-by Nate Guadagni

You know that you should drink more water today. How much more is up for debate, whether it’s the old 8 glass rule, the half-of-your-body-weight-in-ounces rule or Michelle Obama’s more recent plea to “just drink one more glass of water per day”. Even Bruce Lee is a fan, as he wisely said, “be formless, shapeless… be water, my friend.” Apparently we mostly are, as water makes up nearly 85 percent of your brain, about 80 percent of your blood, and about 70 percent of lean muscle. Hydration is so important that it’s number 3 of Bo Yoga’s S.E.V.E.N (Seven Essential Values for an Energetic Nature) and so we challenge you to drink three more glasses of water per day. (The First Lady would approve)

Where to start? Well, since three out of four people around you are chronically dehydrated you won’t be able to follow the crowd on this one. Follow these ten easy tips to join the 25%er club of well-hydrated humans.

1. Make your plan.
   • When you wake up in the morning, figure out your 3x glass plan.
   (see the next tips for ideas)
   • At night, check if you completed it, if not, chug the missing amount before bed. Your midnight appointment with your bathroom will be your incentive to not miss the next day.
2. Keep a bottle by the bed. Why not a glass? First, because no one wants to drink a glass of water with a layer of dust on top of it, and second because with a bottle you can drink lying down.
3. Bottle in the car. During red lights or traffic jams instead of unsafe texting or road raging, reach for the agua. Your fellow drivers will thank you.
4. Bottle at work. There’s a theme here, more bottles = more water drinking. The investment that you are making in your health will far outweigh the money spent on strategic bottle placement.
5. Drink that restaurant water. Not only will you trim some fat off the check by not ordering expensive drinks, you may trim some off of your waistline. A 2010 study in the journal Obesity says drinking (water) before meals can help you lose weight.
6. Water your juice. Only fill half a glass with juice and pour water in the other half. You’ll cut your sugar down as you hydrate yourself and hardly notice the difference.
7. Juice your water. Just a squeeze of lemon or lime or an infusion can really make water more interesting. Try fresh fruit in the summer and a frozen berry or two in the winter. You’ll find that a strawberry really helps the medicine go down.
8. Use a straw. Leverage simple physics to speed up the water to body transfer. As you are contemplating suction physics consider the fact that water is 90% oxygen, the most important element for your brain function, which should help your contemplation.
9. Hold other drinks hostage. When you sit down to a meal, join a party or bar, only allow yourself to drink something else (wine, soda, tea, beer) after drinking a full glass of water. Not only will you not gulp that next expensive drink so fast, you will enjoy it more after cleansing your palate. Delayed gratification is a skill that you may find useful in other situations like work, relationships and experiments involving marshmallows.
10. Exercise more. Sweating, breathing faster and increased blood circulation will all require you to replace the lost H2O with fresh water. Not only will you look super cool while you drink in slow motion with sweat pouring off of your face, your body will stay cooler, be more flexible and energized with proper hydration.

For more ways to look cool while you exercise check out Bo Yoga, which uses a bo staff for leverage, balance and spins to make yoga safer, easier and more effective.