Photo courtesy of Michelle TeGrootenhuls (Flickr)
Our bodies are made of water and our world is covered in it — but do we drink enough of it?
Water gives life to every person on this planet as well as to the planet itself. Our bodies are made of 75 percent water and more than half of the Earth is covered in it.
Water keeps our brains and bodies functioning, gives us energy to complete our daily tasks, helps the body absorb nutrients, regulates our body temperature and much more.
These facts alone should be an indication of how important water is for us — but even knowing these things, most of us aren’t drinking enough of it.
It is estimated that more than 50 percent of people are chronically dehydrated. How do you know if you’re dehydrated? Well, if you’re thirsty, you’re dehydrated. We are supposed to be drinking enough water so that we never feel thirsty. One easy way to prevent dehydration is to carry around a reusable water bottle with you.
There are various water fountains and water bottle refilling stations all over campus. What is awesome about these stations is that they count how many water bottles are being filled throughout the day. With these stations available, getting access to clean drinking water is made simple. You can find these stations in the Student Center and Student Recreation Center, as well as various other buildings on campus.
If you weigh 150 pounds, you should drink 75 ounces of water. Keep in mind that if you are active and exercise, you need to be drinking more than the recommended amount to bring water back into your body that has been excreted during physical activity.
But, how much water should we drink a day? The recommended amount of water to drink in a day is 64 ounces. This is equivalent to eight glasses of water.
Another way to determine how much water to drink in a day is to drink half of your weight in ounces.
Water is essential to our lives and shouldn’t be something we forget about. A lot of times, we replace drinking water with coffee, tea, soda or juice. Although those drinks are fine in moderation, our first choice of beverage should always be water.
Montclair State does a great job of having water stations in every building on campus and almost on every floor. Next time you come to campus, bring a water bottle with you and see how many times you can refill it throughout your day.
