by Fern Shaw | May 20, 2013 | Health and Hydration
From ice to veggie peelings through to getting the hound involved, here are 10 more super water saving ways:
- When you give your pet fresh water, don’t throw the old water down the drain. Use it to water your trees or shrubs.
- Catch water in an empty tuna tin to measure sprinkler output. Two and a half centimetres of water in approx. 0.09 square metre of grass equals about 3 litres of water.
- Aerate your lawn at least once a year so water can reach the roots rather than run off the surface.
- When you have ice left in your cup from a take-away, dump the ice onto a plant and the cup in the rubbish.
- For hanging baskets, planters and pots, place ice cubes under the moss or dirt to give your plants a cool drink of water and help eliminate water overflow.
- Have your plumber re-route your grey water to trees and gardens rather than letting it run into the sewer line. Check with your city codes, and if it isn’t allowed in your area, start a movement to get that changed.
- Keep a bucket in the shower to catch water as it warms up or runs. Use this water to flush toilets or water plants.
- When you are washing your hands, don’t let the water run while you lather.
- While staying in a hotel or even at home, consider reusing your towels.
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by Fern Shaw | May 20, 2013 | Charity
Radio Marsden is offering 50 cyclists the chance to ride part of the Olympic 2012 road race route.
They have organised the sponsored ride for Sunday, June 30th to raise funds for vital new studio equipment.
After more than 44 years of entertaining patients at the world-renowned Royal Marsden cancer hospitals in Sutton and Chelsea, the UK’s leading hospital radio station could be forced off-air if it doesn’t raise £50,000.
Now cycling enthusiasts can help reach that target by following in the tread of Sir Bradley Wiggins and pedalling 50 miles through the Surrey countryside, including the iconic climb up Box Hill.
“We have just 50 places to ride 50 miles and help us raise £50,000,” explained Radio Marsden Appeal Co-Ordinator Clive Davis. “It will be a circular route from the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton and has been designed to suit regular bike riders. It’s not a race and we want people to enjoy the challenge, admire the scenery and of course get sponsored for their effort.”
To be part of Radio Marsden’s inaugural sponsored cycle ride and to help keep them on-air, simply register and raise a minimum of £100. That commitment will help keep them on-air, delivering a mix of pre-recorded and live shows 24/7 to hospital patients, on-line at www.radiomarsden.co.uk and to a much wider community audience at outside broadcasts throughout Surrey and London.
As a registered charity they receive no financial support from the Royal Marsden Trust, the Government or the NHS, so please ‘get on your bike’ and support their latest fundraising initiative.
AquAid Surrey have ‘got on their bikes’ so to speak by paying for 50 cycling jerseys that will all bear the AquAid logo on the front.
AquAid – suppliers of a broad range of water coolers throughout the U.K. – is strongly linked to helping others to help themselves through supporting sustainable charity work through donations to charities such as Christian Aid and The Africa Trust.
We would like to wish Radio Marsden and the fab cyclists every success in this iconic cycle!
by Fern Shaw | May 17, 2013 | Health and Hydration
I don’t know if you are aware of this, but in the U.K. a rather large percentage of people that are hospitalised are admitted with illnesses that stem or are complicated by dehydration. It is rather sad to think that in such a marvellous country, with all of the facilities available to us, there are still many, many people who are ignorant about something as simple as drinking water.
Children are particularly at risk of becoming dehydrated because a child’s body is less effective at perspiring and produces more heat during physical exertion. Children also tend to be more physically active than adults, resulting in a greater loss of bodily water.
As we get wrapped up in an activity or task it is easy to forget to consume enough water, especially as a child. Children can often find consuming water difficult as it lacks flavour. Here are a few tips for helping to keep your child hydrated, so they can maximise their potential each day.
- Be a good role model; the more your child observes you drinking, the more likely they are to copy your behaviour.
- Introduce a drinking routine. If your child regularly forgets to drink water, having a routine in place to ensure a glass of water is consumed at least first and last thing in the day, at meal times and pre/post exercise may help.
- Offer a variety of drinks but limit caffeinated beverages as very large quantities can have a diuretic effect, causing an increase in urination.
- If your child prefers fruit juices, try gradually diluting them with water.
- Many fruits are high in water volume so offering a fruit salad for desert or as a snack can help increase water intake. Soups and stews can also have similar benefits.
- Protein requires additional liquid to metabolise so reducing meat intake can help with hydration levels.
Older people have very similar water requirements to those of younger adults. A conservative estimate for older adults is that daily intake of fluids should not be less than 1.6 litres. Unfortunately, many older people do not drink adequate amounts of water. A recent survey of water provision in UK care homes for the elderly found that most residents only consumed 2-4 glasses of water per day.
- Developing a habit of drinking only in response to the body’s thirst signals raises an older person’s risk of becoming dehydrated.
- Seniors who have relocated to areas where the weather is warmer or dryer than the climate they are accustomed to are even likelier to become dehydrated unless they make it a practice to drink even when they are not thirsty.
- As fear of incontinence may factor into a reluctance to drink sufficient water, elderly people should nevertheless be encouraged to drink sufficient water so as keep their organs functioning.
Some methods to combat these are:
- Encourage the drinking of water. As a general rule, try to avoid hydrating beverages that have added sugar.
- Snack on the right foods. Fresh veggies and fruits are good snacks, and not just for dieters. Fresh produce has a very high water content, so it’s a great way to hydrate without having to drink a ton of water. For example, an apple is up to 85% of water by volume.
- Drink constantly, not occasionally. You should be constantly drinking fluids, rather than guzzling multiple litres of water all at once.
- Avoid diuretic behaviours. This means not constantly drinking a liquid that is known to dehydrate. Culprits include coffee and alcohol.
Educating oneself, one’s family (older and younger) is absolutely essential in teaching good hydration habits. As we all know the maxim ‘It’s never too late to learn something new’.
by Fern Shaw | May 13, 2013 | water cooler
(… that’s ‘Wobble’ not ‘Womble’)
We harp on about drinking water, water, water – with good reason!
I bet I’ll get your attention when I say that not drinking enough water can make you fat (wobbly). That’s because even when you’re mildly dehydrated, you can raise your stress hormone cortisol one to two percent. Among the many things cortisol does is store fat and break down muscle.
Now, you’re going to hear naysayers claim the dehydration issue is overhyped. They argue there’s no double-blind, placebo based study to show you need eight glasses of water every day and that by drinking tea, coffee or fizzy drinks, you will actually reach your water quotient for the day.
This is not true. Whereas there certainly is some truth that most beverages are made up of water – the fact of the matter is – pure water is better. The ideal is to drink half your weight in water ounces. So if you weigh 200 pounds, you need to drink 100 ounces of water a day.
If you’re shaking your head that doing so is impossible, here are some tips that’ll easily help you achieve this:
- Buy a funky monkey water bottle – if you have children – perhaps they can help personalise it for you (nothing like a few glitter star stickers to vamp up your bottle). Or, personalise it yourself.
- Rally round the water cooler with your colleagues, or make a breakfast / tea / lunch time appointment with said colleagues to meet at the water cooler and fill up your water bottle. Take the bottle with you back to your desk.
- Teach yourself to sip from your water bottle. Repeatedly. Throughout the day.
- Replenish your water bottle. Head back to the water cooler (the in-place to clear the cobwebs, catch up on the jibber jabber and do a 5 minute de-stress).
- If you’re not able to buy a water bottle, then carry out the above 3 steps anyhow. Fill up your cup at the water cooler and finish the cup before you head back to your work station.
Now how easy was that?
You will save money, the environment and you won’t have to worry about that cortisol sneakily storing fat. You’ll also stay hydrated and enjoy the countless benefits water provides for your body.
by Fern Shaw | May 3, 2013 | Charity, Health and Hydration
An Inconvenient Truth – Conspiracy or Reality?
In this world there is a surprisingly small amount of the population – just 19% according to a survey done by InternetWorldStats – that have access to the internet and to all the information it brings.
I really thought it would have been something closer in the region of 40% – colour me surprised!
Here I was thinking that when it comes to global environmental issues like ‘was An Inconvenient Truth made up purely for political grandstanding or is that really what we’re doing to the planet’, oodles of people had access to this and other such topical environmental issues. Not the case it would seem.
So, perhaps it’s best to forget about internet accessibility and reach and just resort to the physical world that we live in and good old common sense (boy, am I sounding like my elder elders round about now!). Hopefully, common sense is common sense globally and this is not affected by human wants and needs according to Maselow’s Law of Hierachy.
Common sense to me is to look around me at the world that I live in and map the changes with my beady eyes and act accordingly.
A prime example is the car trips the family took on our annual holiday to the seaside, when I was but a sprog. I rarely noticed anything on the initial trip, but it always struck me on the return. As said sprog, I vaguely remember that we would almost be back in the city, 17 miles out perhaps, before I would notice a little smog. Having been fortunate enough to have grown up in the countryside, anything other than a clear blue sky and fluffy white clouds was instantly noticeable.
Fast forward to adulthood, some 20 years on and I recreate that car trip down to the seaside. On the way back, a good 150 miles or so out of the city – still very much in the countryside, to be surrre – and I see a thick, heavy pall of smog, ugly as all get out with an awful yellow grey colour to it – lurking above the horizon. It shocked me – there is just no other word for it.
I know full well that there are a whole host of contributing factors, all very logical, but it did make me think that we have been rather blessed with a magnificent home, so best to do what I could to maintain and not abuse my home too much.
As a company, AquAid too, has a philosophy and ethic that strives to address the very challenging issue of climate change and to implement steps that will indisputably reduce our carbon emissions.
If, as suppliers and consumers, we all do the very best we can in this regard, then we may have some chance of halting the large-scale destruction of our planet in years to come. In this technology-based world, it is virtually impossible to become “truly” carbon neutral. However, we promise that at AquAid we are concentrating all our efforts and resources in minimising any damaging effects our business has on the environment, whilst continuing to balance this with our on-going commitment through Christian Aid and The Africa Trust of providing fresh clean drinking water for our world’s poorest and most deprived people.
By being kind to your planet, which is your home, you are actually being kind to yourself – pretty much a win-win situation if we look at it like that.
