Don’t be surprised if you never feel thirsty. It take more than a few decades to unlearn thousands of years of evolution. Unlike us, our ancestors did not have a canteen, water bottle or tap at their disposal. They had to walk for miles to fetch their water,wait for safe time of the day and fend off predators who are waiting to pounce on you both from land and from the water. Also there is no way to ascertain if the water is pure. No wonder our survival instincts have trained us to not feel thirsty for a long period.
The first vessels/containers we designed were to store and carry water/fluids and not food. The first engineering structures we designed were not homes or pyramids but a simple water storage tanks. We soon realized that not all water is safe/portable and we build aqueducts and canals to transport clean water from far off springs & streams. Beer, wine and alcohol were brewed by our ancestors not because they wanted to indulge in drunken revelry every night but because fermentation was the only water purification technology known to them. Till middle of 20th century cholera was a pestilence, an epidemic that laid waste the large cities even advanced ones like London and Paris. Today almost everyone has portable water at their disposal. Yet the sun stroke and kidney/liver problems due to inadequate dehydration is long way from being solved.
- Kitchen timer: In 2006 I had written an article highlighting that the human beings invented to concept of time (esp. hours) with the sole purpose of ensuring that the workers drink water every 60 min and don’t die of heat stroke while working at the pyramids. Why can’t we bring the humble kitchen timer to work and practice this time proven technique. Work place is one where we spend most of our active time and usually we are so engrossed that we get dehydrated easily. Why not set a 60 min alarm at your desk. What is most interesting is that it will be so annoying that in a week’s time you will kick out the habit of parching oneself.
2. Urine color charts: I saw this in one of the washroom of one of the fulfillment centers of Amazon. It basically is a color printout that reminds people that their kidneys have to work harder to compensate your laziness.
3. Create occasions & fix regular timings. Most people eat their mails, take tea/coffee breaks at regular intervals. They don’t need their body or a clock to tell them that its time. I am sure you could water-train yourself for the same. Also try to create frequent occasions (like break time, going to loo, meeting someone etc.) where you out of habit also consume copious amounts of fluids.
Many of the problems of kidney, arthritis, gout, headaches, weakness and even digestion are linked with inadequate water intake. It is simply because we don’t feel thirsty as often as we should and even when we do feel thirsty, we don’t drink as much water as we should. Let us all knock off our medical bills by drinking a glass of water. Some of the best things in life are free and so is this water.
