This One Thing You Do Daily

Hey oh, Dynasty Dad here.  We're your dadding super-soaker pumped up and ready to douse.  So sit back, aim, and douse whomever you want with your newfound knowledge.  

🔫This week's super-soaker: This One Thing You Do Daily Changes Your Health & Mood🔫

Dad Meme and Joke Of The Week

Dad Meme 

Dad Joke

Q: Does anyone have any saltwater survival tips? I could really use some help.

A: I'm sort of in a pickle.

This One Thing You Do Daily Changes Your Health & Mood

Dads, this is the easiest thing you can do for your health and mood.

And it's something you already do every day.

But you're probably not doing it enough. 

And because you’re not doing it enough, you might be experiencing brain fog, reduced physical performance, and soured mood. 

There is one negative.  The byproduct of doing this creates heaps weighing more than 1,500 Blue Whales (per year).

It makes up 60% of us dads. 

And

only 3% of it is usable. 

You might know what it is by now.  

Drinking Water.  

Or not drinking it. 

Water is life. 

It makes up 60% of adult males’ bodies (you dad).

We consume over 22 B plastic water bottles yearly, weighing 300 M pounds (~1,500 blue whales).  

And only 3% of the water on Earth is usable (most is of the salty variety).   

Here is why water is vital (besides making up 60% of us): 

We can only go about 3 days without water before shriveling up like a prune and dying. 

2% less than normal hydration leads to inflammation, elevated blood pressure, reduced brain function (brain fog), and poorer physical performance. 

Water is as divisive as American politics. 

With the partisan camps of:

1. Tap water is fine.

2. No way, tap water is poison, I’m never drinking it!

I listened to Stanford professor Andrew Huberman’s 2 hr science-based podcast on water, hydration, and whether or not tap water is harmful.  

And here are the shocking facts that changed my view on water: 

1\ Go Edward Fortyhands (with water)

Proper hydration can improve mood, brain function, blood pressure, and physical performance.  

You should do Edward Fortyhands every day (drinking game where two 40 oz beers are duct taped to your hands and you can't do anything until you drink it all).   

Drink at least 8 oz (a diner coffee mug) every hour for the first 10 hours of the day (80oz).  Every hour is a guide, the key is at least 80oz in the first 10 hours.  

You may choose to do it in a few chugs if you're doing it Edward Fortyhands-style.  

The first 10 hours are important because hydration and the body’s filtration follow a natural (circadian) rhythm that happens in the first half of the day.  

For additional hydration during exercise, Andrew provides a formula to calculate the additional water consumption. 

I’ll keep it simple…just drink even more water if you’re working out.  

2\ Tap water is bad.

Published studies show that almost all tap water worldwide has elevated levels of chemicals that harm body functions. 

So the tap water in your community likely contains contaminants.  

The contaminants include disinfectant byproducts (DBPs) and fluoride which have been scientifically proven to impact the body’s functions including fertility and thyroid hormone production. 

3\ Know your tap water

Find the water quality in your community before you go buying a lifetime supply of Ice Mountain.  

A simple Google search “what is the water quality of [zip code]” should give you the needed stats.  

I also found this site https://www.ewg.org/ helpful. 

The key stats you're looking for are elevated levels of DBPs and fluoride. 

And if there is enough magnesium to indicate higher pH which helps with absorption.

4\ Filtration is a no-brainer. 

Most fridges have filters or many people have a Britta (carbon filter). These are fine but don't filter out fluoride. 

If your tap water quality has elevated fluoride levels (>.5 mg/L), you should probably get a water filter that removes fluoride.   

A relatively inexpensive fluoride filter like ClearlyFiltered filters out 98% of the fluoride.  

5\ Clean your faucet screen

If you can't afford filtration or just feel comfortable drinking your tap water, you should still ensure the water gets into your glass as clean as possible. 

To do this, regularly clean your faucet screens of debris that can contaminate the water as it enters your glass. 

6\ Get basic (pH)

My mom and sister walk around like bodybuilders lugging alkaline water jugs (high pH). 

I thought they were crazy but turns out high pH water gets absorbed more quickly into cells which improves hydration and reduces inflammation.  

There are a few ways you can do this.  

First, if you have hard water, high in minerals like calcium and magnesium (refer to your water quality research) congrats your water is likely already high pH.  

Option 2, you can buy and lug around big jugs of alkaline water like my mom and sis. 

No thank you. 

Or option 3, you can get magnesium tablets to add to your water.

The tablets create a reaction and add extra hydrogen to your water and making it a higher pH.  

Honestly, pH seems the least important and is probably a step too far. 

To summarize:

Drink enough water to improve your mood, brain and physical performance and reduce blood pressure.

Go Edward Fortyhands every day (80oz in 10 hrs).

Almost all tap water contains harmful contaminants so simple filtration like a Britta or a fridge filter is a no brainer.

Know your tap water quality by doing a quick Google search to find testing results and contaminant levels in the water you are drinking.

If you have high fluoride levels (>.5 mg/L) get an inexpensive specialty filter. 

Finally, if you want to really go full splash try high-pH water to increase the rate of absorption, and hydration and reduce inflammation. 

Salud to your health. 

This Week's Interesting Read:

The Phone In The Room

Its clear phones are causing a crisis.

The data shows that phones are the likely cause of the rapid rise in teen depression and suicide directly coincides with the iPhone (2007) and the selfie culture (2012).

Even during other angsty times in history (Vietnam, Cold War), there has never been so much reported depression amongst teens.  

The average teen spends half of their waking hours on a phone. 

What can we do?

The experts give a few key pieces of advice:

1/ don’t blame the teen

Our parents or grandparents or us would have been on our phones just as much if the tech was available when we were teens.

2/ Less

Aim for less.  Teens should rarely have their phones in their rooms.  Sleep is a bedrock of good mental and physical health and a phone receiving notifications throughout the night is harmful. 

Find a safe and secure place to put their phones to bed at night, outside of their room.

3/ Delay

The brain develops a bunch during the teenage years.  The psychologist quoted in the piece said a 13 yr old brain is much different than a 17 yr old brain.

Let a young teen have a phone that can only text or call and without social media apps.

As they mature consider allowing other apps.  

This leads to the last point.

4/ Be a brickwall

Parents who have not allowed TikTok or Snapchat have never regretted it.  

I recently listened to Dr. Sanja Gupta’s interviewing his teenage daughter about social media. 

She said Snapchat is nothing but drama and she is glad her parents delayed it but almost wishes she never had it.

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