It’s Day 19 of the Mykidstime 21 Day Health & Fitness Challenge! If you missed yesterday’s video, catch up with Day 18 here.
Our health and wellbeing expert, Fiona O’Donnell, explains what’s involved for Day 19 in the video below. We want you to tell us during the challenge how you are getting on so tag us on social using #mkt21days and we’ll give you some encouragement!
Mykidstime 21 Day Health & Fitness Challenge: Day 19 – Hydration
You knew this chat was coming! Today, we’re going to talk about water consumption.
This idea of between five and eight glasses a day is difficult – what size glasses and how are you supposed to know? I think that optimal water consumption is really down to how much you’re moving throughout the day and how active you are.
So what are the signs of dehydration? How do we know that we’re dehydrated and that we need to consume more? Well, urine colour is the obvious choice, and if we find we are not going to the bathroom frequently throughout the day or if we find that it is darker than straw colour (a pale yellow), then we probably need to consume more water throughout the day.
The other thing is if you’re waking up with a headache in the morning, that can be a sign of dehydration.
Dehydration doesn’t just happen in the summertime when the sun is blazing and we’re sweating loads; bear in mind, if you have the heating on throughout the winter and your house is really warm, dehydration could be a factor.
So how much water should you drink? I usually go through about four 500ml bottles a day, that’s two litres for me if I’m not training. I’m also cognizant of the fact that my herbal teas and my coffees contribute towards my overall fluid intake across the day as they also contribute to the daily total.
Your task for today is to have a quick look back and see how much fluid you are drinking, and go and get yourself a new water bottle if you don’t already have one. Aim to drink and refill the bottle three or four times throughout your day.
If you have any questions throughout the Challenge, email Fiona or send her a message on Instagram, Facebook and use hashtag #mkt21days to let us know how you are getting on with the Challenge!
About the Author: Fiona O'Donnell
