Tuesday's Tip: How to Drink More Water

This post is dedicated to my friends, J & Gwen, and my new buddy Debbie, who were recently told they should be drinking half their body weight in ounces of water daily, and to Chip, who mentioned she wanted to drink more water.

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So...you want to drink more water.  Good for you!  Really, it is so good for you.  But it's not always easy. 

Here's my fool proof method for increasing your water intake.

First thing in the morning, drink at least 16 oz of water, preferably more, but you might have to work up to that.  Then, every time you go to the bathroom, drink 8-16 oz of water afterwards.  It's a continuous positive feedback loop.  The more you drink, the more you pee, and the more you pee, the more you drink.  {Taper off about 4 hours before you're planning to go to bed, otherwise you'll be up all night.}  Brilliant, if I do say so myself.  And I do.  Say it.

Of course, there are situations in which this method might prove to be...uncomfortable.  Can we say that?  Uncomfortable?  Like, for instance, if you are a teacher and can't leave your classroom every 30 minutes.  Or if you're going on a 4 mile hike/slow-jog/walk and there's no bathroom at the trail-head. 

Not that that's happened to me or anything.  OK, maybe it did.  This morning.

As I made the turn onto the road that leads to the trail head, my bladder was letting me know that something needed to happen, and soon, or we were going to have a situation on our hands.  Or shoes.  Just then, I heard a loud male voice coming from my left saying, "you need to go potty!"

I should have responded in an equally loud voice (so he could hear me through the trees and undergrowth), "well, yes I do actually, but how did you know?  Uh...may I use your bathroom?"  But I did not.  Instead, I chuckled to myself about the disembodied and apparently omniscient voice and continued on to confirm my recollection that there were no restrooms at this particular trail head.

For next week's tip, I'll tell you how to pee in the woods.  Step one: learn to recognize poison ivy.

We're all about educating the public here.

Have a great day, and drink more water!