'Five Trips': Read an excerpt from TV anchor Kendis Gibson’s psychedelic healing memoir
by USA TODAY’s Clare Mulroy
Often TV news anchors come to feel like family – we spend evenings and mornings with them, laugh with them and mourn national losses with them. But what’s behind the smile and signature newscaster voice.
A lot of things, says Kendis Gibson, a two-time Emmy winning journalist who has appeared on ABC News, CNN, CBS News and more.
His memoir, “Five Trips: An Investigative Journey into Mental Health, Psychedelic Healing, and Saving a Life” is out now from Simon & Schuster. It chronicles the most intense moments of his career – on the ground at the Twin Towers covering 9/11, co-anchoring ABC’s “World News Now” and interviewing Beyoncé. But it also takes you behind the bylines: A panic attack forced him to cut an interview with Queen Bey short.
Clinical trials show psilocybin and MDMA-assisted therapy may help treat serious mental health conditions including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Psilocybin, sometimes called “magic mushrooms,” is legal only in Oregon and Colorado, but saw momentum on ballots this fall. With “Five Trips,” Gibson hopes to destigmatize psychedelic use as medicine.
Read the full article on USA TODAY’s website here.
A scientist took a psychedelic drug — and watched his own brain 'fall apart'
by NPR’s Jon Hamilton
In the name of science, Dr. Nico Dosenbach had scanned his own brain dozens of times. But this was the first time he'd taken a mind-bending substance before sliding into the MRI tunnel.
"I was, like, drifting deeper into weirdness," he recalls. "I didn't know where I was at all. Time stopped, and I was everyone."
Dosenbach, an associate professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, had been given a high dose of psilocybin, the active substance in magic mushrooms, by his colleagues.
It was all part of a study of seven people designed to show how psilocybin produces its mind-altering effects.
Reclaiming Shamanic Dreaming From the Roots of Western Culture
by: Ryan Hurd
Fly through the heavens, make love with beautiful honey-skinned goddesses, and impress friends by folding a city on top of itself a la Inception.
These are the familiar advertisements for lucid dreaming; we know them well. Sure, these things can be achieved in dreams in which we are self-aware, but they are weak analogs to the shamanic context that our ancestors and cultural forebearers provided for dreams and visions.
Dreaming can be more than a reflection of our fears and desires. Actually, dreaming is a shamanic technology. The skills to dream for healing, guidance, and power — the classic domains of shamanism — lay hidden in our own Western culture.
See the full article on Reality Sandwich’s website here.
Check out curated playlists for dreaming, meditating, chilling, tripping, healing . . .
A DIFFERENT STREET
by D’Elle Milton
If we choose to remain in our old patterns once we realize the detrimental results or self-sabotage required to do so, we have essentially given up on ourselves. No amount of another's effort, faith, comfort or support will alter this behavior. Excuses abound and will always be readily available. Familiarity, safety, brokenness and just plain 'failure' are all wonderful caves of self-comfort available to those who choose to stay locked into their pain.
It is a valid choice . . . no one has the right to take that away from anyone else. Perhaps it is a karmic debt or retribution for past sins. Whatever our justification, we have the incredible ability to become self-righteous in our suffering.
The first steps out of our self-created hell can be the most difficult ever attempted. Breaking through the membrane of self-hatred and doubt takes strength and courage we may not choose to access. Whatever our decision, there is only the truth left at the center of our experience of life. That is the mirror we face at the moment of transition. When confronted with the various points of choice that were pivotal in the direction of the life we created, the moment of truth confronts us all.... I fell, I rose, I fell again.... the next step is either accept defeat or choose a different road.
Portia Nelson said it perfectly in her poem, Autobiography in Five Short Chapters:
Chapter 1
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the street.
I fall in, I am lost . . . I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter 2
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter 3
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it there.
I still fall in . . . it's a habit . . . but, my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It's my fault.
I get out immediately.
Chapter 4
I walk down the same street.
there is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter 5
I walk down a different street.
D’Elle Milton, a founding member of TR1BE global, is also a teacher, facilitator, and writer on meta-physical topics. Her extensive travels as a singer-songwriter has helped develop her vision for a truly expansive conscious community.
Evolving to Sacred Witness
Empaths have a bad rap. They are misunderstood, or worse, exploited . . . Over the past 50 years or so, our culture has praised and celebrated the Empath as one form of “healer” . . . Sacred Witness is a concept that describes the act of holding space for another, without ego, judgment or agenda . . .
by D’Elle Milton
Empaths have a bad rap. They are misunderstood, or worse, exploited. They take on pain and carry it for others, like the sin-eaters of the Appalachians. Empaths suffer in silence and sustain countless emotional traumas simply by being around people who are unaware of the energy they are projecting. It is agony for an Empath to go to a hospital or even a grocery store. The unconscious emotions and pain swirling around the energy field can cause an Empath to curl up around the pain, withdraw into their own haven of misery and simply absorb… until they are able to emerge again. Pain for them is caused by more than physical injury or emotional trauma. Lies hurt, betrayal can be deadly, and disappointment causes severe scarring. Years of experience thickens the skin of most people but not the Empath. They always remain baby soft and vulnerable so they must create their own version of protection for their very survival. Different cultures view those who are empathic as either weaklings or saints. For societies who view this ‘’gift” positively, to take on another’s pain is considered a benefit to the sufferer, as compared to sympathy which implies a certain distance and inherent superiority.
Being able to connect to and become one with the pain of another can sometimes relieve the immediate pressure for the one experiencing it. The great irony is that when the Empath takes on someone else’s pain, it neither heals the cause nor does it take away the ability of the one hurting to continue to access more pain so the cycle keeps expanding. The Empath takes on more pain, there is now more room for the one in pain to bring in more and the net result is that this act of ‘selfless kindness’ actually increases the amount of pain in the world.
Over the past 50 years or so, our culture has praised and celebrated the Empath as one form of “healer”. The metaphysical community in particular was quick to jump on board the “Me Too” train as more and more people began to claim the title of Empath. Some even began to train others to become more empathic.
*empathetic vs. empathic: Although the two words are essentially the same, the concept of empathy was introduced in the early 1900’s while empathetic is a newer (1932) derivation. The current distinction seems to center around empathetic being the ability to feel ‘with’ someone else as opposed to sympathy or feeling sorry ‘for’ someone while empathic implies the intention of taking on the pain of another in an effort to relieve it.
Sacred Witness is a concept that describes the act of holding space for another, without ego, judgment or agenda in order to allow the person hurting to do the necessary work to find healing and/or wholeness within themselves. The Sacred Witness provides an opportunity to access pure potential WITHOUT needing to take on the other’s pain or injury. The first step in moving in this direction is to recognize that the Empath does NOT lessen the pain or brokenness in another by taking it on themselves. Bitter pill…swallow.
Next, we must become our own Empath and ‘take on’ our wounds with acceptance, love and compassion. When we take responsibility for our own healing we may find tremendous resistance to stepping into a new place of wholeness. We no longer have the safety of failure to rely on for comfort. We can no longer claim incapacity or childhood trauma as an excuse to remain in dysfunction. But when we reclaim our own healing, we also declare our willingness and our ability to create a life of meaning and fulfillment, passion and purpose. Personal responsibility is an awesome power. We CAN change our life experience, but it is a choice.
Sacred Witness is a stance that is not easy to hold initially, but once it is fully understood and mastered, it allows every interaction to be mutually beneficial rather than one sided or sacrificial. The Empath in all of us will evolve into Sacred Witness as we move toward greater awareness of our inherent ability as conscious beings to create and sustain our moment to moment reality.
original artwork/image creator unknown
D’Elle Milton, a founding member of TR1BE global, is also a teacher, facilitator, and writer on meta-physical topics. Her extensive travels as a singer-songwriter has helped develop her vision for a truly expansive conscious community.vision for a expansive conscious community.
We Are Our Stories
We are our stories. We carve them in stone, we repeat them in our minds like a mantra, they become the fortress that is the "truth" of our life. We allow others to see us through the prism of our stories, told and repeated over decades. Indeed, this prism is the lens through which we see and understand ourselves. These stories, carefully packaged and ever ready to display, are borne throughout our existence. Yet in spite of new experiences offering us a depth and subtle shading to our perspective, our stories often remain frozen in the moment they were honed. Our understanding of the world is formed and reformed, but rarely do these self-defining stories change in the face of new experiences, new information.
The whole purpose of storytelling -- whether on a date, around the table with friends, or over the phone staying in touch with family -- is to help others understand how we think of ourselves and our place in this universe. Most of us have a catalog of stories that we go to for a given situation. These stories are the ones carved in stone. They reveal everything about us: where we're stuck, how we've evolved, our biases and desires. The epic stories we tell repeatedly: that Bad Relationship, the Unfair Divorce, that Life Changing Car Accident, of Graduating From College, or Why I Don't Talk to (fill in the blank) Anymore, are just stories frozen in time. Rarely do we bring them forward to examine in the light of new awareness, new perspectives, or evolved consciousness.
The downside of never reexamining the stories through a lens of hard-earned insights is that we remain forever in that fortress constructed from lower conscious beliefs. This realignment is a step beyond the exercise of recognizing the gift or lesson of a particular situation, or "seeing the pony," as one friend describes it. By tearing apart and rewriting a story that supports your awareness in this moment changes the way that you present yourself to yourself and, by extension, to the world. As we become aware of new ways of thinking (apropos of Maya Angelou's maxim, "When you know better, do better"), part of doing better is re-understanding our life stories with that new knowing.
In a recent conversation with a friend, an authentic and curious woman who firmly walks the path of awareness and higher consciousness, she told me a story about why she didn't get into Stanford and went to a UC school instead which, in her mind, was a tragedy. Her story described uninvolved parents, a (private) school advisor who unfairly wrote a mediocre recommendation letter, as well as a series of other unfortunate events that were supposedly out of her control. As we talked about the circumstances around her story called "Not Getting Into Stanford," which I had heard on several occasions, I asked questions with genuine curiosity. Her story telling was so completely at odds with her current state of consciousness, of taking full responsibility for her actions, that I was confused by it. When reminded of the principles that guide her day-to-day life, this carved-in-stone tale began to crumble. There was some resistance, some victim consciousness arose, but as she used her evolved awareness of how the universe works, she slowly began seeing and describing the event quite differently. Not only did the story change, she realized that where she went to school had been the best possible place for her. By releasing outdated versions of how she described her life, she allowed a forward momentum to take over and move her closer to her best self. She even reached out to the advisor on whom she had bestowed so much unfair angst over the years and apologized.
For many of us who have been on this planet for more than five decades, we have had ample opportunity for our consciousness to expand. Every experience we've had, and will have, is an opportunity to see the world, not through the blinders of ego and victimhood, but through a lens of empowerment and self-awareness. The stories you perpetually tell can either keep you frozen in place, in spite of hard work expanding your consciousness, or they can be re-written and re-understood in the light of awareness. It often is the missing stepstone that someone else needs as well.
The next time you are in meditation or quiet reflection, find one of those carved-in-stone stories. Think about what you know now that your younger self could not understand, what new information you can bring to that story to release it from the past and pull it into the now. This may be uncomfortable and sometimes painful because we are examining dissonance. If discomfort arises, use your breath to move through the physical and emotional sensations. See the feelings as you would thoughts during meditation. As they come into your awareness, recognize and then release them. As the release happens, see what thoughts appear that rewrite the story knowing that the only person that ever needs to hear the revised story is you.
It is often helpful after this exercise to journal the experience. Writing is the best way to make changes in your thinking and incorporate your new understanding of a past event.
The Giant Sequoias
A recent visit to the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite where the Giant Sequoias still stand, both touched and saddened me. They have existed for more than 2,000 years, weathering fires, earthquakes, logging, oblivious tourists, and who knows what else. Standing before these trees was humbling -- as humans we live an average of 70-90 years. But to these trees, that period of time is a fleck of dust floating by on a summer breeze. They have seen us, our parents, and grandparents come and go as these Giants stand in silent witness to history.
As I sat near these trees and listened for their voices, I felt dizzy with their enormity and dwarfed by what they have seen during their lifetime. If I could share a beer with anyone in history, the consciousness of a Giant Sequoia would be on the list. I sat quietly, picked up a low slow voice that may have been the tree, and felt some of what they felt with tourists scrambling around their roots. For me it was a memorable and touching half hour.
As tourists poured by me, phones in hand, I realized that they had a different agenda while standing before these enormous trees. It seemed their primary objective was to compose their social media photos to impress family and friends. At least one person in every group designated themselves as the director and when so ordered, the party struck their pose. These Giant Sequoias were only the backdrop for the photograph; completely absent was any sense of awe and respect for these Elders. From watching the streams of people moving past some of the most striking scenery, it seemed the purpose of vacations was about creating an enviable snapshot that trumped anyone else's vacation photos.
It appeared to me that the experience of being in Yosemite National Park had little to do with the immensity of nature, the hopeful connection to a reality that is not mediated through a television, iPhone, or other device. Today do we not feel a connection with the giant trees that drew them there from the park map or brochure? As long as the SnapChat or Facebook photo looks good, then all is good, and it's time to move along to the next photo op.
While enjoying Mariposa Grove, I reflected back to the 2017 nightmare of the Railroad Fire. This fire was unique -- it was unstoppable and uncontainable. Panicked residents threw a few belongings into their car and raced for safety. In modern times a natural disaster like this seemed inconceivable, and yet the fires unapologetically raged. Technology be damned, nature had her pound of flesh: 45 people died, more than 12,000 acres were scorched beyond recognition. But while most people fled and animals scattered, the trees were locked in place. Mariposa Grove within the Park's borders were mostly untouched. However, the inferno ravaged a stand of ancient, immense Sequoia trees in an area called Shadow of the Giants outside of Nelder Grove.
The Shadow of the Giants was one of those special semi-secret spots where Oakhurst locals knew to send their friends and family. It was a magical place with trees that literally spanned millennia. Since it was outside Yosemite, crowds were nonexistent. You could commune with and hug the trees to your heart's content. But to get there, you had to drive through a neighborhood and into the hills that led to the mountains. You had to know where to turn to find this hidden place. For the lucky few who did, WOW! The trees could have inspired one of J.R.R. Tolkien's stories; and if you were there for more than the photo op, you felt the magic that weaved a spell along the creek and through the grove. Lay your hands on the trees and they would speak, lean against them and they would lean back against you. You could glimpse how a being that lived 3,500 years might see the world.
But fire trumped time, cared not for antiquity, and raged through the stand of trees. Those who had been to that area couldn't believe the Giant Ones were gone, burnt beyond recovery.
Walking near the Shadow of the Giants now is like walking a Civil War battlefield. The dead are still present, their shells stand blackened and empty. In odd juxtaposition, wild flowers in epic bloom are running along the creek that fed the enormous trees. But the ancient ones are gone and sadness wraps my heart.
Out of my pocket I took a Sequoia seed cone that I had picked up in the Mariposa Grove and gave it a hopeful toss in the direction of the creek. It may not catch in the soil and may not become a seedling, a sapling, a Giant. But the seed cone of a Sequoia offers hope. Maybe, just maybe it will root, grow, reach for the sun and become like its predecessors. Life is ever hopeful, otherwise what is the point?
Thought Forms Matter
Thoughts form matter and thought-forms matter are inextricably intertwined.
The title of this blog can be read in a couple of ways – Thought-Forms Matter, meaning the thoughts, beliefs and imaginings of the mind are important because they have an impact on how we experience our life. These expressions of the mind create a vibration in our physical, spiritual and energetic body. For example, when remembering an experience that brought great joy, your blood pressure drops, your muscles relax and your outlook on the world is generally colored with warm feelings generated by those rosy contemplations. On the other hand, when we recall a traumatic event, an injury to our body or ego, this sends our physical state in the completely opposite direction—blood pressure rises, tension develops in our neck and shoulders; quickly our body moves from a contented state to a fight-or-flight state. Post-traumatic-stress syndrome is an extreme example of the way that remembered experiences impact our existence. In this way, thoughts are the critical element to how we create, understand and experience the world.
This expression also means, “Thought Forms Matter”, meaning our thoughts create objects and experiences in the physical world. The way our reality is constructed first came about through thoughts in people’s heads. Architects imagine a building before its construction; goal setting, and image boards are all examples of how we must first see it in our mind’s eye before it can be made real before our eyes. Thoughts are powerful because they literally generate the world in which we live; therefore, choose your thoughts carefully.
The movie The Secret explains that the path to manifesting is simply to imagine your desires, affirm them regularly, and they will appear. What the movie neglects to say is that all of your thoughts, sublime beliefs, and nagging anxieties to which you give your attention, create the reality in which you live. For example, on one hand you may attempt to manifest more money. You create the thought form of abundance, you affirm this thought form throughout your day, maybe you even create an image board decorated with photos of what abundance means to you. Accordingly, this ought to bring abundance wrapped in a pretty bow to rest upon your doorstep. Unfortunately, at the same time you are creating the new thought form of abundance, old thought forms of lack and scarcity from childhood still reside within you preventing abundance from manifesting. These ways of thinking or belief systems can be subtle but will block successful manifesting.
Another stumbling block to the way that our thoughts are expressed are our words choices. Think of words as the colors you use to paint your life. If your intention is to paint a romantic sunset over the ocean, you’re not going to use a lot of brown and black colors, right? In that same vein, if you want to create prosperity in your life, you wouldn’t use words that signify poverty. The most common way that we do this is by using the word “want”, which actually means ‘lacking’. The Benjamin Franklin proverb depicts it perfectly:
“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”
Hold this in your mind the next time you attempt to manifest something because the vibration created by wanting is very low. It is one of scarcity and privation. So, when one states to the Universe, “I want more money”, the Universe believes you and supports you in this state of lack. A more powerful way to affirm abundance would be to express the gratitude for what already exists and from that point of gratitude, imagine what more abundance or prosperity looks like (a new house, car, job). Use your thoughts to paint a powerful picture of the world to which you aspire. From there, while holding the vibration of gratitude, describe those thoughts with words that support what you are trying to create. For example, “I am deeply grateful for all I have in my life and grateful for the ways that success and prosperity continue to grow.” Keep in mind that you can repeat this mantra a thousand times but if you are countering the positive affirmations with envy, want, or lack you are creating an internal battle you are destined to lose.
Thoughts form matter and thought-forms matter are inextricably intertwined. Your thoughts create a vibration in your physical body and that vibration is key to the physical creation of your reality. The most effective way to quickly change or enhance your vibration is to slow your mind, find authentic gratitude for your current experience and, from that place of gratitude, imagine and then give words (chosen wisely) to how you see your life unfolding.
More Good Salt May Not Be Bad
Challenge your understanding of salt, as the relationship between salt and our bodies may not be that simple, and the variables that seem to have the most impact on our bodies are far more complex.
The variables that seem to have the most impact
by Virginia Eaton
For years my younger son was a chocolate maker in Portland, gifted in combining flavors to create unusual combos that were remarkable yummy, like chili and orange, lemon with lavender and honey, or curry chocolate.
My favorite of all time was dark chocolate sea salt caramels. I still occasional crave that heavenly salty-sweet combo!
I have always found it curious how salt interacts with flavors, increasing the sweet flavors and minimizing bitter flavors. Some people even mix salt in their coffee grounds as a way to boost the flavor and reduce coffee’s bitter bite.
Sadly, salt has experienced some bashing during past decades for exacerbating blood pressure and kidney problems, but recent research is starting to change how the medical community talks to patients about the role this seasoning plays in a healthy diet.
As the medical community is looking more favorably on salt, the cooking world is embracing the myriad types of salt that can build complexity in everyday cooking.
The New York Times described research that challenges our understanding of how salt, or more specifically sodium, affects the body (NY Times article).
For decades, the idea has been that when you eat salty foods, your body has to dilute the concentration of sodium by retaining water. Remember science 101 and osmosis? The process, it was thought, stresses your kidneys and increases your blood pressure.
However, it seems the relationship between salt and our bodies may not be that simple, and reducing sodium may not be the key to controlling blood pressure. According to the New York Times, in addition to controlling blood pressure, sodium can have an interesting affect on weight.
“New studies of Russian cosmonauts, held in isolation to simulate space travel, show that eating more salt made them less thirsty but somehow hungrier. Subsequent experiments found that mice burned more calories when they got more salt, eating 25 percent more just to maintain their weight.”
If your doctor has told you to reduce your dietary sodium, please have a conversation with him or her before making any changes to your diet.
Over the past five years, I have been reading research that describes the relationship between sodium and blood pressure as far more complex than “less salt equals lower blood pressure.”
The variables that seem to have the most impact on lowering blood pressure are alcohol and sugar consumption — the less the better. If you are obese, losing 10 pounds can make a big difference in many areas, but especially blood pressure.
The interesting part of the NY Times piece is the weight loss that was noted when sodium intake was increased. Researchers explained it like this: the additional dietary sodium increased the output of a hormone that causes your body to actually produce more water. It comes not from the kidneys but from breaking down fat and muscle which creates more water for the body to use.
This process requires lots of energy, so your body burns more calories. The New York Times used the example of a camel crossing the desert. The camel doesn’t need to drink water in spite of the heat because its body breaks down the fat that is in its hump to stay hydrated.
Researchers cautioned that increasing salt in your diet would not be a suitable way to lose weight, but is one piece of the complex picture of how your bodily functions like blood pressure and kidney function, for example, are far more complicated than we’ve known.
The consensus seems to be that, aside from the sodium question, the most effective way to reduce blood pressure and stress on the kidneys is to eat five cups of quality vegetables and fruits a day, exercise for 30 minutes each day, if you are overweight, lose 10 pounds, and add 15-20 minutes of meditation or prayer time daily.
When I talk with clients about dietary salt and limiting their intake, I explain that once you remove processed food from your diet, you can use salt in your cooking freely without negative consequence.
Processed food is not only extremely high in sodium but also in other ingredients that stress the various body systems including blood pressure and kidneys. While the FDA may have declared ingredients in processed food as “safe for consumption,” there has been no research on how the interaction of the numerous non-food substances impact your body.
One caveat: there are some people who have a genetic predisposition to reacting negatively to sodium at even low levels, and must be judicious with how much they salt their food. The rest of us though, when cooking real food, can salt our home cooking to our taste buds’ delight.
When using salt in cooking you have many choices these days, and there really is a difference.
Table salt is usually processed rock salt, often with iodine added to prevent it from sticking together. There’s a wide range of quality in basic table salt. Some tastes metallic and others very bland. The level of saltiness can also vary considerably. Take a taste and see what you think.
Sea salt comes from evaporating seawater and can be either fine or coarse. Sea salt comes in many forms, some more expensive than others. What I like about sea salt is that is has a more complex, cleaner flavor than basic table salt. It tends to be less salty than generic table salt so as you cook, taste and add salt as you go.
Kosher salt is made up of large crystals and has been used in the Jewish community to remove the blood from meat before butchering, thus its name. Kosher salt contains no additives and because of the large crystal can take longer to dissolve. Many cooks prefer using kosher salt in soups and stew and for the top of baked goods.
If you’ve never tried anything other than Morton’s table salt, consider buying a few different types and have yourself a taste test, you might be surprised with the differences.
If you don’t want to invest in a variety of salts, some high-end grocery stores and cookware stores will allow you to sample the different types. If you purchase pure salt that doesn’t contain an anti-clumping agent, you can add a few grains of rice to the container to keep it from sticking together.
As I mentioned earlier, the most interesting use of salt that I came across is adding salt to your coffee grounds to reduce bitterness and boost flavor. Apparently adding approximately a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt to six tablespoons of grounds makes for an extraordinarily tasty up of coffee. I don’t’ have a coffee maker so I haven’t tried but if you are so inclined, give it a whirl and let me know how it turned out!
Stay Cool, Drink More
Golfing, hiking, gardening, whatever - you should have a water bottle close at hand.
by Virginia Eaton
Playing golf in the summer has some special perks. When you hit the ball on a fairway hardened from the heat it rolls a long, long way. Sometimes it evens rolls in the right direction, which makes me want to do the happy dance. Long roll aside, temperatures in the mid-90s also make the muscles and joints happy so getting that full Michelle Wei-style swing is slightly more likely. However, the heat and sun that make fairways roll and joints loose also dehydrate the body faster that most people realize.
Whether you’re golfing, hiking or gardening you should have a water bottle close at hand. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that you consume at least half a glass of water every 15-20 minutes while exercising. The Mayo Clinic advises 6-8 glasses of water every day whether you exercise or not.
Staying hydrated should be at the top of your list of healthy resolves, and here’s why:
1. 92% of your blood is composed of water. The plasma, or liquid portion of your blood, transports the red and white blood cells through your body, your heart and your lungs. Dehydration means thicker blood, thicker blood means you are more likely to form blood clots.
2. Your kidneys and guts need lots of water to process everything you eat and drink. And while it is extremely important to eat a lot of fiber, doing so without a lot of water puts you in a very uncomfortable position!
3. Muscle tissue is made up of a high percentage of water and when dehydrated, muscles do not work well and are prone to cramping.
4. One of the first signs that you may be dehydrated is feeling tired. There is a complex dance with the brain and the kidneys to control the electrolytes in the body and, when those are out of whack, energy levels suffer.
5. Hydration is the key to staying cool. Both your skin and internal thermostat need to be well hydrated to battle external heat—drink more and you may feel cooler!
So now you know why you need to carry that water bottle with you everywhere, but if eight glasses of water a day seems like an unattainable ideal, here are some suggestions that might help you reach that goal:
1. Start your day with a glass of water before your morning coffee or tea.
2. Limit coffee and soda intake: while coffee and soda are fluids, they have lots of other substances that the body has to process like caffeine, sugar or sweetener, and sodium. These may have a diuretic effect.
3. Drink a glass of water before every meal—your digestion will appreciate it.
4. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Foods with high water content make you feel full and hydrate your inner workings.
5. If plain water isn’t palatable, homemade iced tea (without caffeine) is an excellent substitute.
While it is possible to over-consume water, spending five minutes outside in 9-degree temps makes that hard to imagine!
Listen to your body; fuel it well because your health depends upon it!
