Some people are naturally super-thin and may even look kind of gawky - you can blame it on genetic factors or whatever, but their body just refuses to add any bulk. In their desperation to ways to gain weight they go in for a fat-rich diet - milk cream, fried food, cakes, cookies, and the like - that can end up ruining their health. Other people who may seek ways to gain weight are those who have become thin due to some eating disorder or serious illness. Whatever the reason, if you want ways to gain weight, you must do so in a healthy way. Here are some of the healthiest ways to gain weight:

1. Just consume an additional 500 calories per day, but don’t forget to first plan a nutritionally balanced diet comprising appropriate amounts of proteins, carbohydrates and fats as well as micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. Avoid nutritionally poor/empty but calorie-dense foods like deep-fried foods, colas, ice creams, etc. - you may end up putting weight at the wrong places, in addition to raising your cholesterol and upsetting your blood insulin levels.

2. Spread out your meals: Do not skip the three daily-recommended meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner. Make your breakfast and lunch large, but keep the dinner relatively light, as sleeping on a full tummy is not good for health in general.

3. Snack around: Have three snacks a day in between the three meals. A combination of three meals and three snacks a day is just right. Just remember to stay off unhealthy snacks - snack instead on nutritive foods like nuts, seeds, fruits, cheese, etc.

4. Food choices: The idea is to pack in calories and gain weight without piling on excess fat. So there’s no point going in for just any calorie-rich food and neither is it a good idea to go in for foods that do not have sufficient calorific content. So, pepper your diet with nutritionally rich foods like potatoes, corn, brown rice, brown bread, bananas and other such high-calorie foods. Don’t load your stomach with just carrots, apples, or soups - it is okay to do that for weight loss, not for weight gain. If you love salads, then dress them with healthy oils like olive oil or canola oil and add some nuts to them.

5. The Menu: Your meal must include a variety of foods - starchy foods, protein-rich foods, calorie-rich foods, healthy oils, and some foods rich in fiber, such as fruits and vegetables.

6. Finally, build an appropriate muscle-building exercise schedule and stick to it. Regular weightlifting exercises help build muscle mass, which adds to your body weight and makes you look beefy too. Plus, exercise will offer you umpteen other benefits. But remember, if you are following a regular and active exercise regimen, you will have to increase your calorie and protein intake even more.

7. See to it that you don’t gain more than a pound or two per week. Gaining more weight per week means you are adding excess fat on your body, which you definitely don’t want to.

These are some of the practical tips you can use on ways to gain weight the healthy way. Once again, remember not to fight off a thin condition by consuming lots of fat. Good luck!

The biggest source of energy suckers in your life is yourself. You are the one cutting corners by not respecting your own needs, eating well, exercising or making time for fun in your life. Anything that takes the fun out of your life is an ‘energy sucker’ and anything that puts the fun back into your life is an ‘energy giver’ and feeds you energy. Identify your ’suckers’ and replace them with ‘givers’ that feed you with energy and enthusiasm.

Energy sucking Foods: Foods are one of the biggest energy suckers in our lives. Our bodies function most efficiently when we eat foods that are close to their natural state - the more fresh foods, free from preservatives and human intervention that you eat, the better. If you’re not eating a diet high in natural, fresh, raw foods then you are robbing yourself of energy.

Keep a food diary for a week and see what you are really putting into your body every day. The reality of what you are doing is usually quite different to what you think you are doing.

Energy Giving Foods:

• Go for brown in everything: wholemeal bread, pasta and rice. Be careful with grain breads, because many have a white refined-wheat base, making them same as white bread, but with seeds.

• Concentrate on making sure that you have a full range of colours in every meal.

• It’s not as though you haven’t heard it before…drink more water, two litres of pure, filtered water every single day.

• Enjoy your foods and always go for quality before quantity. I am into hot chocolate as one of my ‘free day’ treats, and I would rather go without during the week so that I can enjoy my double white chocolate with caramel topping - that’s quality over quantity.

Energy Sucking People: Have you ever noticed how some people can really suck the life out of you? They rely on the dramas in their lives for attention and fuel their own energy by taking yours. You know the type of person; they only seem to want to speak to you so that they can re-live their dramas in every painful detail.

The way I have learnt to handle people like this is to first realise that they are handling life in the best way that they know how and second, to realise that I don’t have to buy into their games.

If you must spend time with someone like this, try changing your perspective. Listen to them, pay attention, be present, and realise that they have something to give in their own way. By changing your perspective, they will not be able to suck the life out of you. If you go into the conversation thinking ‘okay, here we go again’ you will open yourself up to their energy-draining ways.

Energy Giving People and Attitudes: When you find yourself whinging about something or someone? All it does is drain your energy. Choose to focus instead on the positives in life and surround yourself with positive people.

We all go through cycles and sometimes we can get caught in a negative groove; if you’re in one at the moment, choose to change your perspective about what is happening in your life. Focus on what you do have and what is working for you, rather than on what you don’t have or are missing out on. Allow five minutes to feel sorry for yourself and then get on with it. Don’t go around draining the rest of your life and others because you’re in ‘poor me’ mode. Changing your perspective is as easy as catching yourself being negative and consciously changing your thoughts.

Energy Sucking Beliefs and habits: We all have negative habits and beliefs at times, it’s only human, so don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s your life, and if you choose to do something that has a negative impact on your health such as smoke, at least do something to balance it out, you might take Vitamin C daily to lessen the impact for example.

Noticing your behaviour and refocusing on something to balance out the negatives will be more productive than guilt-tripping yourself will ever be. By giving yourself a hard time, you simply reinforce the negative and make it more difficult to correct.

Energy Giving Exercise: The easiest way to get more energy is to give more energy and you do that by moving your body. When you are feeling low in energy, get up and move around the office, do a set of wall push-ups and breathe the energy back into your body.

In Chinese medicine we say the way to get energy is to give energy. So when you are tired at the end of the day the fastest way to recharge your batteries is to get up and move your body in some way. Even some fun play time with the kids outside or a short walk around the block can be enough to recharge you.

Remember your life will always be filled with challenges. Waiting for the right time to allow yourself or to choose to be happy is futile, the right time never comes. If something is “sucking the life out of you” do something about it and replace it with an action that feeds you energy. If you choose to not replace that energy sucker, stop whinging about it, change your perception, get your head around it and get on with life. Your sanity depends on it.

Sometimes we don’t look at overweight when it comes to our efforts to eliminate certain conditions. We either don’t know there is a connection between these conditions and our weight or don’t want to accept it. It’s time each of us took a stand and began to accept that our weight has an effect on many different conditions and illnesses that affect our bodies.

Back Pain

One of the most common complaints for women regardless of their weight is back pain. If you have ever had a baby, you more than likely suffer from back pain. It may be because of injections you had during delivery or constantly picking up your children when they were little, but there are few women who can say they do not have problems with back pain. On the other hand, if you are carrying too much weight, you have a better chance of developing back pain regardless of whether you have had children or not. Excess weight puts a strain on your back, and the result is back pain. Depending on the amount of extra weight you are carrying, the pain may be minor and intermittent or severe and constant. In severe cases just standing over the stove cooking dinner can be uncomfortable.

Leg Pain and/or Sciatica

Leg pain with or without sciatica can also occur in people who are carrying an excessive amount of weight. It makes it difficult to walk, stoop, bend or other things that are necessary just to attend to daily chores. If the problem is severe, it can even make enjoyment of life’s little pleasures unbearable.

Arthritis

Though other factors also contribute to the severity and development of arthritis, there is no doubt that excess weight is a contributing factor. The excess friction in the joints that is directly caused by arthritis is certainly worsened when the sufferer is carrying more weight than is necessary for their height and bone structure.

Heart Conditions

Excess weight also causes problems with the heart because of the excessive amount of work it must do to pump blood. For those who are already genetically prone to heart disease, it’s important to maintain a healthy weight throughout your life. Keeping your heart healthy is one of the best ways to maintain health throughout your body. Without a healthy heart, the rest of your body cannot function properly.

Maintain a Healthy Weight to Stay in Good Health

If you want to remain healthy, it’s important to begin with a healthy weight. That doesn’t mean you have to be skinny, but you should not carry weight any more than ten per cent over the highest weight range in your height category. For example, if the weight range for your height is 125-140, you should weigh a maximum of 154. Or course, this also depends on the composition of your body because for some people even ten per cent above their recommended weight may be too much.

Choosing a Healthy Weight

Many of us look at the weight ranges that are published for our heights and want to adhere to those while others may think they are off base in either direction. You need to choose what makes you look and feel healthy rather than what some weight chart recommends. Of course, you also must be realistic-if your height calls for a minimum of 120, don’t attempt to hold your weight at 100. You will not only look unhealthy, you will feel unhealthy as well.

Do you feel like its “2 Steps Forward but 3 Steps Back?” Is your fitness program caught in the land of “in-between?” Do you feel like you are doing all you can to squeeze the best results out of your body, but not seeing the results you want and expect? It’s probably not your trainer or training. You are probably among the lion share of Americans that get caught on that never-ending cycle of not fully controlling what, when and how they eat to support their fitness program.

I can’t tell you how many times I ask clients “what did you have for breakfast this morning” only to find a surprise in the answer many give me. Bagels, Cheerios, Fruit or nothing. If I dig a little deeper — either after, during or prior to a grueling abdominal workout — about the dinner the night before, I will find a few more surprises about what they drank with it, the side order of fries chosen (but only “six of them eaten” on the whole plate!) or the dessert selected after the “healthy meal.”

Nine times out of ten, the lack of clarity, control and commitment to sound dietary principles leaves most of our fitness regimens in the no results space of “never, ever land” with 2 steps forward for doing the hard cardio and strength training work and 3 steps back for failing to support it with proper nutrition.

Clarity

Consistent consumption of 5-6 small meals daily vs. 1-2 large, calorie-rich meals are necessary to prevent the highs and lows the body will experience by starving it of needed energy. A healthy lean protein - with every meal is essential to support muscle development and strength. That means breakfast, lunch, dinner and the two in-between snacks. Complex carbs (vegetables, low-glycemic index fruits) and fiber, grains are essential to maintaining energy for living life, moving the body and building strength. Good fats, (polyunsaturated vs. saturated) like olive oil, canola oil, nut butters, etc., are necessary to the system and cannot/should not be avoided.

For a simple example of the recommended meals, see my website below for the article, entitled, “Healthy Eating to Support Strength Training.”

Control

Control over cravings and daily caloric intake is no easy task. Discipline of mind and body may require additional help and support in the form of education, support groups, coaches, trainers and sometimes, medical interventions, either medications or surgery. I generally recommend that people recognize their own personal state of mental, emotional, physical strength and weakness and then support their goals by embracing the needed tools - and teams - to master the task at hand.

It is better to know where, what and how you need to support your weaknesses - because they exist for all of us - then to ignore them and assume you will not be tempted. Exercise control with the support of whatever team of experts will keep you focused, on point and moving directionally forward.

Use your support groups to hold you accountable for actions and behavior. Knowing that you will face both the music - and the choir - every week can make the difference in the daily the decisions you will be forced to make regularly. Over time a new behavior will be learned and your responses will become more internally driven, the steps forward will be consistent and reinforcing of the action.

Commitment

Make the commitment to yourself and to the process. I encourage clients to maintain a holistic view and commitment to the process. In short, given the fact that you have already made the commitment of time, energy and money to changing your life and body with hours of hard work pointed at reducing calories by running, riding and jumping (cardiovascular work) to burn them up; also committed an equal amount of time, energy and money in the training, building and strengthening the muscle (resistance/strength work), don’t waste the time, energy and hard spent dollars to sabotage your efforts by eating the wrong things before, during and after the work above. Commit to the systematic process of eating to support the healthy fitness lifestyle you seek to enjoy.

Anything short of full clarity, control and total commitment takes you a few steps backwards and in the long run will make you feel like you haven’t moved at all.

The biggest sellers of all exercise machines are the abdominal exercise machines. Everyone today want to have great a body and six packs abs. With gaining popularity of health regimes and fitness gyms, fitness fever is widespread and creeping on all.

One of the common problems faced by many is to decide upon a machine. Hype created over abs machines confuses one. So all you need to is a good guide towards the pros and cons on the machines available in the market today. It might sound a bit of effort but to get the best one for you, you will have to look out for it. Hope this guide serves the purpose.

Today buyers have a wide range of products to choose from. Companies advertise their products in televisions, in roadside neon-hoardings, in newspapers and in all possible ways to reach out to people. World famous sports companies produce the same machine with almost similar features but advertise in different ways to attract people. It naturally becomes difficult for buyer to choose the best machines that suits their requirements. It has been proved scientifically that treadmill, elliptical machines, exercise bikes are the best ones to lose fat.

For abs development, the abs trainers, abs rollers, crunch benches, abs chairs and abs slings are the ideal ones. These are the machines which every company dealing in exercise equipments produce. It is therefore necessary to guide the buyers such that they are not cheated, get the best machines at least cost and do not end up buying the useless ones. First and foremost one should avoid all those devices that do not fall into these categories. Abs slimming belts are very much in fashion nowadays. They promise to shed the love handles and develop that dream abs without any effort. This is technically impossible. The technology that they use is electrical pulses that cause vibrations in the muscles and lead to increased metabolism.

Nevertheless, studies have shown one can burn more fats by doing household activities. Now, one should take a clear look at the price range of these machines. Every company in a bid to outdo the other sells machines at a cheaper rate. However, all cheap is not all glory! Manage your budget before you decide on buying a machine. It is better to buy all the machines mentioned above for abs development at cheaper prices, rather than buying few of them at higher rates.

If developing abs is your primary concern then a little bit of discomfort can be handled! For example, the higher priced models have extra padding to provide comfort in handling them; have ergo meters to measure heart-beat, calories burnt etc. Basic ones do not have all these features. However, you do not need all your machines to give you a measure of your heartbeat rate, do you? At the maximum, you can have a clinical device set up to measure your heartbeat after working out in each machine just as a precautionary measure. If a machine provides the basic features of safety, balance and durability, then they are good enough to be used.

Have you ever noticed when you slip on the television right before you go to bed how all the late-night infomercials are filled with the newest and latest revolutionary forms of exercise equipment. Whew! I mean it is all over the TV. Not only that-I also noticed that the shopping channels are cluttered with things like treadmill machines and elliptical machines. They are really popular.

The message they are broadcasting to the viewer is “yes you can get that beautiful figure back ladies;” and yes man you can have six pack abs and bulging muscles in a matter of days. It is all very appealing because we as human beings are endowed universally with a sense of vanity aren’t we?

Not only the commercialism on TV but there are gyms all over the place that are packed with exercise machines and rows and rows of treadmills with sweaty bodies striving and agonizing to get through their 45 minute exercise program. In fact that is why all these people are agonizing at the gym-they have a plethora of machines..wall to wall exercise machines.

Yet with all this national craze centered upon exercise machines it begs the question “is all this equipment necessary for losing weight and being fit?” Someone might answer “people have been slim and trim for hundreds of years without all these machines that are at out disposal-why do we need them now?”

The simple flat out answer to this question is that you don’t need exercise equipment but the main reason that exercise equipment is so popular is because of its convenience. Most people just won’t exercise without a machine. Think about it-you can go in to your treadmill turn it on and have an intense workout as you’re watching TV or as you are listening to music through your Ipod.

I have heard some people put a negative slant one home machines because they think it isolates you from social interaction. My answer to this is that when I work out I want to concentrate on my workout and not socializing. If I want to socialize I will go to church or join a country club-but when I am ready to have an intense workout I don’t want any distractions.

So I think it all comes down to each individual person. Even though exercise equipment, like a treadmill, costs a good bit of money if it does its job and keeps you fit how can you put a price tag on your personal health. Personally I have belonged to various gyms and I found it to be too time consuming. Now I have four different exercise machines and love them — they have kept me tone and fit.

I believe that you need to diversify your exercise routine. For example you might have an intense aerobic exercise, then switch to AB exercises mixed in with some light weight training. So it is really up to the individual to choose what he is comfortable with. I personally love exercise machines because they do their job, they are convenient, and I can go in to the other room and do my exercise in private. Believe me it is much quicker than changing my clothes, jumping in the car and going to the gym.

All the determination in the world to lose weight won’t make a bit of difference if you’re hanging onto an unhealthy set of dietary commandments that drive you unconsciously to eat at the wrong times or for the wrong reasons.

If you are on a diet, no doubt you are ready to get all the tips possible that have to do with weight loss. Losing weight is not always easy, and from time to time it is easy to get into a slump.

Here are eight simple tips on how you actually can get closer to your ideal weight:

1. Eating won’t make you fat after 7 p.m.

It’s not because calories consumed after a certain hour stay with you longer. The real problem with most people is, when they eat late at night, they’re typically skipping meals during the day, said Annie Neuendorf, a dietician at Northwestern Memorial’s Wellness Institute. That puts the body into deprivation mode, slowing your metabolism and making you more inclined to overeat later on. Better to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.

2. Eating out?

Restaurant portions tend to be enormous, and if it’s on the plate, we tend to eat it. If it’s possible, order from the kid’s menu, where portions are more reasonably sized.

3. You can treat yourself once a week:

you can’t be good all the time, notwithstanding how devoted you are to sticking to a healthy diet. Allowing yourself to have something decadent every now and then is not only OK, it’s encouraged. However, if you’re the kind of person that can eat 10,000 calories in one day, it’s not a good idea to do that.

4. Is it best to work out early in the morning?

This is one of the most- unrelenting myths about weight loss. Exercising earlier in the day doesn’t burn more calories. But the number of calories you burn relies on your metabolism, food intake and body composition — things that aren’t dependent on when you choose to exercise. Get your activity whenever it matches into your schedule, even if it’s just 10 minutes at a time.

5. Eating is better than Drinking

Eating the fruit would be better than fruit juice that might seem a healthy choice, since liquids leave you feeling less full than solid foods. Likewise, drinking pop on a regular basis can add unnecessary calories. Consider: A 12-ounce can of regular pop has 9 teaspoons of sugar and about 100 calories. “If you do that three times a day, that’s almost a pound a week of calories,” said Celia Pappas, a dietician at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. Water and low-fat milk are brilliant options.

6. Drink water

When you’re dieting, you should drink even more than usual. Even the FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) recommends at least 8 full 8 ounce glasses of water a day to keep your body working right. It’s not just that full feeling - water helps your body digest foods properly and cleans out your system.

7. Not to eat standing up.

One of the easiest ways to disrupt your diet is to ‘eat without thinking’. Treat eating with the respect that it deserves. Fix yourself a plate. Sit down and eat appropriately. You will be less likely to just pop food into your mouth without paying attention.

8. Purchase a vegetable steamer.

Steaming is one of the healthiest ways to cook vegetables. The food keeps nearly all of its natural nutrients instead of discharging it out into the cooking water. Even better, it makes your veggies taste great - which means you’ll be more likely to eat them instead of filling up on fatty foods that pack on weight.

In order to move your body, be it walking, running, stepping, cycling or swimming, the body must perform ‘work’. However, to sustain this work the body requires energy - derived from the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and most importantly, oxygen. Unfortunately, the body cannot store oxygen so it must rely on continuous replenishment to enable energy production. During exercise, more work is performed. More work, means more energy, thus increasing the demand for oxygen.

Aerobic fitness is the ability to exercise, or work, continuously for prolonged periods without tiring. A person’s aerobic fitness level is dependent upon the amount of oxygen which can be transported by the body to the working muscles, and the efficiency of the muscles to use that oxygen. An aerobically fit adult will be better able to take in, transport and utilise oxygen compared to unfit individuals.

Developing aerobic fitness increases the amount of oxygen that is delivered to your muscles, which allows them to work longer. Any activity that raises your heart rate and maintains it for an extended period of time will improve your aerobic fitness. Most forms of everyday living including sport, work and recreational activities include elements of aerobic fitness.

Studies have shown that aerobically trained adults live longer and enjoy a better quality of life. It is therefore important to assess aerobic fitness because most adults are considerably less fit than they believe. Furthermore, health benefits of exercise cannot be stored: protection from disease requires a life-long commitment to aerobic exercise.

Benefits of Aerobic Exercise

• • Increases blood supply to heart and muscles
  • More efficient use of body’s oxygen intake
  • Increases energy levels
  • Reduces fatigue in everyday life
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Lowers cholesterol levels
  • Lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease
  • Decreases the risk of diabetes
  • Decreases the risk of some cancers
  • Improves hormone and blood sugar levels
  • Increases muscular endurance
  • Decreases body fat
  • Provides relief from anxiety and depression
  • Boosts mood and self-esteem
  • Strengthens muscles
  • Improves flexibility, balance and co-ordination
  • This test can be performed indoors on a treadmill or outside, ensuring the course is accurately measured.
  • Walk 3 miles as fast as possible without running.
  • Time to completion can be used to test aerobic fitness using the below chart.
  • This test is conducted in a single three minute period and can be performed at home or in the gym.
  • You will need a 12-inch (30cm) step, a stop watch and a metronome to set the cadence. The metronome should be set to 88 sounds per minute for females, or 96 sounds per minute for males. This will ensure that females perform 22 steps per minute and males perform 24 steps per minute.
  • Follow the four-step sequence: on count 1, step up onto the step with one foot; on count 2, step up with the opposite foot, fully extending both legs, on count 3, return the first foot to the floor; on count 4 return the second to the floor.
  • After three minutes, remain standing and find your pulse, either on your neck or wrist. Five seconds after you have stopped stepping, record your heart rate for 60 seconds.

Testing your Aerobic Fitness All aspects of fitness are, to some extent, influenced by gender, age and heredity. However, because aerobic fitness can improve and develop, the level of aerobic fitness that is needed for reducing the risk of ailment and disease is not limited by the genetic make-up of most individuals.

There are many ways to test your aerobic fitness. Below are two simple and easy methods that can be done at home, on your own or at the gym. They provide a clear indication of aerobic fitness and are suitable for healthy males and females aged 13-70. Use them initially to assess your fitness levels, then as a motivator when you have been exercising for 6 weeks to monitor your progress.

The following tests should not be performed if you’re taking beta blocker medication (or any other medication affecting heart rate).

The 3 Mile Walk Test

The 3 Minute Step Test

Motivation levels are very low and workers do what is necessary by agreeing, smiling and nodding heads in order to climb the corporate ladder. Employees in the United Kingdom work on average the longest hours per week in their main job (compared with the rest of the EU) and this holds for both men and women. Men’s hours range from 39 per week in Belgium and the Netherlands to 42 in Greece and 45 in the United Kingdom. Women’s hours all fall in the range 36 hours (Italy) to 41 hours (United Kingdom).

This issue needs to be addressed in order to improve the state of “corporate health”. According to statistics, over 2 million people are suffering from an illness or injury which they believe is caused or made worse by their current or past work (Health and Occupation Reporting Network).

An overwhelming 97% of senior HR professionals believe that stress at work is the biggest threat to the future health of the UK workforce.

Stress and musculoskeletal injuries are the most common cause of absence in business, and according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, staff on average cost an employer £567 EACH per year in lost earnings through absence, although this figure could actually be tripled when the indirect costs of sickness in loss of sales, reduced customer service and lower productivity are taken into account.

Some 32.9 million working days are lost annually from people taking time off due to their illnesses.

The Cost of Back Pain: Over 1.1 million people in the UK experience musculoskeletal disorders caused by work, with an estimated 12.3 million days lost annually because of this.

The Cost of Work Related Stress: Stress is a natural reaction people have to excessive pressures placed upon them. While not an illness itself, if it is prolonged or intense it can lead to mental and physical ill health. This can include depression, back pain or heart disease.

In the United Kingdom as many as one in five people are suffering form high levels of work related stress (that’s around 5 million workers). Around half a million individuals report experiencing stress at a level they believe made them ill. This results in approximately 13.4 million working days lost per year.

What Can Be Done? Studies have shown that not only does exercise keep you looking and feeling your best, it helps boost energy and concentration, therefore making you much more productive at work. According to an MSNBC report, 60% of workers that participated in a recent British study indicated that taking an “exercise break” during the day boosted their time management, mental performance, and ability to meet deadlines. Researchers found that exercise provided a performance boost of up to 15%. It also improved worker’s overall mood at the end of the day. The type of exercise, the duration, and the intensity didn’t seem to matter. The effect was observed over a wide range of activities including yoga, strength training, and aerobics. We recommend taking a couple of small 15-30 minute breaks during the day is a great way to renew your focus, concentration, and energy. This is especially true for creative knowledge workers who have to concentrate intensely for long periods of time over the course of a typical workday. Exercise is a great activity for break time because it not only gives you an immediate energy boost, but it also helps you release stress and deal with job pressures. Some activities to consider during your breaks include light stretching or talking a stroll outside. If you’d rather not sweat too much while at work, you can save more intense physical activity for lunchtime (when you can shower) or after work.

“Corporate wellness” programmes are a growing sector within many businesses to promote the physical health of employees for the purposes of increasing productivity and reducing absenteeism.

The format of most programmes usually involves health checks, seminars and cut priced gym memberships. This service is a huge step in the right direction and should be promoted to all businesses. Although this alone may make an employee feel upbeat about their job for a little longer it doesn’t really address the real issues.

Research has suggested that nearly half of all Brits blame the demands of the workplace for preventing them from getting to the gym, so what use is a cut price membership if you can’t find the time to exercise?

How can I tell if I am dehydrated?

The easiest way is to look at the colour of your urine. If it is pale, you’re probably ok. If it’s any darker than the colour of straw, you’re probably not drinking enough.

Symptoms of dehydration include headaches, loss of concentration and tiredness, dry skin and eyes. Ongoing dehydration can cause problems with, among other things, your kidneys, liver, joints and muscles. Many people are unaware that they are dehydrated, they simply become used to not feeling 100%. You should drink throughout the day, rather than when your body cries out for liquid.

From a vanity point of view - hydrated skin looks younger as its plumper, dehydrated skin looks sallow and older. Just by drinking more water could make you look years younger.

How much do we need?

The Food Standards Agency and The British Diabetic Association recommend that people living in the UK (or a country of similar climate) drink six to eight glasses of water every day. That’s about one and a half to two litres, or a big bottle of water. Children will not need as much water as adults.

This is based on an average day in Britain, when the weather heats up, or you have done a lot of exercise, you will need to drink more. Remember to stick to the daily recommended limit, as drinking too much water can be just as damaging. Too much water could lead to water intoxication, which could be fatal.

To find out a more accurate water intake, try Water Aid’s online hydration calculator. It calculates the amount of water you need to drink, based on your weight and amount of exercise you do each day.

What if I don’t like water?

The most effective way to drink enough and stay hydrated is to drink plain water, a fizzy drink only contains about 65% water.

If you really don’t like water, try diluting it with a little pure fruit juice. The Food Standards Agency also recommends drinking semi skimmed milk.

If you’re also drinking tea and coffee, it’s worth remembering that the caffeine in them acts as a diuretic, which means you will want to urinate more, so drink a little more to compensate. As for alcohol, this does not count, as it dehydrates you. So if you like your booze, you will need to top up your water intake.

How can I drink more?

Start each day with a glass of water, adding a squeeze of lemon or lime to give your digestive system a boost. Keep a bottle of water with you, in your bag / briefcase. Keep a bottle of water on your desk and drink as you work. Eat more fruit and vegetables; they have a higher water content, than most other foods. Drink a glass of water at set points during the day, one before lunch, one before you leave work, one as you get home etc… Have a glass of water every time you have a cup of tea or coffee and every time you eat.

Plumbed in water cooler, Bottled or tap water?

Plumbed in water coolers and bottled coolers, is big business these days. Many of us find that the water that comes from the taps does not taste very nice, so using a water cooler or buying bottles, seems like a logical solution. So a good option is to invest in a water filter. The filtering process lowers the lime-scale content of the water, plus it reduces other substances that can effect the smell and taste of water, such as chlorine.