One of the things that I’ve heard concerning self-care is, drink lots of water. The same goes for exercise. While it’s still good to drink water (especially instead of sugar drinks) the idea of “lots” of water is being called into question. Basically, you don’t need to drink buckets of water each day. In fact, drinking buckets of water each day may be detrimental (besides having to pee every 15 minutes). Anyway, I just stumbled across this article on water intake and exercise: Do You Need to Drink During a One-Hour Run?

The article was written by Alex Hutchinson who also wrote the book, “Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights? Fitness Myths, Training Truths and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise.” Hutchinson takes 111 common (and uncommon) questions about fitness and digs up the current state of peer-reviewed knowledge. If you’re into exercise, I recommend the book because it cuts through a lot of junk.

So what about the water question? If you don’t have time to read the article, here’s the bottom line:

“The shift in thinking about hydration over the past few years has involved a greater recognition of perceptual variables—how you feel—in addition to physiological variables; a realization that the body can adjust and cope with surprisingly high levels of temporary dehydration; and a move away from the idea that you should always aspire to replace every drop you sweat as soon as possible.”