Water is essential to your body's performance and health. Most people walk around day to day with some level of dehydration. This can lead to serious performance issues whether you are a top athlete or an everyday executive. With as little as 2% dehydration, your performance on the field or in the board room can be affected by about 20%. Who wouldn't want to perform 20% better in their jobs? Additionally, walking around dehydrated can have serious health consequences. These include strain on the kidneys to increased strain on the heart during exercise and increased body temperature, which can prove deadly.
Even though many foods and beverages have water in them, the easiest way to properly hydrate is to drink plain, old, regular H2O. So, start your hydration for the day off right. Place a 20 ounce container of water by your bedside to start drinking the moment you wake up. A rough estimate of how much water to drink is 1/2 your body weight in ounces. So, if you are a 200 pound male, you should be aiming for 100 ounces of water per day. More may be need if you are an avid exerciser. If plain water isn't appealing to you, there are zero calorie flavorings or even a simple squeeze of lemon that can be added to your water.