Rethink your drink: Hydration is key to a healthy, happy life

What we drink and how many times we drink is the key to a healthy and happy life. Too often, though, many of us think of only two elements as we go through our daily challenges in work or at home: food and fitness. It does not matter how many diet plans we missed or exercise regimens that we did not complete; at the back of our minds, we believe that it is essential to eat the right foods and perform physical activities regularly if we are to meet the demands in our personal and professional spheres.

All this is well and good, but it still lacks the third, and unfortunately often-ignored, aspect that is also important to our physical and mental well-being: hydration. In the medical sense, hydration means “adding water to our body.” To many of us, this means following the age-old rule taught to us since childhood that is to drink eight glasses of water a day. It is a healthy advice that we try to follow but often overlook. How many of us do make it a point to take that much amount of water intake? 

The only time we do become aware of the need to fill up our body with fluid is when we engage in physical activity. Thirty minutes of pounding the treadmill at the gym, whipping up a storm in dance class, or just a brisk walk around the neighborhood – the minute sweat breaks out of our body and the pangs of thirst set in, that’s when we tend to look for the nearest water cooler or, if we are smart, grab the thermos we brought with us.

However, these are extreme examples. Hailing a cab, lining up at the train station, running from one client meeting to the other to make presentations or do sales calls – all these translate to physical and mental efforts that also tend to make our body lose water. At the same time, this loss demands equal and instant replenishment. In short, we become dehydrated or lose hydration without our knowing it until the symptoms appear -- unusual anxiety, dizziness that does not go away by lying down, inability to remain awake, hurried breathing, and a weakening or quickening pulse.

Drinking water to replenish the fluids lost from our body through sweat is a part of the solution. The intake of this precious liquid can make up for the sweat-induced loss, but it cannot easily replace the other substances that have been removed. A human being’s sweat tastes salty because it indicates the presence of other important elements known as electrolytes that are equally crucial to our health and functioning, such as: Sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and chloride.

Pocari Sweat is the one and unique healthy hydration drink that can replenish the body not just with water but with the important electrolytes that it had lost during sweating. It is best used during sports, exercise or other physical activities in order to counter dehydration and prevent its many effects such as fever, electrolyte imbalance, and hangover. Pocari Sweat has a 63 percent absorption rate, faster than any other liquid, and therefore is capable of quickly restoring the substances that the body needs.

As an added health benefit, Pocari Sweat does not carry any artificial coloring, preservatives, caffeine, and artificial sweetener; a one-year-old child can drink it and remain safe. While refreshing in its flavor, its taste is milder compared to other beverages that have strong favors and coloring, leaving no aftertaste to wash off with water.

Food and fitness are two sides of the triangle that compose the apex of our health. Hydration is the third. To function at full par, it is time we rethink our strategies for the sake of wellness – and rethink the drinks that we take, and how many times that we take it. Because water and its electrolytes make up a majority of our body, we need to be replenished of them, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from the time we get up to the time we sleep. Pocari Sweat shows us the way.

For more info on Pocari Sweat and healthy hydration visit,www.otsuka.com.ph