Inside Marcy's Mind
Having hosted the Aging aint for Sissie's podcast for two years, I wanted to expand what I could discuss. This podcast will touch on the fun of aging and whatever has crossed my mind! Please join me as I walk through life! #retirement #travel #fun #aginggracefully Link in my bio! Listen now!
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Inside Marcy's Mind
Quenching the Truth: Why Dehydration Might Be Your Real Enemy
Ever wonder why you're feeling foggy, cranky, or just plain off? The culprit might be simpler than you think. Welcome to a deep dive into the world of hydration—that basic necessity we all think we understand but rarely prioritize correctly.
Most of us walk around in a state of mild dehydration without realizing it. Those headaches, that afternoon slump, the irritability that makes your coworkers seem unbearable? It might not be them—it might be your water intake. During my own health journey, I've discovered that proper hydration transformed aspects of my wellbeing I never thought were related to water consumption. From brain fog and bad breath to dry skin and constipation, water deficiency manifests in surprising ways that we often misattribute to other causes.
The solution isn't complicated, but it does require intentionality. Starting your day with water before coffee, sipping consistently throughout the day rather than guzzling all at once, and incorporating hydrating foods like watermelon and cucumber can make a dramatic difference. For those who struggle with plain water, I share my tricks—from using crystallite in moderation to embracing electrolyte supplements like Liquid IV (the bomb pop flavor is phenomenal, by the way). The goal isn't perfection but progress toward giving your body what it truly needs to function optimally.
Whether you're a fitness enthusiast who sweats regularly or someone who simply wants clearer thinking and better mood regulation, this episode offers practical insights without the guilt trip. Your relationship with hydration doesn't need to be complicated—it just needs to be consistent. Join me in making water a priority, and discover how this simple shift might resolve issues you've been battling for years. Your brain, body, and even your social interactions will thank you for it.
Hello and welcome to Inside Marci's Mind. My name is Marci Backus and I am your host. Well, hey, welcome back to Inside Marci's Mind, where the filter is loose, the sarcasm is thick and the hydration is apparently optional for some of you. Today we're diving into a very dry topic. Literally, we're talking about dehydration Yep, the thing that's sneakily ruining your mood, your skin and probably your breath. So grab a glass of water or a hydration drip no judgment here and let's get into it. So I'll give you a little life update before we get into hydration. Hydration is no joke, we're going to get into that. But I'll just give you a little life update.
Speaker 1:Had a friend visit. Annette was here for four days. We were here, there and everywhere, ate our way through Chicago, took her on the L, took her in a bus, took her to the zoo. We went to the beach. What didn't we do? Ate, great food, had a good time, lots of laughs, lots of fun, showed her and shared her the beauty of Chicago. If you've never been here, you do not know what you're missing. It's a fabulous city, so that's fun.
Speaker 1:Health is on the move. Things are going good. I'm feeling great, got lots of trips on the books, which I love, to travel, and during cancer I wasn't able to travel. So I am very happy to get back on the road, going to see family, going to see friends and taking a great trip to Ireland in October. So got a lot going on here. Yeah, I think that's about it.
Speaker 1:Craig and I are looking at some two bedroom units here in our building. Who knows, you never know, I don't know. I just want to look at them, just looking right now, just like to look and see what maybe that brings. We were never intending to live in a one bedroom and never intending to live in this. We've owned it for 23 years. It was an investment property and now here we are living in it. So we kind of go back and forth. But I'll tell you one thing it's gonna have. Mine has in-unit laundry, because that's why we bought this unit 23 years ago. They had put in in-unit laundry. Well, that is no longer available to do. Our building could only handle so many in-unit laundries and I will not buy a two-bedroom without an in-unit laundry. So that narrows the playing field a little bit.
Speaker 1:Anyhow, that's what's been going on with me. Life is good. I'm feeling good, starting to feel normal again, starting to feel like myself. So, and one of the reasons is is because hydration. So let's talk about that. Hang in there, grab yourself an IV, drip or pour a little of that liquid IV into some water, sit down, sit back and we will chat about hydration. Well, I was trying to think about this week's episode and then it was super hot here for two days and I drank so much water and I was really proud of myself. I think it's the first time that I really realized that hydration makes a difference, and I know it makes a difference. We all know it makes a difference. Let's know it makes a difference. Let's start talking about the fun stuff.
Speaker 1:You think signs of dehydration would be obvious? Right, like gee, I'm thirsty. But no, your body does like to play games. It sends little clues like blurry vision, bad breath and my personal favorite brain fog so thick you can't remember why you walked into a room. So when you're blaming those little brain farts on, brain farts could be dehydration. Bad breath Yep, it's not just from garlic fries. Your saliva is like mouthwash from mother nature. No water, no rinse, so your mouth becomes a petri dish of funk and grossness. Glory Vision, that's right. Your eyeballs are drying out like a sad houseplant. Water keeps your eyes lubricated. No water say hello to smudged reality. I did not realize when my contacts were getting foggy. It was that my eyes were getting dry and I was not drinking enough water. So I play games with myself during the day to get enough water in. We'll talk a little bit about that in a little bit. Maybe you do too. I do have those liquid IVs. I put one of those in a water bottle. I go to the gym five days a week, so five days I get that in. And my little game with that is after my workout I do the steam room. I'm not allowed to get out of the steam room until I've finished my water. So that's a little game I play with myself.
Speaker 1:Other things are skin mood and other drama. Dry skin not just a winter thing, but dehydration sucks the glow right out of you. Your skin can become flaky, itchy and straight up rude Like excuse me, you're 64, not 164. So if you are dealing with dry skin, dry patches, things like that, it is dehydration. You can moisturize till the cows come home. If you don't moisturize from the inside, it's not going to help.
Speaker 1:And then there's that brain fog and cranky vibes. You know those days when everything feels slightly more annoying than usual. You thought it was just you. Well, it may not be your coworkers. It might be dehydration. Let me repeat that. It may not be your coworkers, it might be dehydration. Let me repeat that. It may not be your coworkers, it may be dehydration. Even mild water loss messes with your mood. Now, just let that sink in a little bit. You think you drink enough water. We all think we drink enough water. Most of us do not. So think about brain fog and your mood and you're thinking other things are driving. That could very much be dehydration.
Speaker 1:Oh, and this lovely one constipation, because apparently your colon needs to be hydrated too. Without it, things slow to a crawl, literally. Now I want you to think about all those things. Do you suffer? Do you suffer from any of those? Constipation, brain bomb, dry eyes, any of the bad breath, mood swings? If you're dealing with any of those and you're popping pills for different things, for constipation, all of that, the answer could be as simple as a water bottle, also cutting back on caffeine, and I'm working on balancing that out. I do love my Diet Coke, but I am making sure that's not the only hydration I'm getting.
Speaker 1:So what are the signs? Just in case you don't know, here are the classic signs. So we just talked about all those other things are signs, but we blame them on other things, like our coworkers. Here are the classics If your pee is dark, yellow or yellow, of really any shade, if it looks like apple juice, hydrate. Your pee should be almost clear.
Speaker 1:If you're hydrated, fatigue, you're not lazy, you're just dried out like an old prune. If you are fatigued and you're finding you're fatigued during the day and you're going for caffeine to boost that fatigueness, might I suggest water or a form of Gatorade or a hydrating liquid, not a caffeine, a hydrating liquid. Dizziness no, the room isn't just spinning because of your age or that you got up quick or any of these things. And again, I am not a doctor, so take this all with a grain of salt. I am, I don't. I'm not a doctor, I don't claim to be one, but if you're dealing with dizziness, try hydrating. It helped me.
Speaker 1:Muscle cramps, your body's way of saying nice, try, now drink some water. I, since I've been hydrating my night cramps and I've been taking magnesium. We've talked about supplements. My night cramps, muscle cramps are virtually non-existent, occasionally here and there, but they were a regular thing for me. So if you're dealing with dizziness, fatigue, muscle cramps, your pee is looking like the sunshine, you are dehydrated.
Speaker 1:So then what's the answer? Yes, water is the answer. It's a simple thing as water. But I don't like water. How about you? So I have a little crystallite. I sprinkle a little bit of that into my water. I double the water to the amount of crystallite that you're supposed to, and that helps me drink. I keep it in. I know a lot of people drag around those clunky water bottles. I have a cup that's kind of like those water bottles and it keeps it icy, cold, keeps my ice iced, and I keep that next to my bed at night. So when I get up and I have a straw, I get some good sips in while I'm, you know, in the middle of the night and it's nice and cold during these warm months.
Speaker 1:Here is some things you can actually do about it. Start your day with water, not coffee. Have it or have both. So I do now drink a cup of water just real quick, usually take my vitamins with it or whatever I have to take that day and get a good eight ounces of water down before I even start my coffee. And then I don't feel so guilty about my coffee Sip throughout the day, not chugging it at 10 am like a guzzling raccoon. Don't try to get it. It doesn't really help you to drink like a big old gallon of water in the morning and say I've done it. You need to spread your hydration out through the day.
Speaker 1:And again, I love liquid IV. It does increase the hydration of the water you're drinking. My favorite flavor of that liquid IV is out only in the summer and it's the bomb pop flavor. You know the red, white and blue bomb pops. That flavor is delightful. I buy my liquid IV this is not a commercial but Costco. If you want to pay me, that's fine. Costco has the best deal on liquid IVs and they change the flavors throughout the year and right now the bomb pop flavor is in, but their berry flavors. They're all really good but they do increase the hydration of the water and they do help me drink more water.
Speaker 1:If you are feeling dehydrated and you're like dizzy and those types of things, grab a liquid IV, throw it in your water and get that down. Double up that hydration. It's funny because I do my workout in a pool and I do it five days a week. You do sweat in a pool and everybody you know the ones that don't drink water it's not good. I make sure I have water right next to that pool and I drink during my workout, just like you would a regular workout, because, believe it or not, you are sweating in that water. So if you're a swimmer, you, you work out in the water, and if you're doing any of these God forsaken hot yoga, oh my, I don't know why. I love you all, but why would you do hot yoga? But, my gosh, if you're doing anything like that or you are working out like Craig runs in the morning now, but it's humid already here in the morning, you have got to hydrate. You have got to get that water down and again, don't guzzle it like a raccoon all at once.
Speaker 1:Here's another really great tip If you're not a big water lover, eat your water. How can you eat your water? Cucumbers, watermelon, lettuce, fruits, celery, that type of thing. Watermelon is great. I love watermelon. I buy it cut up at the store and I'll just munch on that Grapes Grapes are great. They're very hydrating. So look into the different things that you can eat to eat your water. So maybe you drink some of your water and eat some of your water.
Speaker 1:Try adding electrolytes if you sweat a lot or just like feeling fancy, so that's like the liquid IV. Your electrolytes are what's really important. So I want you to think about a lot of the things I said today, if you are suffering from any of those things, before you start popping pills and I'm not against pills for depression or anything else and all the things that we may need them for. We need them for a lot of things. But before you do that, get yourself some water, eat some water. Have some watermelon, put yourself up this time of year, my goodness. Get that. Cut up watermelon in the refrigerator and eat a couple slices a day. I always put it out with dinner for Craig and I and that way you grab a couple pieces. You don't even know it and you've added to your water content.
Speaker 1:So I hope this kind of brings to focus how important hydration is for your brain to function, for your body to function. How important hydration is for your brain to function, for your body to function. I know not drinking enough water through my mom in the hospital a couple of times. You don't need to do that. And yeah, you're probably going to have to pee a lot, drinking a lot more water. But you know what? Oh well, too bad, so sad Do it? Do it? Sorry, a parched jet. If you made it this far without taking a sip, I applaud your commitment to chaos. But seriously, drink some water. Your brain, your bowels and your besties will thank you. Don't forget to subscribe to Inside Marcy's Mind, where we say things, your thinking and just the right amount of sass. Until next time, stay hydrated, stay cheeky and stay curious.
Speaker 1:And just a reminder I do have another podcast called Aging Ape for Sissies and in that one this week we talk about volunteering and you can listen to my episodes for that. Anywhere you get your podcast, wherever you got this one. I have a website for each of my podcasts inside marciesmindcom. You can listen to my episodes there or you can go to Aging Ain't For Sissies Sorry, aging Ain't For Sissies podcast. Something came up on my calendar and it just caught me off guard. You know you got to stay focused. I need to focus, focus people AgingAidForSissiesPodcastcom, and you can get information there on my podcast. So again, I hope that all is going well with you this summer. We are halfway through that summer and in here in Chicago we do count the days, because when summer's over, it isn't back for a very long time. So go out and do something positive.
