Created: 01/06/2009 12:22 PM KSTP.com | Print Story

January 6, 2009 – The Importance of Drinking Water

My 2009 resolution was actually made for me about three days before the end of 2008.  I went down to the Wisconsin Dells with my family last Monday.  We stayed at the Kahlahari Hotel and Waterpark and were having a great time.  When I went to sleep that night I was feeling fine, then around 3 am I woke up with a pretty bad stomach ache which I didn’t know was the start of a 5 day battle with the flu.  About 15 hours later, I went to the hospital (I preface this by saying “I’ve never gone to the emergency room for the flu before”).  When walked in they told me I had to go into the ER because I was severely dehydrated.  While there I was pretty shocked to find out that the flu didn’t cause the dehydration, but the dehydration caused the flu.  I learned this after I asked the doctor why the flu shot I got two months ago, didn’t protect me this year and he said that when you’re dehydrated, your immune system becomes really week making you susceptible to getting all sort of illnesses, I was just lucky enough to get the king of them all.  After three bags of fluid through an IV and some really great anti-nausea drugs, I walked out feeling much better, but I still wasn’t feeling great until the weekend.  The only upside was stepping on the scale that Friday and seeing I dropped some pounds.  So my 2009 New Year’s resolution is to drink 60 oz. of water every day.  I’m now 5 days into the new year and I’ve been able to do it, but it hasn’t been easy.  I can tell you however that I already feel a pretty big difference in my energy level (maybe it’s because all of those trips to the bathroom).  So if you don’t want to learn a painful lesson like I did, grab that glass and filler up.