My Personal Re-hydration Challenge

Becoming present with my water intake improved my day-to-day feeling of wellbeing. At the beginning of the year, I couldn’t deny it. I was definitely mildly dehydrated 🙁. When I did the pinch test on the upper skin of my hand, it felt like ages before that parchment-like fold disappeared. And it didn’t matter how much lotion I slathered on, my arms and legs would take on a dusty appearance after 10 or 15 minutes. Leave it to vanity to be at the forefront of taking care of my health lol. 

So two things happened. Sometime in late April, I bought an extremely discounted, huge and aesthetically pleasing, 32 oz water canteen from Pharmaca’s closing down sale (RIP cool, indie alternative to Walgreen’s). Secondly, I gave in and bought a Multipure water filter from work. Both these things definitely made it easier for me to do the following: I vowed to drink at least one whole bottle’s worth of water every day. My ultimate goal every day, is to drink 2 bottles worth of water which, while still only roughly 75% of my needed hydration intake, is still better than the significantly not-enough amount I was drinking before. (My “needed hydration intake” is based on the “daily water formula” illustrated in last week’s 21 Day Hydration Challenge post.)

That 21 Day Hydration Challenge post also recommends tacking on your new water-drinking habit with a more well established one. Kirstin used brushing your teeth as an example. I use a more TMI method. I would remember to drink from my ginormous water bottle after every bathroom visit. So liquids out? Put water back in. 😌

Here’s what happened:

Disclaimer: these “results” were my personal experience only, of which I did not get any medical testing to support any of my “findings.” This was a very unscientific, relatively uncontrolled, individual experiment. Also, I was in no way severely dehydrated. If you are experiencing any severe symptoms such as those listed here, contact your health professional immediately.

Ok, back to me:

• The episodes of my neck neuralgia/migraine incidents decreased… significantly. Like Significantly with a capital “S.” From every 2 to 3 weeks to every 4 to 6 weeks. How do I know-KNOW this? Since I started my hydration experiment, I fell off the wagon a couple of times - got busy, got lazy, yada yada. What started creeping back up? Yup, the number of attacks.
• My other inflammation-based discomforts decreased as well. For me, this looked like less gum and gut pain. See what verified this for me above.
• My tolerance for MSG increased. Yes, I KNOW!!! but there are some foods/restaurant dishes that I ADORE and will not stop eating at least once-in-awhile. I am a grown person and with full knowledge, I pick my battles 😬.
• And lastly, the hand-pinch test is not as horrifying to me as it once was. My legs still get ashy but heck, I am 53. 

So there you go! You now know a lot more about me than you did before hee hee. Thoughts? Comments? Let us know. If you have health-related questions, direct those to your practitioner please (or Kirsten, the Clinic Manager at [email protected]).