Coffee and donuts are a cliché associated with cops. But much like surgeons and pilots, officers are needed for their immediate detailed focus and alertness. The lack of either can make a difference between success and failure, life and death.
Along with physical fitness and mental health mindfulness being the largest factors of law enforcement success, hydration must be a daily choice. We all have our vices, like coffee and sweets, but water will give the most benefit, especially if you’re sweating all the time. Replenish, replenish, and replenish. Dehydration not only causes fatigue, but can lower blood pressure, weaken joints, dry mouth, dizziness, and headaches. It’s time to know that it’s something to take seriously and just how important it is to your job safety, and the safety of others.
Hydration improves not only your mental health and physical performance, but also your decision-making skills, brain function, and attention span.
On an average day, men need to drink about 13 cups of water and women 9 cups. Or another way to see it is, drink half your body weight in ounces. If it sounds like a lot, we have ideas on ways into tricking yourself to drink more water.
- Sneak water into your morning routine: If you drink coffee in the morning as soon as you wake up, then drink a glass of water right before your coffee. Studies say to do it in the same space in the same routine.
- Get a water bottle. Get a goal. : First, find a new larger water bottle to carry with you. Next, grab a marker and draw lines across to make as time goals. (See picture). This will create a challenge to see how much you need to drink by a particular time of the day. Bonus: you can also get friends to do this with you too.
- Make it a game: If you friends just got new water bottles too, turn it into a match. Try this. The last person to finish their water bottle by lunch time buys lunch.
- Add water flavors: If water sounds gross or not a craving, add some water flavors to it. It’s another great way to trick yourself to drink water, especially if it doesn’t taste like water.
What ways can you sneak water into your daily routine? Do you know a co-worker or friend who would take the water challenge with you? How about just adding some flavor packets to the water bottle? We can all have a donut and coffees, but first a glass of water.
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