00:00:00.22
Are you an aspiring leader who knows you have more to offer but you can't seem to get ahead? Do you frequently feel overwhelmed and undersupported listen to the Overcome to Become podcast as we talk about actionable tasks and mindsets that you can apply to begin leading yourself.
00:00:16.60
Hi my name is Angela Buckley, your host and author of the Strength in Nature Leadership series. I'm a mother, consultant, triathlete and author, and Overcome to Become, I share with you the science fact and experience proven lessons I've learned in my own leadership journey to beat burnout. Thanks for listening.
00:00:34.81
HI! Welcome back to another episode of Overcome to Become The Leadership Podcast that focuses on clearing up your clutter so that you can get on to the leadership. Today we are here to talk about water nature solution and the reason we want to talk about making sure that we stay hydrated is because we understand that when our body is in a state of stress, we are not in the ideal state for leadership.
00:01:07.64
And we want to talk about hydration and specifically water today because we understand that when our body is under stress physically we are unable to perform mentally. So today's episode is brought to you thanks to my ambassadorship with Athletic brewing. They are a non alcoholic near Beer Brewing Company that offers you great flavor profiles. So brew without compromise Athletic Brewing Company is a non - alcoholic beer company dedicated to making great tasting craft brews without compromise. Their lineup of Styles lets you enjoy the taste and experience of refreshing craft beer without sacrificing your performance, passions, health or good taste. There are fit for all times, made for all pallets and enjoyed by anyone who loves a great beer. They offer sparkling waters based on hops as well. Hydrate with flavor. If you want to take a look at them, you can go over to my show notes and there will be a link and using checkout.
00:02:08.50
Code ABUCKLEY20 will get you a discount when you check out. So that's ABUCKLEY20, the number 20. Thanks a lot. I appreciate your support.
00:02:22.25
So today, water and hydrating and why that matters for us. If you look through the lay press, you'll get a lot of information that will suggest that the Americans are chronically dehydrated. The research shows perhaps that we are not dehydrated, but maybe under hydrated or less than optimally hydrated. And what does that mean? Less than optimally? It means that anytime that we have less than.
00:02:50.51
Our ideal amount of water in our body. Our body starts to feel stressed and stress means fight or flight or freeze in our hormone systems and our traditional body makeup.
00:03:06.06
And so the science actually shows that we really don't have chronically dehydrated individuals, unless we're talking about demographics that are unhoused or senior citizens or we haven't chronic health concern. In general, though, the science might indicate that we have less than optimal hydration. OK, that's fine, but that less than hop optimal hydration can start being triggered.
00:03:35.27
That already 2% and the way they've tested that is by looking at hydration and salt profiles in the body by inducing a little bit of salt into the body and understanding by measuring blood serum levels of various hormones within the body. So cortisol is 1, but also some of the things that are occurring with in our brain, we have so many opportunities nowadays to take a look at what's happening. So why water? Why is that so?
00:04:05.38
Important and what do we want to do with that? The general rule of thumb is that you want to drink about 1 gallon or maybe 4 liters of water per day.
00:04:16.86
Of course, if you are exercising, that number should be a little bit higher and you want to make sure that you're taking in your electrolytes in balance with your water. And if you are living in hotter zones, or if you are currently being exposed to a virus, you might want to up that as well based on what your body is giving you for the feedback.
00:04:38.03
Why does this matter? So many times, when we think that we're tired, we turn to coffee and caffeine, a variety of drinks.
00:04:48.75
I drink my coffee. Make no mistake about it, but coffee is less hydrating than water, and drinking coffee all day long does cause you to have interrupted sleep profiles in the evening, which makes you more tired the next day, which makes you want to drink coffee. And so if you're not mindful of your coffee intake and your caffeine intake, you may have a tendency to turn to coffee when you feel tired, when in fact.
00:05:19.13
What you could do is turn to water. So water will help your body deal with its fight or flight syndrome. Without getting into the deep science of it, we just want to mention that water has many different impacts in our physical well-being that helps our mental well-being. So what we want to do is understand that water helps our body flush toxins. Water helps our muscles relax water in conjunction with the right.
00:05:50.14
Electrolytes and the right types of electrolytes that we talk about in other places.
00:05:55.19
Um brings all of those nutrients to those muscles that help them relax. Water is an important part of that firing system within your neurons. All in all, there is a great argument for us to have enough water in our body and to understand that throughout the day we're constantly using that water, so it needs to be replenished. Ideally, we are not going to just sit down in the morning and drink 4 liters of water for breakfast.
00:06:25.11
Where you're going to spread that out throughout the day so that you have the right amount of water coming in, your body isn't worried about one that's going to get the next dosage of water and that will help your body function optimally, which means in a more relaxed state, which provides for us the opportunity to handle our leadership well. OK, So what are we talking about exactly? The link between stress and dehydration is well documented without sufficient water in the body.
00:06:55.38
The organs are less protected and muscles are not able to function properly. Just a half a liter of reduction in water is enough to trigger the dehydration response that I was talking about earlier. And that dehydration response looks for stress in the body. You're going to see that it's measurable by the interactions in our brain and also by the tension that we see in our muscles. So one of the simple ways to reduce stress in our life or the symptoms of stress is to really focus on proper hydration throughout the day.
00:07:29.88
What does that look like? It really looks like starting your morning with water before coffee. I know I like my coffee as well, but while it's brewing, I also try to make sure that I have a glass of water ahead of time. Usually for me, since I'm an endurance athlete, I also try to toss in my beet juice. That's not everybody's cup of tea, so I understand, but taking a look at what's available and making sure that you get hydrated before you hit your body up with caffeine has really been a game changer for me personally and then taking frequent sips of water throughout the day.
00:08:05.28
A few years ago I saw a water bottle that actually would beep at you if you hadn't had enough water throughout the day or within the most recent time period. I haven't been able to find that lately, but I was fascinated by it as a concept. If you really struggle with having water throughout the day, then maybe you want to set a clock to remind yourself.
00:08:27.84
Certainly Apple Watch has its breathe function. Maybe we need something similar that says drink. The other way to really keep yourself hydrated is also to eat foods that have high water content and those are things like grapes, grapes and oranges and incorporating those into your diet as well. And then a personal favorite, and especially throughout winter when I think that I am never drinking enough, is to incorporate soups.
00:08:57.74
Into your diet. I just really love having a soup as part of my warm up throughout the day. I think it really helps support the hydration, and maybe I don't do that in the summer as well, but I'm more likely to pick up my water bottle in the summer whereas in the winter since I'm not hot I'm not thinking about the water as much. I'm not drinking as much water, but the soup helps that get into me. So those are like some quick, easy wins that I have found that worked for me. I would love to understand what you're doing to help keep yourself hydrated. So drop some comments and share with us what you're doing as well. I would love to hear from you. Thank you so much for joining me today. This is a real quick reminder that we want to stay hydrated and by staying hydrated.
00:09:47.40
It helps us really reduce the stress that we are experiencing in our body, which helps us regulate our leadership skills throughout the day. So thank you very much for listening. I will talk to you next week.
00:10:01.94
You've just concluded an episode of Overcome to Become a leadership podcast focusing on leading yourself first. Thanks for listening. I'm Angela Buckley with creatively efficient author of the Strength in Nature Leadership series. Please help me to continue these series by writing a review wherever you prefer to listen.
00:10:19.78
Thank you for your time and interest. I appreciate your support.
________________
Powered by TranscribeKit
