How dry I am...

[alexandraerin]

So, after two weekends in a row of cripplingly bad headaches (a condition I'm not normally prone to, outside of caffeine overdose/detox or when I needed new glasses very badly... I just got new glasses and have been wearing them for over a month without issues), those who know me best asked me if I was sure I was drinking enough fluids.

My first thought was "Yes, of course I am." But after a second inquiry, I realized "No, not really." Last weekend I identified dehydration and too much Pepsi Max as the source of my headaches... I cut out the Pepsi Max but in retrospect I didn't really replace it with anything. My life and my work space are in a bit of a disarray right now as we're in a sort of transitional period here... it's easy for little things like "carrying out biological processes essential to the continuation of life" to slip through the cracks.

So hopefully with this slight correction, the headaches are licked. Aside from being a literal pain, my judgment was affected pretty badly last weekend, and this weekend I ended up writing about 5,000 words that... viewed with a clearer head... weren't very good, in any sense.

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Conversations We Won't Be Having Here: How drinking anything but water will dehydrate you, how many glasses of water the internet/your gym teacher/your doctor who uses the same internet and pool of gym teachers thinks you need to drink in a day.

Comments

[meleth.livejournal.com]

I dehydrate really easily, and I always feel ridiculous when I realize that that's why I feel like crap.

[alexandraerin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what specifically made me realize it was when popelizbet asked me if I was drinking enough water and I looked at the spot where my water glass normally would be and realized that a computer was sitting there and had been for over a week.

[meleth.livejournal.com]

This has made me realize that I really ought to change the filter in the Britta pitcher. But first, Dr. Pepper.

[hel]

If 'strategies to remind oneself to stay hydrated/evaluate if one is staying hydrated enough' are conversations you don't wish to have, feel free to ignore this.

What I find useful personally is to have a specific water container (in my case an aluminum water bottle in a shade of purple I love. It's easier for me to remember to drink water if it's in something I find visually pleasing), and to mark on my hand each time I empty it in a pen I have that washes off pretty easily with a body scrub, but not with regular handsoap. That way, throughout the day if I need to check my liquid intake, it's right there on my hand, and I can easily reset it for tomorrow just by exfoliating my hands at the end of the day. (Which is in and of itself useful for me, cos it helps prevent my hands getting too dry.) But then I'm of the school of thought that says hands are just convenient impossible to lose note pads, so don't mind walking around with a bunch of ink marks on my hands.

[brenda-ea.livejournal.com]

Ooh, water is your friend. Water is a very good idea.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

I've found that using sparkling water as a Coke-substitute is more satisfying than plain water. I keep a 2-litre bottle next to the PC. Could be worth a try?

[alexandraerin.livejournal.com]

What I keep next to the computer is whatever I'm in the mood for, which is not infrequently flavored water anyway. It's not that nothing but cola's appealing to me... I just inadvertently rearranged my set-up so there was no place to put a drink next to my compy.