Dhru Purohit Show - Doubling Down On Morning Hydration For Better Energy, Focus And Longevity

Episode Date: February 6, 2023

This episode is brought to you by Birch Mattress by Helix and BiOptimizers Magnesium Breakthrough.  Today on The Dhru Purohit Podcast, Dhru reshares his popular morning hydration protocol in a brand new mini-episode, but this time with a slightly new twist: the effects of dehydration on aging. Dhru highlights the findings from a 2023 study linking clinical markers of dehydration to a 39% greater risk of chronic disease and 50% higher odds of a person’s biological (inner) age being higher than their chronological age. Ensuring you’re adequately hydrated can help you age in reverse. In this episode, Dhru walks us through his step-by-step approach to hydration, which has significantly impacted his and his family's and friends' quality of life. In this episode, Dhru dives into: -A no-cost tool anyone uses to improve energy, focus, and overall performance (0:09) -How the Try This: Morning Hydration Challenge has changed people’s lives (1:55) -Why hydration is an important area to focus on (6:56) -The effects of dehydration on your brain (7:30) -Findings from a new study on hydration and aging (8:10) -Applying these findings to daily life using Dhru’s Morning Hydration protocol(12:00) -Personalizing water intake for your unique needs (13:28) -The consequences of a thirsty brain (16:09) -Why electrolytes are key for proper hydration (17:01) -Breakdown of the Morning Hydration Challenge (18:16) Also mentioned in this episode: -Science Daily article: Good hydration linked to healthy aging -Try This: Morning Hydration Challenge -NIH Hydration Recommendations -LMNT Electrolyte Mix (affiliate link) -E-lyte Electrolyte Concentrate (Amazon link) Birch mattress by Helix is made out of organic latex, organic cotton, New Zealand wool, and American steel springs. To get 20% off your Birch Living mattress, head over to https://www.birchliving.com/dhru today. Magnesium Breakthrough really stands out from the other magnesium supplements out there. BiOptimizers is offering my community 10% off + special gift with purchase, just head over to https://www.magbreakthrough.com/dhru, with code DHRU10. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi everyone, Drew Prode here. Happy February. Today, I have a solo episode for you. I'm breaking down a low cost, no-cost tool that anyone can use to improve their energy, their focus, their productivity, and their overall performance. If that sounds like something you're interested in, keep listening. So here's a deal. Happy February.

One of the best parts about the new year, happy 2023, is that we're all super eager to jump into setting new goals and intentions and areas of focus that we want to improve on, especially if you listen to this podcast, you probably have, even if it's not a formalized goal, you probably have some areas in your health that you want to improve. Now, around this time, when February hits and real life starts to kick in, it's estimated that about 80% of people will have already abandoned their goal, intention, or focus. 80%. 80%. Now, so many people fall into the New Year's trap of setting a goal that's a little too ambitious for where we are right now without maybe the right support system. And then we wind

up giving up on those goals and intentions before we even get started. And hey, if that's you, no shame, I've been there plenty of times. There's probably a couple things that I wanted to focus on this year that got dropped, that the ball got dropped on and I'll pick it up a little bit later on. So no shame. And one thing I know for myself, and I've seen for a lot of my friends, is sometimes the best thing that we can do is take a step back and double down on the basics. And that's why today I am resharing and breaking down one of my most popular challenges from 2022. And that is my morning hydration challenge. And I'm sharing a brand new study on the link between hydration, healthy, aging, and longevity.

Now, if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, this is your reminder to hop back on the hydration train. And if you're new here in terms of the podcast, you'll find that my focus on hydration and the hydration challenge that I came up with last year, which was based on the hydration protocol is a great way to start off the day. And you do that by starting the day off with water and electrolytes. And it's a total game changer for improved energy, focus, productivity, and overall performance. Now, don't just take my word for it. Here's a quote from a listener of the podcast who's also a past podcast guest, Shelly Lefko. She sent me this note last year.

She said, Drew, the water hydration challenge has changed my life. It was the best thing ever. I sent it to everyone. I fall asleep at night easier. And I've never done that my whole life. And I don't get up a million times to pee. I've been doing it for almost a year. And it's amazing.

Shelly, thank you for doing the challenge. We had a bunch of other people do the challenge on Facebook. And that's why I'm excited to reignite your interest in the topic of hydration. So today is all about getting back into the habit of hydration. But with a twist, with a little twist, call it a lemon twist. I'm not just going to tell you to drink a bunch of water throughout the day. There's a specific hack that I found that worked for me that I started sharing with my friends and I saw that it worked for them. And it made a lot of their health goals a lot easier. And it was something simple, something that they could do every day, and they could see

the benefits within a few days to a week. Who knows? Good hydration might be just exactly what you need to supercharge your goals or to pick them back up again. Okay, before I break down the protocol and exactly how to do the hydration challenge, I need to break down why hydration is an important area to focus on. We are all dehydrating ourselves all freaking day long. From the time that we wake up, to the time we go to bed, our bodies are constantly using and losing water. Even while we sleep, water is especially being used to power our immune system and

metabolism to carry out all sorts of different cellular processes. But the effect hydration and dehydration has on your brain or lack of brain for, function for a lot of people is probably the most obvious. Okay, why is that? Because your brain is made up of mostly water. Even being slightly dehydrated can shrink your brain and negatively impact its function. This shows up as lack of focus, poor memory, fatigue, headaches, and the reduced ability to think sharply, to quickly organize and to plan for the day. It's safe to say that hydration is crazy important for your cognitive health. health and performance, but a new study that I came across is showing that it can also play a major

part in aging and our risk for chronic disease. All right, so here's a breakdown of the new study. So, quick background. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in both men and women, by the way. And a new study by the National Institute of Health and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute shows that hydration could potentially help those at risk for heart disease stay healthier and develop fewer complications than people who are chronically dehydrated. Let's just say that one more time. Proper hydration could help people that are at risk of heart disease stay healthier and develop fewer complications than people who are chronically.

dehydrated. In the study, heart disease risk was assessed in over 11,000 middle-aged adults. Researchers measured participants' serum sodium levels to determine how their hydration habits impacted their, number one, their biological age, number two, their risk of chronic disease, and number three, premature death. High serum sodium, which is one of the things they were measuring, is linked to low fluid intake, by the way, which is why they look at. at that marker. The findings showed that high serum sodium levels, again, a sign of dehydration, were associated with a 39% risk of developing chronic disease. The higher your serum sodium levels are, which is again a sign of dehydration, you had a 39% risk of developing a chronic

disease, a 21% higher risk of premature death, and a 50% higher odds of a participant's biological age being higher than their chronological age. And that's not all, by the way. The participants with the biological age higher than their chronological age, so biologically, we have an age, right? that is what our cellular age is, our DNA age, and there's different ways to measure your biological age. I just covered that in a podcast with Dr. Mark Hyman. So biologically, there's one age, and chronologically is how old you are by the years, right? So participants with a biological age higher, so you're older biologically, your cells in your body are older than you actually are. So if you're 60 years old, on paper, you're chronologically, you were born 60 years ago,

these are people that were showing up older than that. So they were showing up as 63, 65, 70 biologically. So participants with a biological age, higher than the chronological age, had a 70% higher risk of chronic disease and a 60% higher risk of premature death. That is nuts. That is nuts. That is really, really nuts. I hope you get the magnitude of that.

This study is fantastic, by the way. You can find it in the show notes. We have the link over to Science Daily, which is a recap of the study. Just a couple more things that I'll pull from there from the summary. Adults who stay well hydrated appear to be healthier, develop fewer chronic conditions, such as heart and lung disease, and live longer than those who may not get sufficient fluids according to a new study. Man, it's fantastic and science is wild and yeah, crazy. So how do we take the implications and the findings of the study and apply it to our day-to-day life?

This is where we get into the habit of morning hydration. Now, read the web, read different articles from people. There's a lot of different recommendations. on hydration. And what I've found is that hydration is obviously super dependent on your activity level. Right now, I am working out as part of an intense workout program, and I've been doing it for about 12, 13 weeks. And because my activity levels are up really high, my hydration needs are up very high. In fact, my trainer that I work with tells me to get a hundred ounces minimum of water in a day. Now, that recommendation is not the recommendation I'm giving to you. Your hydration needs are going to

be uniquely your own. So the big question is, especially after covering that study, is how do we take the lessons from that study? And also, I have a few other references from other studies, including one that showed just a 1 to 2% drop in hydration can significantly impact your cognitive function. You can find that in the show notes as well. How do we take the findings of those studies and actually put them into action? Well, a big part of this is we need to cover a little bit of the background. And the background is first addressing how much water do we actually need. So many of us have heard the rule, the 8 by 8 rule, which is to drink 8, 8, 8 ounce glasses of water day, right? Many of us have heard that. Or to drink about half your body weight

in ounces of water. But here's the truth. The truth is there's no magic number or formula that works for everyone because we're all different. Your age, your size, your sex, the climate you live in, physical activity level, how much you sweat, they all impact your hydration needs. So does a small, older woman need to drink the same amount as a six foot five tall college football player, definitely not. The guidelines out there can be a little confusing, which leaves me to a place to say, what I do know, though, is that you are probably the best judge of your dehydration and hydration needs, but only when you know, this is the key, only when you know what it feels like to be properly hydrated in the first place. That's why I put together this challenge, right,

my morning hydration challenge, which, by the way, do it for seven days. Give it seven days. That's, That's what I'm sharing with you. And my approach here to hydration is a little different because it makes water a priority at the start of your day. And it requires you to look inward and become truly self-aware of how your body feels when it's hydrated properly. The whole point of this exercise, this challenge, which by the way, in my opinion, will help you with a lot of other goals that are there in your life, things that you care about, is you get the distinction of when you're properly hydrated and when you're not. That distinction motivates you, not through willpower. It motivates you're like, oh, excuse my French here. I know a lot of people don't like when I curse, but oh, shit, I feel good right now because

I'm properly hydrated. Let me keep doing this. I can focus better. I can think clear. Not to mention the study that I covered before, I know this is good for my long-term help. So I know it sounds easier said than done, but hear me out, if we can increase our interception, becoming aware of what's happening inside our bodies, by paying attention how we feel,

we can become our own hydration judge and start to gauge how much we need to drink to properly hydrate. Now, I keep on teasing to getting into the hydration protocol, which is, by the way, pretty straightforward and simple, but I'm giving you more background knowledge because I'm trying to get you hyped up. I'm trying to get you excited to do this in the first place. And the more knowledge you have, the more excited you'll be. So just quickly, I want to talk about the kind of.

consequences of a thirsty brain. The best way to tell if you're waking up dehydrated is to pay attention to how your brain feels. In addition to thirst, fatigue, dry lips, dry mouth, and feeling lightheaded, brain function is a major indicator of dehydration. When we're dehydrated, our brain shrinks in size. Did you get that? It's true. That's because your neurons require water and electrolytes to fire and communicate with them. And you have this whole advanced lymphatic system inside the brain, which needs a lot of energy, including water. Even just losing, I've mentioned it before, but it's worth mentioning again, even just losing 1 to 2% of your body's water mass can significantly affect your brain's ability to function.

If your brain isn't getting enough water, it can't communicate with the rest of the body. This results in a loss of focus, executive function, and a whole bunch of things that we mentioned previously. Now, two more quick things I want to mention. Proper hydration is so much more than drinking water. Now, a quick note about proper hydration. We need electrolytes, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium to bring water into our cells. On average, we're made up at least 60% water, and 40% of that is inside of our cells. Water helps keep our cells shape and structure. it's also the medium where virtually every metabolic process takes place. So when we drink water all day long, but it doesn't have the proper balance of electrolytes,

it's not getting into our cells, which is crucial for proper hydration. If water isn't getting inside your cells, then they start to shrivel up, leading to dehydration and all of its downstream effects. That doesn't mean that we need to add electrolytes in our water all day long, right? There's a bunch of challenges with that, especially a lot of electrolytes that are on the market these days with a ton of sugar. But it does mean at least for the morning hydration protocol, we're going to want to be adding electrolytes to our water. Okay. Now, finally, here we are.

Here's the protocol. Here's the hydration protocol that has made a huge difference for me and many of my friends. Here's what it is. Step one, water first. If you aren't waking up and hydrating with water and electrolytes, again, sugar-free, you aren't giving you. your brain the best chance to operate at its fullest potential for the rest of the day. That's why I want to inspire you with today's podcast to do a seven-day morning hydration challenge.

The challenge might seem super simple and it is, but if your goal is to feel great first thing in the morning, this is what I recommend. You try. Okay, here's how it works. After waking up and brushing your teeth, you're literally going to start off the day first with water. Yes, before we reach for our morning coffee or tea, we're going to be. going to prepare and drink at least 16 ounces of filtered water first. This will give your brain

and body a nice hydration boost after your long, overnight water fast and give you a buffer of hydration to work with throughout the day. Step one, start with 16 ounces of water. The base option, and then, you know, we can go from there and get a little bit more fancy, is you take 16 ounces of filtered water, add the juice of a half a lemon or lime, and a pinch of sea salt. If you don't have fancy electrolytes, that's totally okay. I like element is a great one that's out there. You can use sea salt. You mix the water with the lemon and the sea salt, just a little pinch, and that's it, drink it. Now, if you're open to getting some electrolytes, as mentioned above, electrolytes are super powerful for so many reasons. And a high quality

electrolyte supplement contains a right balance of sodium, potassium, and magnesium to pull water into your cells. The key is avoiding those super popular electrolyte mixes that are unfortunately market as being healthy despite being loaded with a bunch, a bunch, a bunch of sugar. Luckily, there's a bunch of brands that are out there that, you know, I recommend. I'll put the link to those inside of the show notes. The only one that we're ever formally affiliated with is called Element, and you can find a link to them in the show notes as well. But the rest of the brands that we recommend that have different electrolytes. We have no formal affiliation with them, just something that we recommend. So you take 16 ounces of water, add the juice of a

half of lemon, and include a serving of your either element or E-light or any other high-quality sugar-free electrolyte mix. Now, the thing is, we want to be doing this before coffee. I know this is tough. You know, literally I'm saying you're drinking 16 ounces of filtered water before you have your coffee, before you have your caffeinated beverage. Now, if you don't have a caffeinated beverage, you still drink your 16 ounces of water in the morning, but it's especially important for people who drink coffee. I know it's tough, and just like you, I crave my morning cup of coffee, but if we jump into coffee before we have water, we immediately start to dehydrate our bodies rather than refresh them.

Now, the caveat that I can understand is that some people have to have coffee before they have their first bowel movement, and I'd still challenge you to drink water first. 16 ounces is not that much. And I've seen that a lot of people who did our hydration challenge last year drank the 16 ounces of water, and they started to notice an improvement in their bowel movement. It doesn't mean that they got off of coffee.

They might have still needed coffee to start going in the morning, but they saw a general improvement in bad. bowel movements just by having more water first thing in the morning. Okay, step one, 16 ounces of water first thing in the morning before you have coffee and ideally with electrolytes. You don't have electrolytes, a little pinch of sea salt and a little splash of lemon juice. Okay, here's step two. We're going to shoot for another glass of water. How much is up to you? It might be anywhere between eight to 16 ounces. So step one, you had your 16 ounces of water with your electrolytes and lemon. Step two, we're going to have another glass of water, but here's the good news.

You can take your time drinking it because for a lot of people, if you have two big glasses of water, that could be a little bit difficult to drink first thing in the morning, especially depending on the size of your body. And if you're not used to drinking that much water. So what I like to do is I have my first glass of water, 16 ounces. If 16 ounces is too much, start off even with 12 ounces with electrolytes. Step two, I make another glass of water and I sip it slowly. over a period of time, and I literally double fist. I have my coffee in one mug, and I have my

water in another, and it usually takes me another, you know, 20, 30 minutes to finish both of those beverages as well. I prepare my second glass of water the same way that I prepared my first, either using just a little pinch of salt with lemon or adding in some electrolytes in there as well. That's literally it. All that hoopla to tell you to have 16 ounces of water first thing in the morning and then another glass of 8 to 16 ounces of water along with your coffee side by side. You can totally double fist it and do that for seven days. Let's see what happens. We had over 500 people do this last year in a Facebook group challenge. I might open it up again in the future to try it. and people reported back just better focus, more energy levels.

It's crazy how something so simple as just proper hydration in the morning can really jumpstart the day. So we know hydration is simple, but it's difficult sometimes for people to make it a habit. When you have this contrast of knowing what it feels like to be properly hydrated, you'll be more excited to stay that way. And then how much water you drink the rest of the day can be based on your activity levels. But at least first thing in the morning when your brain is sharp, you are using your brain to its fullest potential by not being chronically dehydrated. Low cost, no cost tool, morning hydration challenge.

I hope you take us up on the opportunity to move forward with it and shoot us a note through the website on what your results were. You can find the references and a lot of the links to past newsletters that we've written on the subject in the show notes and the studies as well. You can find those in the show notes. This is Drew Proet signing off on our morning hydration challenge. Happy 2023. Happy February.