Water water everywhere (Week 38)
"All water has a perfect memory and is trying to get back to where it was."
I was thinking about the beautiful words of Toni Morrison as I glugged litre after litre of good ol' H2O for a solid week. All that water swirling around in my belly was just trying to find its way home. You can pretty much guess where that is. Fluuuuush...
According to Healthline, we should all be drinking about 2 litres of water every day. That seemed pretty excessive to me, a guy who's been known to go for a 2-hour run and forget to take a water bottle. But I was willing to give this a try, because I basically get that it's a good thing. So I set a minimum of two one-litre bottles every day, in addition to whatever else I was getting from tea, coffee and of course, beer.
I was hoping to see instant results. Would I get boosted energy levels, or "increased brain function?" Nothing that was noticeable. Still kinda lazy and stoopid. Would I lose weight, because my body was feeling more full with all the water sloshing around in it? Not an ounce. But then came a few personal revelations.
One arrived during a weekly 5k run. I've been getting these nasty cramps in my calves on every run recently, and I suspected maybe being dehydrated had something to do with that. And so, with all my cells topped to overflowing with the miracle liquid, I didn't even get a twinge on my run. Throw in a pre-run banana for some much-needed potassium and I think I might be cramp-free from now on.
Next, it was the flu. All week long, my workmates were dropping like flies and I can't even imagine how many productive hours were lost because of the bug going around. And despite all the sneezing, coughing and otherwise expectorating in my general direction, I staved off the demon flu. I knew it was trying to mount an attack, because I had a mild cough and headache one morning, but that was it. Virus defeated!
Going through a minimum of 2 litres of water a day means having it constantly by your side. Like anything, though, it's best not to overdo it. With water, that could even lead to a dangerous life-threatening condition like hyponatremia, where you basically over-dilute the sodium in your body. I mean, people have died from it. I had a high school track coach who used to always say "Hydrate or die!" Now, the grim reality for some athletes has been hydrate and die. No sir, that's not gonna happen in my body!
Naturally, going heavy on water meant many trips to the bathroom over the course of 7 days. I lost count at 30. I was told by a friend that my body would eventually level out and I wouldn't be up all night skipping to the loo. I wish that were true. One downside of all this water drinking is the returning of the water "to its home."
It occurred to me while chugging on endless Nalgene bottles that I'm pretty lucky to have all this water at the ready any time I flip on a tap. The World Health Organization tells us that 1 in 3 people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, and that is a sad statistic. It is the height of privilege to gorge myself on water when a huge chunk of the world struggles to get the bare minimum. So the week ended with a healthy dose of guilt, and a commitment to support a water charity. I encourage everyone to do the same.
Just like Norman Maclean in A River Runs Through It, "I am haunted by waters."
Next week: Learning to knit!
I was thinking about the beautiful words of Toni Morrison as I glugged litre after litre of good ol' H2O for a solid week. All that water swirling around in my belly was just trying to find its way home. You can pretty much guess where that is. Fluuuuush...
According to Healthline, we should all be drinking about 2 litres of water every day. That seemed pretty excessive to me, a guy who's been known to go for a 2-hour run and forget to take a water bottle. But I was willing to give this a try, because I basically get that it's a good thing. So I set a minimum of two one-litre bottles every day, in addition to whatever else I was getting from tea, coffee and of course, beer.
I was hoping to see instant results. Would I get boosted energy levels, or "increased brain function?" Nothing that was noticeable. Still kinda lazy and stoopid. Would I lose weight, because my body was feeling more full with all the water sloshing around in it? Not an ounce. But then came a few personal revelations.
One arrived during a weekly 5k run. I've been getting these nasty cramps in my calves on every run recently, and I suspected maybe being dehydrated had something to do with that. And so, with all my cells topped to overflowing with the miracle liquid, I didn't even get a twinge on my run. Throw in a pre-run banana for some much-needed potassium and I think I might be cramp-free from now on.
Next, it was the flu. All week long, my workmates were dropping like flies and I can't even imagine how many productive hours were lost because of the bug going around. And despite all the sneezing, coughing and otherwise expectorating in my general direction, I staved off the demon flu. I knew it was trying to mount an attack, because I had a mild cough and headache one morning, but that was it. Virus defeated!
Naturally, going heavy on water meant many trips to the bathroom over the course of 7 days. I lost count at 30. I was told by a friend that my body would eventually level out and I wouldn't be up all night skipping to the loo. I wish that were true. One downside of all this water drinking is the returning of the water "to its home."
It occurred to me while chugging on endless Nalgene bottles that I'm pretty lucky to have all this water at the ready any time I flip on a tap. The World Health Organization tells us that 1 in 3 people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, and that is a sad statistic. It is the height of privilege to gorge myself on water when a huge chunk of the world struggles to get the bare minimum. So the week ended with a healthy dose of guilt, and a commitment to support a water charity. I encourage everyone to do the same.
Just like Norman Maclean in A River Runs Through It, "I am haunted by waters."
Next week: Learning to knit!
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