Importance of Hydration
Are you Dehydrated? Since summer is approaching, I want to take a moment to reinforce the need for you to drink water continually. Carry it with you when you run to grocery store, at your desk at work, running a quick errand, and especially doing anything outdoors. Do not wait until you are thirsty.
Facts about the importance of water:
- Preliminary research indicates that being well-hydrated with water could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers
- Our body is made up of 75% water, our brain is made up of 85% water, and our blood is made up of 94% water
- Water is the conduit that gives your body energy by generating electrical and magnetic energy in every cell of the body
- At 20 years, we lose our thirst sensation
- A new born baby is about 90% hydrated, a 65-year-old person may only be about 55% hydrated
- Our bodies contains approximately 61 trillion cells, each requiring an adequate amount of water for optimum cellular activity and bodily function
- When water in the body is reduced by 1% we become thirsty; a 2% water loss can cause fatigue and short term memory loss; at 5% we experience significant decline in muscle strength and endurance; and we also become hot and tired.
- Serious health problems as delirium and blurred vision will occur, when water loss reaches 10%.
- You need half your body weight in ounces of water each day
- Water provides the basis for the burning of stored body fat, both in a direct and indirect way. In a direct way, water boosts the metabolism by creating energy that allows muscles to train and contract harder. Indirectly, water reduces the brain’s desires for excessive amounts of external energy sources. As a result, we eat less, and limit our eating to only the amounts our body’s actually requires.
- Drinking 5 glasses of clean water (non-chlorinated) daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%; it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer
- Dehydration can lead to kidney damage and loss of kidney function
- Coffee, caffeinated tea, soda and alcohol all dehydrate your body
