By Will Peterman | July 4, 2021 Hydration is obviously a large part of being a person. We’re like 60% water, which is crazy because I’m still not even 60% sure writing weekly essays is a good idea…anyways, I’m pretty damn good at drinking water. I carry a big ‘ole silver water bottle with me basically everywhere I go. I fill that guy up like three or four times per day. At this point, I get uncomfortable if I forget it at home. Just writing about drinking water is making me thirsty. My water bottle is sitting next to me on the couch but it’s already empty. Life is pain. There’s really nothing like a nice cool drink of water, and the context can make it even better. Sitting inside your A/C-less apartment? Water’ll cool you down. Just finished a very salty snack? Water’ll fix up your mouth. Just got to the top of a Mother’s Day hike and the Pizza Hut you ate last night is wreaking havoc on your stomach? Well, water won’t fix it but it certainly won’t make it any worse! So, clearly, there are a lot of times when water is wonderful, and very few when water is bad, but when is water the best? Well, I wouldn’t be writing this essay if I didn’t have an answer for you. And as you might have guessed from the title, the middle of the night is absolutely, 100% without a doubt, the best time to drink water. There’s really nothing like that moment when you randomly wake up and look at the clock. It’s 3:30am and you’ve never been thirstier in your life. You look to the bedside table and there it is, a big frosty container of water. You guzzle it down like you’ve been in the desert for the last six months drinking nothing but morning dew and eating nothing but saltines. It’s just so cool, so refreshing, so comforting. To be able to drink to your heart’s content without even leaving the comfort of your own bed, it’s pure bliss. It doesn’t matter if you spent the night shotgunning beers and eating street tacos or if you ate a salad for dinner and went to bed promptly at 9pm. There is just something about the way the water tastes, the way that no matter what temperature it is, it’s always the right temperature, and the fact that no matter how much water you have, you feel like you could chug more, that makes it the best time to drink water. All this is to say, I thoroughly enjoy a bottle of water after a hard workout. I love a glass of water with a hint of lemon at a fancy restaurant. I’m always a fan of drinking a big cup of water in between alcoholic beverages on a night out. And you know I absolutely adore a much-needed jug of water when I wake up hungover. But none of those things beats drinking water in the middle of the night. You can find more of Will’s essays at: https://willsdumbbrain.substack.com/ |