By Corey McMickle

What’s worse than waking up with, or even ending a perfectly good day, with a headache? The pain, inability to focus, blurry vision and maybe even a sense of nausea sends us straight to the medicine cabinet. But do you want this head ache now or do you want it later? One medicine is fast attack and the other is long lasting. How many can you actually take? Will it mess with your blood pressure? It’s no easy feat combating a headache. You just wish you could have done something to avoid it all together. Well, you could have.

After I leisurely tell people I’m a certified trainer, the conversation always takes a turn towards a familiar path resembling the last stranger I mentioned it to. “What do I do to turn fat into muscle? How can I improve my bench max? I don’t like personal trainers, they want you to work.” In my mind it’s not fair in a sense that I don’t get the genuine questions doctors get when they first discuss where they got their MD from. I’ve seen someone once throw his barefoot on the table after discovering a guy he had been shooting the breeze with was a doctor and was expecting a full prognosis on why his foot looked so hideous after a boating accident. Hey, if it takes me pointing out how to potentially eliminate that headache you struggle with constantly to win your trust, let’s not hesitate!

When you burn yourself, you feel pain. When you’re hungry your stomach grumbles. These are ways your body is attempting to communicate with you that something isn’t quite right. What if I told you headaches are a precursor to oncoming dehydration?

For those who commonly wake up with headaches, think (if you can) about this for a moment. The common person sleeps an average of six to eight hours at once. That’s an enormous amount of time for your body to go without any hydration. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recently confirmed that if you suffer from just minor dehydration you’re more likely to show signs of lack of attention, focus, show signs of memory loss and maybe even become more prone to anxiety. You can’t attempt to succeed today with all that in your way.

“Drink water, got it Captain Obvious.” Do you know how much though? After waking don’t sprint to the coffee machine just yet. Take in eight ounces of cool water (with lemon for a hint of antioxidants) before your morning cup of joe. That’s usually half of a normal bottle of water you bounce around in your Yetis. Then maintain a regimen of a glass of water with every meal for the remaining portions of your day and two glasses right after your workouts. This is also the single most important thing we can do for our bodies… but what do I know, I’m just a Personal Trainer.

Drink it in, Port City.