Re: Drinking lots of water... I recently saw a tv program aimed at teachers -- discussing the physical needs and psychological needs of adolescents, and the expert being interveiwed said drinking enough water is vital. She pointed out that the nerve cells in the brain (and in the spine) are basically producing electricity, and water is the best conductor of electricity, so it stands to reason that getting enough water will make the whole nervous system run more smoothly. So what Guest Mgarvey said makes sense.

She (the expert) gave a couple of rules of thumb:

1) to find out how much water you should drink, take your weight and divide by three: You should drink one ounce of water for every three pounds of weight. The 'official' health tip of 8 cups a day is right if you weigh 190 pounds, but if you're less than that, that would be too much...

And 2) don't drink large amounts of water all at once (most of it will go straight to your bladder and out of your body, that way). Instead, just swallow a couple of mouthfuls every 45 minutes or so during your waking hours.

I started following this advice last week, and I immediately noticed two things: my lips stopped chapping, and my nasal congestion due to alergies stopped to almost nil.