Drinking enough is an important contribution to health promotion. Our body consists of 50–60% of water and it looses 2,5–3 litres a day via the skin, your kidneys, intestine, and lunge. With our food, we intake approx. 1 litre a day. The difference of 1.5–2 litres should be compensated by drinking beverages, the best of which is pure, fresh water. If the surrounding temperature is considerably higher than normal, and you work physically or exercise, then your water need doubles or triples. Therefore, you should ensure that you have a sufficient supply of water, especially during summer times.
The older you grow, the less your body will signal to you by “feeling thirsty“, the amount of water it needs. Therefore you should not wait with drinking until you get thirsty, since “feeling thirsty” is already a warning signal. Your body is telling you then, that it has already less water than needed. The best thing to do, is to make a habit of having a bottle of water at your work desk and to drink several times one glass of water during the day.
Turning good intentions into good habits with nudging
To make sure you don’t forget, let your Changers Fit app give you a friendly reminder. With the nudging function, you can be reminded to reach for the water glass at times you choose. And that’s how a good resolution easily turns into a good habit.
What happens when dehydration occurs?
Very few people know that having not drunk enough water results in tiredness, lack of concentration and headache. When dehydration occurs, water has been withdrawn from the blood and the gauze. The blood thickens, so that products of the metabolism, which are supposed to be segregated through the kidney, remain in the body. This leads to a reduction of the supply in muscles and brain with oxygen and nutrients. Headaches, lack of concentration, lower performance and productivity are the result. Annoying blockages or UTIs may indicate a lack of sufficient liquid. All those are good reasons to pay attention to the sufficient supply of drinking water.
What drinks are the best thirst quenchers and good for your health?
Beverages should quench the thirst and compensate for the loss of water, but should at the same time contain little or no calories.
The best suitable way is to drink water. Whether fresh tab water or with much, little or no bubbles. But even unsweetened herbal and fruit teas or just mixed with water, fruit and vegetable juices are good for you and provide additional vitamins and minerals. At best, mixing a 1/3 of juice with 2/3 of water.
What is not suitable to quench the thirst.
Sodas, colas and fruit drinks, nectars, iced tea or coffee beverages from the refrigerated store section — these drinks are not ideal as a thirst quencher, because they contain a lot of sugar and thus provide a lot of energy. The fast intake and in larger quantities of these energy sources, increase the risk of obesity and diabetes mellitus type 2. In addition, regular consumption of these drinks promote the risk of caries.
You can find out more about health care and sugar HERE.
Tips for practice – health promotion with nudging
A simple trick to not forget to drink and thus do something for your health is to put a bottle of water in sight on your desk. Just get in the habit of drinking a glass of water with every meal and every cup of coffee. You should also always carry plenty of water with you when exercising, traveling, going on trips, or taking long car rides; see “Nudging” above. The friendly reminder of your Changers CO2 fit app, will help you and you will be rewarded with Coins as well.
How you can combine health promotion and environmental protection
The clever ones, drink tap water and not only saves a lot of money and the annoying carrying of bottles, but preserves the environment from exposure to marketing, transportation, and packaging. Moreover, as tap water is at least as good, clean and healthy as bottled water from the supermarket. When drinking tab water, you can be 100% sure, that you get the highest water quality. Because tap water is the best controlled food sector in Germany. We have the strictest drinking water regulations. The regulations for mineral and table water are not nearly as severe as those for tab water. And by the way, packaged tap water is labelled in the supermarket as bottled water.
You can find out more about health promotion and water HERE.
