My Fundamentals — Hydration

Consciously drinking 3–4 L of water a day is challenging but there are results.

Photo by henri meilhac on Unsplash

I don’t know why I never developed a keener sense to drink water. I can’t even remember the last time I actively thought about hydration aside from training. Combined with my ADHD, I feel like an inefficient high powered engine that is overheating in the desert. It’s safe to say, I’ve been chronically dehydrated for the majority of my life.

I read a pseudo-science book years ago that I revisited. It’s about hydration. I am not vouching for the credibility but I learned that the discs in the vertebrae are gelatinous and 85% water.

The body is incredible at adapting water for your survival. I’ve been doing deskwork for years; my spine hasn’t been as active aside from working out (not enough apparently).

The book says drink at least 3 L of water for back issues… let’s see what happens.

Drinking water seems obvious but it’s hard to do. We humans don’t like “free and accessible”, it feels cheap and fake but we shouldn’t see that with water, it’s a fundamental ingredient for life.

We also have these inborn personalities that make us forget the importance of hydration. The little annoying monkeys of false rationalizations as I call them.

Consciously drinking 3 L+ of water a day is challenging but there are results. Over two weeks, I have improved flexibility, a bit less pain, better sleep, happier and more focused.

My nerve compression is not cured obviously but at least another is variable off the list. A fundamental I missed.

Word count: 250
Twitter: @bhavprajapati

My Fundamentals Series — For the indefinite future, I’ll be writing posts about my renewed fundamentals to live by. I’m not making recommendations or providing medical advice, rather I hope the posts serve as thinking prompts. My intention here is to help people review their own life. I trust readers have the agency and wherewithal to take their own action.

Fiftytwo250 (Fifty-Two Two Fifty), a collection of random, recurring, ruminations written with patience for depth and brevity. Each post is written over the course of a week in 250 words or less as a personal exercise of freedom and focus in a time of placid tumult and despair.