Like oxygen and nutrients, water is essential for life. When we are hydrated by clean mineralized water, nutrients and electricity flow freely, muscles and joints are properly lubricated, blood plasma is balanced, skin maintains its suppleness, and all bodily processes can express optimally.

Three Ways to Supply Your Body With Water

drink water before sauna

1. Home Water Devices: There are two main options we recommend for this that can easily be installed on your home faucet: electrolyzers and reverse osmosis units. Electrolyzers filter out water particulates as far down as 0.3 microns, concentrate minerals already present in tap water, give a charge to minerals making them more bioavailable (called ionization), and produce highly beneficial molecular hydrogen gas. Reverse osmosis units filter out water particulates down to an extremely low level, often below 10 TDS (total dissolved solids). They make very clean water but due to the extensive filtering they also take out beneficial minerals. Thus when using these devices we recommend adding in electrolyte minerals to make the water more hydrating.

2. Spring Water: Spring water naturally contains minerals and you can use this site to find quality springs near you. A good spring will have very clean water as the Earth’s layers of rock and clay naturally filter out particulates while leaving beneficial minerals. 

3. Metabolic Water: A little known fact is that one of the byproducts of ATP energy production from mitochondria in our cells is water. This internally generated water is known as metabolic water. In fact, in a healthy individual it has been determined that we produce about 10 ounces of metabolic water per day (1). Several lifestyle choices can support mitochondrial numbers and function such as regularly using an infrared sauna which has been shown to increase the number of mitochondria in the body (2).

Tips for Staying Hydrated 

1. Drink two glasses of water first thing in the morning. During sleep we are respirating out water and are therefore most dehydrated in the morning. Rather than drinking coffee as your first morning beverage, drink some clean mineralized water.

2. Consume about half your body weight in ounces of water per day. Tea and coffee are diuretics making you urinate more and therefore should not be counted in your daily water intake.

3. Purchase a glass or stainless steel water bottle and bring it around with you through the day. Do not store water in plastic and avoid plastic water bottles from stores when possible as plastic particles can leach into the water. 

4. Don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink water. Be proactive and continually drink water throughout the day.

5. Add lemon juice to your water to add extra flavor to make it more enticing to drink more water.

Lemon Water helps with hydration
Test Skin Turgor

Test Your Hydration Level

An easy approximation of your hydration level is to check your skin turgor, which is your skin’s elasticity. To do this, pinch the skin on the middle of the back of your hand for a few seconds and then release. If your skin turgor snaps back quickly into place, you’re probably well hydrated.

If the skin takes a few seconds to return to its original position, it could indicate poor skin turgor, which may be a sign of dehydration.

Conclusion

Start by dialing in your home water supply with either an electrolyzer or reverse osmosis unit (with added minerals). Then once your home water is set, begin adding in the other hydration tips mentioned. 

References:

(1) Gerald Litwack, Chapter 3 – Introductory Discussion on Water, pH, Buffers and General Features of Receptors, Channels and Pumps, Editor(s): Gerald Litwack, Human Biochemistry, Academic Press, 2018, Pages 39-61, ISBN 9780123838643, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-383864-3.00003-X.

(2) Hafen PS, Preece CN, Sorensen JR, Hancock CR, Hyldahl RD. Repeated exposure to heat stress induces mitochondrial adaptation in human skeletal muscle. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2018;125(5):1447-1455. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00383.2018