Unless you’re from Mars, you’ve heard about the ‘eight glasses of water a day’ thing.

Yet it’s amazing how many people don’t drink enough, hence why I felt the need to look at the dangers of dehydration this week.

Most people these days are running around on a daily basis dehydrated to some extent.

Unless you’re drinking two to three litres of H20 a day, you’ll be dehydrated, which leads to sluggishness.

And ultimately, feeling tired can affect your mood, energy and performance.

The biggest mistake many of us make, is that we don’t drink water until we feel thirsty.

By the time those alarm bells start ringing, our bodies are already in strife.

Given that the body is 70 percent water, it’s no surprise that regular water consumption is essential for good health and wellbeing.

Our bodies are constantly releasing water during the day through sweat, water vapor in the air and urinating.

The first two are done to carry heat out of the body.

When water levels in the body begin to decline, the circulation suffers.

Blood thickens slightly and circulatory efficiency is compromised.

Soon delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the brain is compromised.

This is a major cause of fatigue.

You may also feel low because you don’t poop enough.

Drinking lots of filtered water can help with the elimination process.

How much should I be drinking?

To stave off disease and illnesses, we need to drink a litre of water per 25 kilograms of bodyweight every day.

This figure is based on a range of ongoing research and is now considered a generalised recommendation by the Naturopathic community.

If you are exercising, you need to drink more.

Just be warned that if you are not drinking this amount already, it will take time for your body to adjust.

You may find yourself running to the toilet constantly for the first couple of weeks, while your body dumps all the stored fluid and normalizes its water balance.

Drinking a lot of H20 when your body is used to being partially dehydrated, is like pouring water into a dry pot plant.

The best advice is to increase your water intake gradually, or try mixing one quarter of your glass with organic apple juice.

This will slow it down as it goes through your system.

It will take up to six weeks for a chronically dehydrated body to re-hydrate itself.

So be patient.

Not only will you feel better if you are hydrated you will also slow down the ageing process!

One other thing I forgot to mention: Yawning is a sign of a dehydrated body.

So if you notice yourself yawning, down another glass of water!