If you’re having trouble staying away from sweets for the last 61 days of the year, as part of the New England 61-Day Challenge, perhaps try a glass of a water.
“Keeping hydrated is a great way to decrease our hunger and appetite for snacks that we might not need at that time of day,” said Dr. Jeff Brown of the CT Sports Institute at Saint Francis.
Keep that in mind the next time you have a mid-afternoon lull. Now, the next issue is how much water is the proper amount to drink. You don’t have to hit an exact number, but Dr. Seth Clohosey, an Internal Medicine Physician at Saint Francis, provided a good range.
“It’s about 12 cups. 12 eight-ounce cups for men and about 9 eight-ounce cups for women,” he said.
Dr. Brown said many people carry around 16-ounce water bottles, and a good goal is to fill and empty them about four times per day. The human body actually needs more water per day than that, but both Drs. Brown and Clohosey said the rest comes from the food we eat, about 20 percent of our daily total.
Both physicians said it is acceptable to merely listen to your body, and let thirst be your guide, but while that is usually enough to prevent any meaningful dehydration, it’s also not perfect for being optimally hydrated.
“By the time you feel thirst, you’re already becoming volume-depleted, a little dehydrated, so you definitely want to listen to that and hydrate,” said Dr. Brown, “so relying on that means you’re going to be mildly dehydrated a lot.”
“You’re going to want to stay ahead of it somehow,” he said, “keeping water and beverages available at your workstation or in the kitchen or if you’re doing tasks at home or at work it’s really important.”