Dehydrated can be described as depleted, parched, wilted, empty, exhausted, and is defined as: to have the moisture taken out of.

Our bodies are not meant to hold water, they are meant to be in a constant state of ‘flush’. Two-thirds of a healthy adult’s body weight is water, and throughout a normal day much of this internal moisture is used up by respiration, perspiration and excretion. Each day we need to replace 2.4 liters of water, under normal circumstances.

Approximately 10%  of the body’s water flows through the blood stream and that blood is about 83% water. The lungs are about 90% water, the brain 70%. Lean muscle contains about 75% water by weight. Body fat contains 10% water. Bones, 22%! Each cell in our body is full of water; or would like to be…

Signs of dehydration include fatigue, weakness, joint pain, headache, poor digestion, feeling hungry, poor concentration and impaired short term memory, dry skin (dehydrated skin looks older), low back pain and inability to sweat which cools the body. Dehydration places great strain on even a healthy body. As you lose moisture, your heart must work much harder to pump thicker blood through your veins.

You can do this quick test to check your own body for dehydration: pinch the skin on the back of your hand while it is resting on a flat surface. When you release it, the skin should snap back into place. If it is slow in doing this, you are most likely dehydrated.

You may have heard that by the time you’re feeling thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. “Thirst kicks in when a person is approximately 1 percent dehydrated,”says Anne Grandjean, Ed.D., FACN. “At two percent hydration, thirst becomes more intense, and dry mouth occurs at three percent.”  Three percent hydration is about 3 pounds for a 150-pound woman.

Add to this equation heat, high altitude (lower air pressure can cause evaporation of moisture from skin and lungs), vigorous exercise, our very arid climate; even mild illness such as altitude sickness, and the risks of dehydration multiply.

How much water is enough? There is much debate on this! We’ve all heard the 8 by 8 rule; ‘drink 8 eight ounce glasses daily’. According to the Institute of Medicine, most people require a total of roughly 11 to 15 cups of water daily. Another rule of thumb is to drink half of our body weight in ounces of water. If you weigh, for instance, 160 pounds, you need 80 ounces of water per day. To some, this sounds miserably impossible and they have visions of floating away or spending all day and night in the restroom.

The good news is that if we include water-rich fare in our daily food intake, we will help fill up our ‘well’ not only with water, but nutrient-  and electrolyte-rich fluids. Fruits and veggies are 80-90% water by weight. Soups and stews are a great source of liquid. So in addition to the the benefits of just eating healthy, these foods provide about 20% of the fluid we need.

The bad news is that if you enjoy caffeinated or alcoholic drinks, you’ll need to add one more cup of water for each of those to maintain hydration.

Proper hydration leads to innumerable health benefits for your immune system, mood, and energy levels. Your blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature will be more easily managed. Water transports oxygen and nutrients to your cells, removes waste, protects your joints and organs by keeping them juicy, and may prevent and alleviate headaches. A glass of water will soothe hunger pangs between meals or when you’re craving that midnight snack.

If your diet is a healthy one it will provide the vitamins, mineral and electrolytes needed to help your body hold onto fluids. Excessive exercise and heat may require supplementation of these, and you can find numerous recipes for making your own healthy (and cheap!) sports drinks online -just by googling ‘make your own sports drinks.’

For a great explanation of electrolytes,  http://health.howstuffworks.com/question565.htm is fun for kids – of all ages!

Enjoy the wonderful benefits of water! Challenge yourself to make hydration a habit and you  just may find it to be the simple solution to many ailments.

Please join in and share your favorite tips for maintaining a healthy state of hydration in the comment section below.

We’re breathing constantly. Oxygen is the most basic requirement for human life.  Have you ever stopped to think about how significant the act of breathing is? Have you thought about how you breathe? Do you breathe short and shallow, high in the chest? Or do you use belly breath? It’s worth giving some attention to how your breath might be affecting you and your well-being.

Becoming aware of how you breathe and making even a few changes could have a great impact on your life.  Learning to be conscious of and using your breath properly can greatly enhance your exercise efforts; retraining the muscles of your diaphragm, neck and shoulders, the intercostals of the chest and back and strengthening the lungs. Some of the greatest use of breath can help control anxiety and manage pain; for example – the Lamaze method of breathing as used during childbirth.

Proper breathing brings health to your body. “The simplest and most powerful technique for protecting your health is absolutely free – and literally right under your nose,” says Harvard Graduate Andrew Weil, MD.

There are a few health practices that actually teach a specific breathing pattern as part of the discipline. Yoga is a well-known practice; another is Pilates.

Joseph Pilates referred to breathing as the “shower of life.” Joe, born in 1880 in Germany, was sick with rickets, asthma, and rheumatic fever as a child and as a very young man challenged himself to devise a plan to reshape his sickly body into a healthy one. He accomplished this with great success. If only he could see the effects of his work on the world today!

The very first principle of the Pilates discipline is breath awareness and control. In fact, Joe said “Even if you follow no other instructions, learn to breathe correctly.”

Many readers will be commenting ‘under their breath’ that they exercise regularly and breathe plenty hard, thank you very much! You might be surprised though, to find that you may be able to make your time and use of energy much more effective! Engaging in exercise and sports doesn’t necessarily lead to optimal breathing. They can cause or aggravate existing breathing restrictions such as panting, holding of breath, gasping, asthma, etc. Proper use of inhalation and exhalation sends a physiological message to your body to get ready for exertion. This, used in proper coordination with muscular engagement retrains the body, produces and balances your energy; flooding the body with just enough oxygen to perform the needed task.

It’s worth mentioning here that many of the ‘home exercise videos’ can be dangerous as they take us through a very rigorous routine, very quickly –and time is not taken to instruct in proper breathing, movement or muscular engagement; leading to painful discouragement and even injury.

Healthy breath awareness and training can lead to many wonderful and beneficial side effects, including relieving tense muscles, fatigue, light-headedness, edema, wrinkling of skin, easing strain on the heart by increasing oxygen and circulation, lowering cortisol levels in the body, stimulating the nervous, digestive and immune systems… mental stamina and clarity, deeper relaxation, improved sleep, the ability to recover quickly from trauma (such as an injury or surgery), stress and exertion, …just to name a few!

“He who breathes most air lives most life.”  -Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Questions? Comments? Want to know more? Join the conversation here…

More and more of us are working online to make a living, and statistics are showing that nearly thirty percent of our leisure time is spent online as well! There’s a whole world out there on the Net and hours can pass before we know it; and we usually ‘know it’ when we feel the pain!

Do you think much about your computer workspace? If you’re working at a computer desk, how long have you been working in that configuration? This might be a clue to helping you answer pain and stiffness issues. Is your workspace L-shaped? Are you constantly rotating in one direction to access a work tool or desk space? Think about rearranging your workspace regularly to better balance your movement and posture.

Is your chair helping or hindering your seated posture? Are you able to work in a neutral pelvis position?  Is your back arched, bowed backward, or tall, balanced and relaxed? Some of the ‘ergonomic’ chairs really aren’t doing us any favors, because they offer to support us when we should be using our own core to support ourselves.  The chair does our work and our core becomes weaker and weaker, doing nothing.

Weak seated posture leads to a chain reaction of discomfort from head to toe.  None of us wants that hunched shoulder look, tight neck and shoulders, and the list continues on down through the spine and low back. Ouch!

One great way to put your core to work and correct posture issues at the desk is to use a big Swiss Ball to sit on. Find the size that‘s right for your height, torso and legs. You’ll want to sit up high enough to be able to read your monitor at eye level, arms comfortable at keyboard, knees and hips to be level, and feet forward, not tucked under. In this way, you’ll have to be your own support and your core will grow stronger. An added bonus will be that when (not if, but when) you take regular breaks from your seated position, you can play, stretch bounce and return to your desk work energized. Do you know how amazing your core is? It’s several layers deep, wide and tall! It’s your own amazing support system!

(If your work environment won’t allow a Swiss ball, a bench without armrests or a back, and that will allow you to sit with hips and knees level will do nicely.)

Try this: Take a nice deep breath, blow it all out. Continue to breathe; slowing down. (There’s another subject to address. Most of us rarely use our breath.) Think about the alignment of your spine as you sit right now. We all have our own unique, natural spinal curves. From the top of your head down through your neck, what is your alignment like? Most of us are forward. Gently lengthen the back of your neck and lower your chin. This is a small movement and should feel good. Next, think about your shoulders. Relax them by gently lowering your elbows toward your hips. Still breathing? Feel those bones on the bottom of your -um, bottom? Next time you exhale; gently pull your navel toward your spine. Gently! Then roll just to the back side of those ‘sit’ bones. This is the beginning of life with core support. Just the beginning! Keep breathing. Your shoulders and back should be feeling better; letting go. They don’t want to let go. They want to stay in control and tight. Now you are in control! How long can you maintain this? Whenever needed, stop and regroup. Muscles have memory. You can retrain them.

Don’t forget to get up and move regularly. Set a timer if you have to! A very gentle stretch you can try from your seat is to take a bow. Move your chair away from the desk, sitting up tall, feet separated and forward, and remembering to breathe -take a very slow bow from the top of your head to just between the shoulder blades. Let your arms hang to the sides or forward. Return to upright seated position just as slowly. If that felt comfortable, gradually bow deeper each time, always breathing slowly. You can also do this from a standing position. Never hold your breath as this will keep your body tensed up -defeating the purpose.

Do you have favorite movement tips that you regularly use to keep your body strong and happy at work or play? Stretches, exercises, reminders, workspace set-up ideas? Share your comments here. Let’s get moving together!

With the wisdom of a 5 year old, I thought to myself, “Well, this place looks like a lot of fun… it looks like a Ghost Town.” There was not a soul to be seen on any downtown street or in any store as we drove through. My other memory of those early years here is that if one were to pass through town on an evening, the only visible sign of life was the blue glow that came from each living room window.

I loved Salida before. I adored growing up here. What I really love about it now is its collective health conscious attitude! Morning, daytime or evening; heat of summer or bitter chill of winter, we see healthy bodies moving in all directions and by all means. Just the other morning, I saw a guy jogging in shorts- and the bank thermometer said it was seventeen whole degrees! Baby-joggers, Townies, Road Racers, Walkers, Joggers, Trail Runners, Mountain Bikers, Skate-boarders, Soccer Players, Dancers, and Kayakers- they’re everywhere, moving.

As I recollect growing up here, (as in any Hometown, USA) it seemed that fitness was only for the very gifted athlete, and health was for the wealthy. They were the lucky ones that received the encouragement, care and attention. The ‘rest’ just seemed to fall by the way-side. We, the rest, tried. We tried being better at Dodge Ball and Kick Ball. Still we suffered the humiliation of being picked last when teams were chosen. (And I’m not even bitter!) We tried Thunder Gals Track. “No thanks, Shot-Put just isn’t working for me.” We tried to excel in gym class. “Hey you, don’t just stand there! Forget about that hangnail. At least bend your knees and lean on them like you’re into this…!” With a childhood nickname like Delicate Elephant, gymnastics only left Yours Truly with a dislocated shoulder. Still, we soldiered on, trying this and that, looking for motivation; for something constant.

Gradually, like a train chugging uphill (can you hear it?) slow and steady, a momentum was established, and now we are all MOVING along together! Healthy lifestyles and fitness are for Everyone! How did this happen? What changed? Do you remember?

It’s a beautiful thing, this change we’ve seen. How blessed are we? Living in this gorgeous area with its healthy lifestyle and vitality!

Have you started moving? If not, begin. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You think you’re too busy? No time? No energy? You only have one amazing body. Love it and it will love you back!