Good question. The fact is most people simply don’t drink enough liquids throughout the day and as an athlete, hydration is critically important.
Muscle tissue is made up of around 75 percent water. Blood is 95% water. The largest single component of the human body is water. Allowing yourself to become dehydrated, even slightly, and you negatively affect all of this. Performance, physical and mental, suffers greatly.
I would suggest that you first get used to carrying around a water bottle with you at all times. You should get in the habit of sipping a little water throughout the day – even if you don’t necessarily feel thirsty. When your water bottle is out of sight, it will also become out of mind. Fill up your water bottle immediately after waking up in the morning, so you’ll be sure to get off to a good start. Keep a filled water bottle in your car and make sure you finish it on your way to work or school and again on the way home.
Another simple strategy that will help you drink more water throughout the day is adding a little Crystal Light or something similar to your bottle of water. This flavor addition will make it much easier and more pleasant to consume a lot more water. Propel is another great lightly flavored drink with virtually no calories that will help you easily up your fluid intake.
If you go out to eat at a restaurant, ask your server to bring an entire pitcher of water to your table at the time you are seated. That way, he or she won’t have to come back and forth to your table, and you’ll always have plenty to drink without any interruptions. Asking your server to put of few slices of lemon or lime in your pitcher of water will also make drinking the water a little more palatable.
The easier you make water and the like available the more you are going to drink. When you are properly hydrated your body, mind, and muscles perform at 100%.
