Relative Something

I don’t mean to belabor the point, but a parallel discussion has me again thinking about this issue of optimal hydration. I think people who fail to recognize the value are just lulled into not paying attention, because they don’t have to.

I make no secret about my habit of watching the color of my urine to gauge the status of my state of hydration, even though the mere mention of urine is objectionable for some. What I find is, the occasion where the color appears significantly changed comes initially as a surprise. Given more thought at the time, it is almost never surprising. It is easy to deduce an explanation upon review of the previous hours, or more often, my activity and less than necessary intake from the previous day.

The point I want to make is that I get surprised by the change. I don’t notice any difference in myself during the time that I have been losing ground on my level of hydration.

It is why people can smoke for years, slowly giving themselves lung cancer. They don’t notice the harm. Humans are able to function well enough, under less than ideal hydration, that they fail to detect that they are in that state. I don’t fault anyone for choosing not to worry about something that they can’t detect. Most people would report doing just fine without ever trying to control the color of their urine. They are satisfied to wait until the triggers kick in at the next level down where thirst makes itself known.

Meanwhile, those same people will not think twice about reporting having a headache today or feeling fatigued this afternoon or having a little trouble with something they ate.

It’s not just about sports performance, people! It’s everyday life! It’s walking on errands, doing home chores, and dealing with stress. Having a full reserve of energy for whatever comes your way. Giving your body and all of its muscles and organs the resources it deserves to optimally achieve the functions it is designed to carry out.

It occurs to me that the same issue of level of attention we give to things can apply to other parts of our lives. Some of us are willing to treat our emotional lives with disdain because we feel we do just fine waiting until it gets the next level down where an issue demands our attention.

Think preventive medicine. There are a lot of little things we can do for ourselves that serve to  prevent bigger problems arising in our lives. Yet there is a tendency to free ourselves from bothering with that level of detail, choosing instead to focus our energies on wrestling with the results of our not having proactively done so.