Men’s Health week, June 10th to 16th

Men’s Health Week is celebrated during the week leading up to and including Father’s Day and serves as a time to raise awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men. The week also includes Wear Blue Friday on June 14th to support awareness of Men’s Health Week.

As we mentioned in last week’s Impetus, more boys are born than girls, females live longer than males, and the ratio of men to women declines with increasing age. On the average, women outlive men by 5 years.

Each year Men’s Health Week becomes bigger and more well-known, so if you’re a man that wants to do more, or a woman that wants to inform a man you love about it, then start spreading the word! The more well-known the week becomes; the more men will feel like it’s OK to talk about their health issues and not just push them to the side and ignore health problems away!

Men's Health Matters

This week especially we are encouraged to ‘make the time and take the time' to improve their health.

The first principle of the Self Care Awakening is proper hydration (Water Matters) and we have blogged extensively about this and our body’s need for our most essential nutrient, water.

In general, men need to drink more water than women. Hydration differences between men and women are significant. Because of the different composition of their bodies, the average water consumption per day to keep men and women hydrated is also different. Men tend to have higher levels of fat and need more water because of this.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine determined that an adequate daily fluid intake is about 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids for men and about 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids a day for women We advocate that a good rule of thumb is to drink half your body weight in ounces of healthy water per day, or 3.3% your body weight in kilograms in liters per day.

Keeping your body hydrated is one of the easiest ways to improve your health, yet research shows, that nearly 70 to 80% of us are dehydrated. If you don’t drink enough, it can affect your body temperature, energy, brain function, digestion, mood, performance, and joint health. Dehydration has been called the mother of all epidemics and the first step we need to take in addressing chronic disease.

Here are some tips to stay hydrated and make hydration a healthy habit.

Start and end your day with water. When you wake up, drink a glass of water. This will replace fluids lost during the night and jumpstart your hydration and metabolism for the day. Keep a glass of water at your nightstand and bathroom vanity. Before grabbing your morning coffee, drink a glass of water first. Sip on water as you watch television or read a book before bed. Worried you will be up all night? Watch this short video “I don’t want to stay up all night”
Make drinking water convenient. Keep a bottle of water in your vehicle, at your desk and other areas you frequent often during the day. When you have water close at hand you are more likely to drink more and more often. As your body needs water, you will instinctively develop a habit of sipping water throughout the day.
Add some color. If plain water just isn’t palatable, there are lots of colorful ideas to make it more appealing. Add squirts or slices of lemon or lime, a few springs of mint or basil, cucumber or orange slices and berries or watermelon pieces.
Include water-rich foods in your diet. Fruits, vegetables, broth-based soups, beans and oatmeal have high water content to help hydrate your body and give you a feeling of fullness.
Drink a glass of water at every snack and meal. In the busyness of the day it’s easy to forget to drink water, so making sure to drink whenever you eat is a great way to ensure you stay hydrated throughout the day. I know many people that set an alarm to remind themselves to drink water and stay hydrated.
Teach your children to have a taste for water. With so many sugary and flavored drink options, children may never acquire a taste for water if you don’t regularly give it to them and teach them about the importance of drinking water over other beverage choices. I constantly remind people that water is not just a beverage choice, it is our most essential nutrient.
During summer travel with your family, times in airports and on airplanes can be very dehydrating. It’s easy not to drink as much as you usually do when you’re on the go, and airplanes are known for low-humidity air that contributes to low hydration statuses during flights. We highly suggest packing an empty refillable water bottle in your family’s carry-on bags and, after going through security, fill them up with water. Many airports now have water fountains designed specifically for refilling water bottles. Skip the vending machine soda and, when the beverage cart passes through the cabin on your flight, opt for water. Soft drinks do a poor job at hydration and the high sugar concentration can interfere with your body’s ability to absorb water and is not a healthy choice (Weight Matters).
Looking at the color of your urine is the easiest way to monitor your hydration. If your urine is darker than lemonade, you’re dehydrated. It will give you a good idea of how well you’re hydrating in the morning. If your urine isn’t clear, drink water immediately and work to hydrate better the rest of the day. If your urine is a light lemonade color, it’s likely that you are properly hydrated. Dark yellow urine (as in dark or darker than apple juice) typically signals dehydration and need for immediate rehydration.
Swimming and hydration. Summer is the time for water sports and leisure activity. I remember my kids swim team coach saying, just because you’re in water doesn’t mean your going to stay hydrated. Drink water before, during and after swimming. Of course, that also applies to any physical activity that can increase your need for more water.

Men’s Health Month Tool Kit:

Healthy Water on the Go:

To help stay hydrated all day long we suggest the Nikken PiMag Sports Bottle. I have mine with me just about everywhere I go and sip on it all ay long. This remarkable and affordable water bottle not only filters the water but enhances it. The patent-pending filter has the ability to significantly reduce certain harmful pathogens in potable drinking water. It’s also a green choice: You won’t be adding to landfills and polluting ocean waters with plastic. Environmentally responsible, both the bottle and the filter can be recycled, and you’ll be saving a fortune by not paying for commercially bottled water. The filter’s alkalizing media increases the pH from 7 to 8.5, representing a 15 to 25 fold increase in pH value, going from an acidic to an alkaline range. Alkaline water decreases oxidation-reduction potential and helps offset the effects of harmful free radicals.

Four 4,600+ gauss neodymium magnets help decluster the water molecules, improving bioavailability to the body’s cells because smaller clusters of water molecules are easier to absorb.

The Sport Bottle is ideal for travel. Heather and I both have ours on vacations and business travel.

Healthy Water at Home:

We recommend the PiMag Waterfall for healthy water at home. Filtering our tap water is convenient, cost effective and the best way to provide ourselves and our families with healthy water. Imagine if we could create fresh spring water in our own home or office? This is the strategy behind the Nikken Waterfall. The Nikken Waterfall System is an advanced, technically sophisticated, well designed countertop home filtration system that converts tap water into fresh spring-like water. Using a multi-stage filtration process which cleans, alkalizes, mineralizes, ionizes, energizes and oxygenates the water, the Waterfall produces a light, velvety fresh-tasting water which is highly absorbable and healthy. The PiMag Waterfall works without electricity or plumbing and can be used in any location. Heather and I often take the waterfall with us when camping, it fits perfectly on the counter of our cab-over camper.

Put simply, the Waterfall produces water the way nature intended water to be. Free of contaminants but maintaining an alkaline pH with minerals that are added back after the filtration process. The water is run through a magnetic field that provides a water structure as it occurs in nature.

For the best value, check with the person that sent you this blog about our cost-effective water packs, that include, the PiMag Waterfall, Sports Bottle and our Micro-Jet Shower system and replacement filters. It’s not too late to give the gift if health for Fathers’ day. We have hydration solutions to accommodate any budget.

To quote former New Mexico Governor and Congressman Bill Richardson, “Recognizing and preventing men’s health problems is not just a man’s issue. Because of its impact on wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters, men’s health is truly a family issue.”

For the next few weeks in honor of Men’s Health Month we will concern ourselves with simple self care actions to be Healthy by Choice.