Drink WATER!

Drinking water is important; we all know that. I rarely served juice to my children when they were young--instead, they got water. As adults, they are better about drinking water than I am, as I have had an addiction to the old diet soda TAB. With the pain I have been experiencing in my joints since December, I finally cut back on TAB and returned to drinking tap water.

This afternoon I realized I was very thirsty, but didn't want to get up off the couch where I was resting. (I was immersed in water twice today--morning and afternoon water aerobics classes at the YWCA.) The thirst (Psalm 42:2a: "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God") kept increasing until I got up to get water and then came to the computer.

I remembered hearing somewhere that one's body desperately needs water when one is feeling the thirst. So I looked up "need for water" on Google and found this:

"Some experts believe you can estimate the amount of water you need by taking your weight in pounds and dividing that number in half. That give you the number of ounces you may want to drink each day. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, you might want to drink at least 80 ounces of water or other fluids per day.

"If you exercise, you should drink another eight ounce glass of water for every 20 minutes you are active. If you drink alcohol, you should drink at least an equal amount of water. When you are traveling on an airplane, it may be good to drink eight ounces of water for every hour you are on board the plane. If you live in an arid climate, you should add another two servings per day. As you can see, your daily need for water can can change from day to day."

• This water calculator can help you determine how much water you need to drink each day.

I visited the water calculator site and learned that today I should drink 110 ounces of water today, or 3.3 liters. That would equal 14 cups of water! (But I've already drunk about 10 cups, so that will be easy.)

Even better information about water can be found here:

"Athletes need to stay hydrated for optimal performance. Many athletes drink when they are thirsty and fail to hydrate before they become dehydrated. Thirst is a biological indicator of dehydration; however, dehydration has already occurred when an athlete becomes thirsty. Even a small drop in body fluids (1% of body weight, or 1.5 pounds in a 150 pound person) can impair performance."