The human body is usually between 60-75% water. Achieving proper hydration, then staying hydrated, is directly related to how good our computer posture is. It’s very important to keep our bodies hydrated. One of the biggest motivations for me to maintain proper hydration is simply preventing headaches. Staying hydrated also prevents many other issues, such as causing organs to function poorly, as well as tissues surrounding the spine. If the spine isn’t well supported by muscles, tendons, and ligaments, our computer posture suffers quickly. Drinking plenty of water also prevents the formation of kidney stones. These are just a few of the benefits to staying hydrated.
Drinking the correct amount of water per day can keep the body healthy and well hydrated. The amount of water I drink (or don’t drink) is directly connected to the extent of my repetitive strain injuries caused by sitting at a desk. When I’m dehydrated, my muscles tense up and tighten much quicker, causing my posture to suffer. When I stay hydrated throughout the day, my posture is always easier to maintain. Improved posture is just one of the benefits of drinking water for me.
Depending on who you ask, there are different protocols for how many glasses of water to drink per day. My favorite protocol is to drink half of my body weight in ounces of water per day. I feel the most health benefits from following this standard. Weighing 215 pounds, my intake is about 108 ounces per day. I never count exactly how many ounces I drink. 108 ounces is always my target, but I adjust it higher or lower depending on my daily variables. These variables can include my physical activity level, body temperature, the temperature outside, how healthy I ate that day, and so on.
Fruits, vegetables, are grass-fed red meat usually have a high water content. The main variable I go by is how I feel. I simply increase my water intake whenever I feel like I need to do so. If you’d like to do a deeper dive to see if you drink enough water, you can check out my article titled “How Much Water Do I Need To Drink Per Day?” I’m dedicating the rest of this post to the many health benefits of proper hydration, as well as tips on how to stay hydrated no matter the season.
Nothing on my website is medical advice. It’s for informational purposes only. I share my experience, what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. I talk about the poor posture mistakes I’ve fixed and the correct posture habits I’ve learned. Lack of quality water intake used to be a major mistake I made. Being chronically dehydrated was a catalyst to my poor computer posture.
You are your primary caretaker. Not your doctor, surgeon, coach, or physical therapist. They all play a role. But, they also have their own agenda and their own motivation that’s not always in our best interest, regardless if it’s intentional or not. Do your research and make good decisions. Be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare, sitting posture, and fluid intake.
Health Benefits Of Proper Hydration
Improves sleep quality
As you can tell, muscle recovery is one of my main interests. Our muscles recover the most while we sleep. Our body produces growth hormone and testosterone in different stages of the night. Both of these are crucial elements for muscle recovery. The more times we wake up in the night, the less quality sleep we get. This is why it’s important to stay hydrated throughout the day, then decrease our water intake significantly in the few hours before bed. The quality of our sleep is directly related to how good or bad our computer posture is the next day.
Improves mood
Lack of water intake used to cause a lot of my headaches. I would shut down mentally, isolate myself, and be in a negative mood. I would then drink a couple glasses of water. But, I’d be in this state until either I fell asleep or my headache went away.
Improves cognitive functions and mental clarity, increases brain function and energy
One of the 4 main goals of my website is to improve mental clarity. Mental clarity improves both work productivity and mood. Being dehydrated consumes our mental energy with how bad we feel physically. Any minute wasted thinking about physical pain is a minute we could use to be mentally alert, productive, and creative. Most importantly, the more mental clarity we have, the quicker we finish our work. This prevents us from having to work longer, spending more time sitting at a computer desk with poor posture.
Cleanses the body, flushes body wastes
Staying hydrated with plain water helps remove waste from our body through urination. We can usually tell when we are dehydrated by looking at the color of urine. If it is dark yellow, a highly concentrated amount of waste is leaving the body. If the urine is clear, it’s more concentrated with water, which means it’s doing a more efficient job of removing waste from our systems.
Prevents headaches
My dad used to tell me, if you feel a headache coming on, it’s too late to avoid it. No matter how much our fluid intake is at that moment, it takes time for water to hydrate and saturate into our body. This is why it’s important to be proactive, drinking multiple cups of water, staying hydrated, not waiting until pain or our brain function starts to suffer.
Aids in weight loss
As you know, the majority of what I write relates to my personal experience. Once I started taking hydration (and other fluid intake) more seriously, I was surprised on how I weighed less than I did when I was drinking (a lot of) caffeine and (occasional) alcohol. I thought drinking more glasses of water would’ve added weight, however it was just the opposite. The more water intake, the more I urinated, the more efficiently my system was flushed of waste.
Makes nutrients and minerals accessible to the cells
Once water we drink is absorbed, it improves blood flow throughout our body. This blood flow makes nutrients and minerals accessible to our cells.
Helps muscles and joints to function properly, maximize physical performance
Proper hydration is critical to muscle and joint health. Everything in the body benefits from water intake. Muscles, tendons, ligaments, soft tissue, and joints are just to name a few. Water is crucial to the delivery of protein, oxygen, minerals, and blood flow to muscles and joints. Maximizing physical performance is not only necessary for sports and exercise. It’s also important for computer posture. Sitting at a desk for 8 hours is an endurance event. It may be very different from running, but our muscles and tendons are still working very hard. The amount of water we drink directly relates to how good or bad our sitting posture is throughout the day.
Helps correct computer posture
Drinking water helps to improve posture because it helps with the elasticity in the tissues surrounding the spine. The spine is the main support system for our torso and our head. Being dehydrated doesn’t only cause headaches. It also causes our posture to fail quicker than it would if we had proper hydration.
How To Stay Hydrated
Eat water-rich fruits, vegetables, and grass-fed red meat
Fruits, vegetables, and red meat include water. I’ve recently become interested in learning about carnivore-based foods. I don’t have any plans to become a strict carnivore. However, for the last 6 months, I’ve significantly increased the amount of quality red meat that I consume. I’ve felt a lot better recently because of this. It’s helped my workouts, my energy, and my muscle recovery. I believe that increasing my red meat intake has a lot to do with these improvements. It has allowed me to stay hydrated more easily, partly due it’s high water content.
As far as what type of red meat, I look for 100% grass fed, grass finished beef as much as possible. Sometimes, I will eat grass fed meat that isn’t grass finished. And not so often, I will also eat red meat that is not grass fed, as long as it is antibiotic-free and growth hormone-free. Aside from the amount of water, there are also a lot of nutritional benefits for me. Red meat satisfies my hunger quickly, which is called satiety.
This has almost completely eliminated my sweet tooth, as well as the urge to eat things like burritos filled with rice, or french fries. I wasn’t even trying to lose weight, but increasing my red meat intake caused a healthy, significant weight loss in the first 3 months. Also, I went from about 235 pounds to 215 pounds. I plan on writing a future article on what I cook and what I cook it in. If you’d like to be notified, sign up for my free weekly newsletter at SittingPosture.com/newsletter.
Drink water before you become thirsty
Again, referring to what my dad would say, it’s too late to avoid a headache once we feel it coming on. We are in recovery mode at that point. No matter what our fluid intake is at that moment, it takes time for water to hydrate and saturate our body. This is why it’s important to be proactive, drinking multiple cups of water, staying hydrated, not waiting until pain or our brain function starts to suffer.
Dressing for the weather
I spend a lot of time outdoors in the elements. It’s important to me that I have just the right amount of clothing on. To do this, I dress in layers so I can remove or add layers back on throughout the day. I don’t want to sweat just because I have too much clothing on. That decreases my hydration level and would increase my water intake.
Set a reminder to drink water throughout the day
I recently listened to a podcast by Andrew Huberman titled “Water and Your Health.” In it, he talks about how we should drink an average of 8 ounces of water per hour, for the first 10 hours that we are awake. This is assuming that we don’t have physical activity planned. If we are physically active, we want to add an additional amount. To calculate this additional amount, take your body weight and divide it by 30. He calls this “The Galpin Effect.” This gives you the additional amount that should be consumed every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise (in addition to the standard 8 ounces per hour). He talks about how these aren’t exact amounts. These are general estimates. For example, 8 ounces per hour versus 16 ounces per 2 hours.
My personal choice is to drink 16 ounces every 2 hours. It makes it easier to set a reminder every other hour. It also makes me feel good, because I feel I don’t need to drink water every hour (except during physical activity). I like to get all 80 ounces out and put them on my kitchen counter in the morning. I’ll fill up every water bottle I have if necessary. If I don’t, I’ll get complacent and won’t keep track of how much water per day I drink. If I wake up at 6am, I know that I have to drink this 80 ounces by 4pm. So, if I have any physical activity that day, I know I need to add an additional 7 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise. I currently weigh 215 pounds, so 7 ounces is my calculated amount using “The Galpin Effect.”
Know the difference between high quality water and lower quality water
Also in the same Huberman Lab podcast episode, he says “Much, if not all, tap water contains things that are bad for the biology of our cells.” This doesn’t only consider the source of the water and the municipal water filtration process. It also takes into consideration the pipes and how old they are (in the building or under city streets) that this water is funneled through to get to our faucets. He then talks about some steps to take in order to not only make tap water safe to drink, but make it perfectly fine to drink. He extensively goes over different ways to filter plain water at home, also ways to add minerals back into the water. You can check out that episode here on YouTube. I learned a lot from it and definitely recommend it.
Thanks for your interest in sitting posture. If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re taking valuable steps to improve your posture.
If this article was helpful, check out my book titled “45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.” It’s available in both digital and paperback versions.
>>> Click here to pick up your copy
This book explains how to improve your posture through different variables of health and wellness. These include sitting posture, standing posture, sleep, hydration, and breathing. Poor posture is not just how we sit at a computer. The health habits we practice, 24 hours a day, are directly related to how good (or bad) our computer posture is.
Go to SittingPosture.com/book to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen
P.S. You can sign up for my free computer posture newsletter here.