Have you been excessively stressed lately? We all know that end-of-semester drag of the school work picking up faster than ever, but our energy levels depleting at warp-speed. If you’ve noticed a significant, unexplainable shift in your mood, stress levels, skin, energy level, nail and hair strength, ability to stay focused, and amount of headaches you wake up with every morning, there’s a good chance you’re dehydrated.
That’s right, we’re saying it, you’re dehydrated.
*Courtesy of Giphy.
You probably hear this all the time, that people don’t drink enough water and everyone is dehydrated, and being dehydrated subjects you to all of these subsequent issues that affect your daily life, and there’s nothing you can do about it except drink so much water that you can feel it sloshing around in your stomach.
As much as we’d love to tell you that there’s a simpler, quicker solution to your insane levels of unreasonable stress, we can’t. In fact, drinking enough water may be the fastest way to stabilize your emotions.
How much, though, is “enough?” While there is a lot of scientific discrepancy about how much water we should actually be drinking during the day, most people like to follow the 8×8 Rule.
8×8 Rule = eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day. That’s equal to about two liters, which equals about half a gallon.
The ways to keep track of this throughout the day are endless – apps, special reusable bottles, smartwatches, etc. The point is though, you’ve got to do it.
Amanda Carlson, RD, and director of performance nutrition at Athlete’s Performance says, “Studies have shown that being just half a liter dehydrated can increase your cortisol levels. Cortisol is one of those stress hormones. Staying in a well-hydrated status can keep your stress levels down. When you don’t give your body the fluids it needs, you’re putting stress on it, and it’s going to respond to that,” (wedMD).
Humans need cortisol for situations of extreme stress, like if someone stops short on the Long Island Expressway or when walking alone down a city street at night. Cortisol activates that “fight or flight” response, meaning we need it to survive in this big world. What we don’t need is an excess amount of it pumping through our systems when we’re strolling between classes or hanging with our girls in our dorm rooms. If making up that half-liter with just two tall glasses of water could make you feel just a little bit less on-edge, wouldn’t you do it?
*Courtesy of Giphy.
We all know the benefits of drinking water when it comes to your skin: acne clearance, firmness, brightness, pore shrinkage, and that’s just the start. The point is, if you want clear skin, you have to be drinking water. If it wasn’t enough to cut down your stress levels, think about how good you could feel knowing that you’re doing everything you can to achieve the skin you want (hint: that includes staying hydrated).
Drinking water and the idea of hydration isn’t “sexy.” It’s not fun to talk about because there’s no better alternative, no magical products, no marketing ploy that can get you to drink water. Like breathing, it’s just something you have to do, and no one can make you do it except you. It is the quickest way to achieve the healthier you that you’ve been searching for both mentally and physically. There is no downfall, there is no possibility of it not working for you like it does someone else. Water is just water and we need to be supplying our bodies with the thing it needs most.
Here’s some quick links to super cute, affordable, and fun reusable water bottles because if you’re going to save your body, you might as well save the planet while you’re at it.
Stylish, fun, and insulated. They also come in many different sizes.
If you’re looking for a genie… that genie could be water? They also sell a ton of bottles with reusable straws which, quite frankly, makes you drink way more than just any old open top.
While maybe not the cutest, Glasstic claims that their bottles will never break and you’ll never have to buy one ever again.
The sleekest design out there. Have been featured in Vogue, Elle, and Style. (P.S. – they also make lip gloss and balm and feature a kit that has a stylish reusable bottle with a matching lip balm on top. What more do you need?)
*Courtesy of Giphy.
With the warmer weather finally rolling in, and the Long Island sun blasting on us, it’s going to be much easier to remember to drink down that fourth bottle of water – especially if it’s from our HC reusable bottles – but staying hydrated year-round will help you beat that summer sun both inside and out.
#hydrate or diedrate
Sources:
https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/water-stress-reduction#1