If you're a regular gym-goer, good for you. But you might be missing an important step in the road to fitville -- hydration. According to a recent study in the Journal of Applied Physiology, dehydration can seriously compromise your workout and results. Why? There are a number of reasons but in short, it decreases how well your stress hormones can circulate, and it alters metabolism.

The good news is that it's easy to avoid dehydration. Just drink water. Lots of it. Eight glasses a day is recommended, or at the very least, make sure you drink at least 500 ml or about two 8-oz glasses at least half an hour before exercising. It also can't hurt to bring a bottle of water with you in case thirst strikes.

(Via Total Wellness Blog)

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Trying to take off the pounds? I have a trick that's worked well for me and several of my friends: Drink up. I'm not talking about calorie-laden drinks like soda, cocktails or juices. Rather, you should fill up on healthy, low-calorie liquids. We're talking water, tea, vegetable juice, soup, even diet soda and juice from time to time.

You see, sometimes when we think we're hungry, we're mostly just thirsty, and having a tall glass of water can curb your hunger and keep you from binging on junk food. So try this: Next time you feel hungry and find yourself craving something unhealthy, either chug a low-calorie drink or have a small bowl of soup. Wait 20 minutes, and if you're still hungry, have something nutritious to eat.

When we think of diabetes, we tend to assume that it affects either those who were diagnosed with it in childhood or those who are severely overweight. But guess what? Normal weight people can have diabetes too, and even if you don't notice the symptoms--fatigue, thirst, excessive urination--doesn't mean they're not there in a milder form.

This article from The Daily Mail talks about Diabetes in depth and even looks at the blood sugar levels of a handful of average adults. The results are surprising -- some seemingly healthy adults have blood sugar levels that should be investigated.

Does this mean that if you're tired, you have diabetes? No, but it does mean that you should be careful -- don't ignore your symptoms, and let your doctor know if something seems off.

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Hungry all the time? Did you ever stop to think that you might not be getting enough water? I know what you're thinking -- that a glass of water isn't going to fill you up. But you know what? You'd be surprised.

It's a fact that many people don't get enough water in a day, and they mistake their thirst for hunger. So, want an easy way to shed a few pounds? Drink your water. Eight 8-oz glasses a day, to be precise. I bet you won't be as hungry. And the next time you feel a hunger pang, drink a glass of water, wait 10 minutes, and decide if you still feel ravenous.

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Recently I came across this very interesting article in the New York Times about a woman who was seemingly addicted to water -- she would carry several water bottles with her everywhere, never going more than a few minutes without a drink and making frequent visits to the bathroom. Overnights she would even drink, sometimes more than a gallon, before morning.

The scary thing is that she had been that way as long as she could remember but had never understood why -- it took a doctor taking a special interest when when she was 38 years old and in the hospital for something else to finally solve the mystery.

For that woman the issue was a hormonal deficiency and the fix was as simple as a daily nose-spray prescription. But can a person actually be addicted to water? According to the article the answer is yes -- it's called psychogenic polydipsia and it's defined as an uncontrollable compulsion to drink, usually due to mental illness.

And to think that most have a hard time making ourselves enough water!

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