Water in the morning

Those with the misfortune of being around me first thing in the morning (and 99% of the time, this is my wife and children) know that I have 2 routines that I do every day of my life.

First is that I have a series of deep-breathing exercises. These are very effective, and I'll talk about them more later.

The second is that I drink about a half gallon of water.

I'm not fussy about the water. What I drink is warm tap water. And I have a container, I fill it up, and drink it. Pretty fast. And drinking that water has 2 benefits.

First, I wake up fast. I'm not one of these people who's real groggy when I first get up, but I've found that I really wake up fast after the water. I don't have anything scientific to prove it -- yet -- but I wonder if part of what we perceive as sleepiness in the morning is really just dehydration. Because if you're like me, you haven't had much of anything to drink for 6, 7, 8 or more hours. Your body is composed of a lot of water. My drinking routine acknowledges that, and gives the body a jump start on the day.

There are a couple of other benefits to the water routine. I'll get to those tomorrow.