Importance of Proper Hydration

The purpose of this post is to provide information, not medical advice. 

In our first post we discussed how information travels through our nervous system through electric pulses. Information can also travel through the bloodstream, a fluid that is around 50% water, through chemical compounds called hormones.  

Hormones travel to specific cells to regulate our metabolism, cellular growth and function, as well as our mood and emotional state.

We will dive deeper into emotions and hormones in future blog posts, but the main emphasis here is that our bloodstream acts as an almost second nervous system by the way it carries information and controls several internal processes. 

In our first post we described how Reactivation repairs communication within the nervous system so that the client’s body can begin to heal itself. To heal, your cells need nutrients brought to them and waste removed from them. This is why proper hydration is vital in the hours and days following a Reactivation session. 

Proper hydration allows an efficient transportation system. Having more water in your blood is akin to having more buses on the schedule. With a bus coming every 5 minutes instead of every 15 minutes, you spend less time waiting around the bus station and more time getting to where you need to go, when you need to go there. 

I also want to point out here that you CAN be over-hydrated, which puts stress on the body, and stress causes dysfunction. If your urine is clear or almost clear and you are urinating every 1-2 hours, it is recommended to lower your fluid intake. (Too many buses on the schedule puts stress on the transportation system without significant improvement to commuting time.)

Our blood is not the only, nor the main, place where water is stored within our bodies. Most of the water inside of us is contained within our individual cells, of which we have trillions. This is where electrolytes become an important part of hydration. Regarding hydration, electrolytes regulate the amount of water within each cell. Too much water will cause a cell wall to burst or rupture, and too little water will cause a cell to shrivel, leading to dysfunction or cell death. 

Electrolytes maintain the proper water level between our cells and their environment through osmosis, a process in which water moves through a membrane (such as the cell wall) to correct an imbalance. Fluids with a high concentration of water (and low concentration of solubles like electrolytes) will move to areas with lower concentrations of water (and high concentrations of solubles). In future blog posts we will dive deeper into individual electrolytes and their specific functions within our bodies.

Like water, it is also possible to have too much of these necessary compounds, leading to stress on our bodies. Too many electrolytes in our system will stress the kidneys and cause other issues, such as high blood pressure. 

So how does one properly hydrate? If you are actively sweating or losing fluids from sickness, sports drinks and other high electrolyte beverages are great. Outside of these situations, the electrolyte concentration is much higher than necessary for hydration. 

For regular activity, a pinch of sea salt or table salt in a glass of water will provide sufficient electrolyte concentrations for proper hydration. Additionally, electrolytes are found in many foods, so consuming these with water will also provide proper hydration. Below is a list of foods (and beverages) that are high in electrolytes.

Because hydration is dependent on many factors, including your body composition, metabolism, and daily activity, the best way to tell your hydration level is through the color of your urine. Urine should be pale yellow if you are properly hydrated. The chart below is provided as a guide, with a reminder that the color displayed on my screen may differ slightly from the color displayed on yours. 

Because Reactivation is healing at the cellular level, proper hydration is vital!!!! 

More questions about hydration and electrolytes? Let me know below! 

Spread joy. Be light. Choose kindness.

Leah