of water with each meal, and some water with snacks.

  • • • Drinking water with food helps the body absorb and hold onto to water. This can be beneficial for maintaining hydration and rehydrating.  However, we want to avoid chugging water right before we eat to avoid inducing artificial fullness. Sip water while eat or snack to optimize hydration and help consume food at a healthy pace, not too fast.

• Use hydration solutions (electrolytes) ONLY when necessary.

  • • • Hydration solutions include sports drinks (Gatorade, Powerade, etc.) and electrolyte mixes (Nuun, Skratch, Dripdrop, etc.). They contain electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, and magnesium, and sometimes they also contain sugar.

      • These hydration solutions are not always necessary - They are helpful during long or intense training to avoid dehydration, during rehydration, and during high-activity workdays in hot and/or humid environments.  

Read on to learn to how build meals and snacks to support health and hydration!