Tuesday 12th February 2008 - Dehydration is like Global Warming in the Body

How many times do you hear that most people are not drinking enough water to stay hydrated ? I hear it a lot and then the follow up question I get is, "so how many cups do I need to drink ?". I tell people to aim for 8-10 glasses each day.

However the point of "the message to drink more water" doesn't seem to be resonating to anyone. For me it came as a surprize as I was doing a presentation to children who always have a way to be able to guide "us adults" to clarity.

During that talk I needed a way to convey the importance of choosing and then drinking water over any sugar laden (including juices) drinks or caffeinated laden drinks. No easy task when you consider the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on marketing these products which makes it hard to compete with any other form of liquid for the body especially water.

I realized that the perception by a lot of the children I had spoken to was that these products were "cool to drink"; "consumed by their sporting and celluloid heroes"; and "highly recommended by their peers".

The school group where I was presenting were doing a course on Planet Earth and the environment and for me it was at that moment that my clarity was attained. I decided to adjust ALL of the teachings that I had been doing for the body, to design and create a way that made it inclusive of the Human ECO System (now you know where my book title came from).

I was asking what they had learned about Global Warming and their interest and excitement went off the charts. They had not only learned these important points but their concern for the damage that we as human beings were doing to the planet was amazing and they wanted to change the problems. They collectively had begun to create ways to implement and adopt the necessary steps to save their world.

The synapses in my brain were on overload (see where the A.D.D. kicks in) and so I asked them about what they drank when they were thirsty and why. The usual well rehearsed parrot answers from the marketing dollars spent were heard time and time again.

Adopting my new philosophy and mission, I then proceeded to adjust their knowledge compass and "interest in the body to their new love and concern for the environment". Now before you start emailing me with manipulation claims let us think for a moment about how and why I did this.

Ask yourself this question.
"Do you drink enough water everyday ?"
Normally I hear "Yes" from people who exercise regularly.
Then I need to point out that the water they drink when exercising isn't part of their daily requirement but is important to the exercise phase.

This point is mostly met with "what are you talking about ?"
So I advise them that water consumed when exercising is just for that demand a tthat time and the rest of the day it is equally important to assist the body to function efficiently. Water does this.

If you said no, then change your path.

For the children I pointed out that if you are dehydrated (or not consuming the necessary water to help your body to function optimally), then your body has to work harder to do it's tasks. This additional work causes the body to heat up.
Like the planet when it gets warmer than it needs to be, the optimal growth doesn't occur and elements in your body can be damaged.

It was at that point in the presentation that the children began to ask could they get a drink of water. Which began a "flood" as the children ALL began to drink some water, and then come back to sit down quietly to learn more. My immediate reaction was total amazement, first that they wanted water and then their interest was maintained. They wanted more knowledge !

Now I hadn't even gone into the damage that overloading the body with sugar can do and how this often affects the choice of other quality nutrients. This reaffirmed to me that if you make the knowledge contextual and relevant, then the likelihood of "the message to drink water" being understood was more likely to be happen.

So does Global Warming happen in your body each day ?
If so, you now know what you need to do. Drink more water and save your Human ECO System from damage.