Do you drink enough water? Most people say yes. But this doesn’t include tea, carbonated crappy water, shakes or supplement drinks. Water is… water! That’s it… just plain water. Water is an essential and major component of all living matter. It is the largest single component of the body: Our brains are 75% water, our lungs are 90% water, our blood is 85% water, and plasma is 98% water. Critical processes such as digestion, circulation, and excretion cannot occur without it. It carries nutrients to all vital body substances, plays a crucial role in maintaining body temperature, and serves as building material for growth and repair of the body.
The first thing you should do in the morning when you wake up is drink a glass or bottle of room temperature water. Okay… brush your teeth first… maybe rinse with Listerine or something…then drink the water. Room temperature is important… because you don’t want to totally shock your insides with ice cold water. You can even add a squeeze of lemon to help alkalize the body.
How Much Water Should You Drink?
- Each day you should drink half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 180lbs, you should drink 90 ounces of water per day.
- Drink a bottle of water first thing in the morning, as soon as you get out of bed. This is when you are most toxic and dehydrated.
- Drink water prior to eating to help support the digestive process.
We suggest that you figure out how many ounces of water you need to match the “1/2 your body weight in ounces strategy”… then carry that amount of water with you throughout the day. Most of us have a special water jug or gallon that we carry as the primary goal of drinking water for the day. This will make it easier to keep track. Of course… about 30-40 minutes before going to bed… have your final glass or bottle of water to make sure you are properly hydrated before sleeping.
What Is The Best Source Of Water?
Unfortunately clean drinking water is hard to come by and most of our faucet water in the United States is polluted. The government can only set minimum standards- this means there is an acceptable levels of feces, chemicals, and other pollutants in our water. Water is treated to these minimum standards by sedimentation, filtration, chemical conditioning, and disinfected with chlorine. As a result, many experts believe that we now have more cancer cases and more resistant bacteria. In our efforts to control some diseases, we have created new diseases.
Hierarchy of Drinking Water:
- Alkalizing water machine (like Kangen water machine)
- Distilled Water
- Reverse Osmosis (This is what I primarily drink)
- Bottled Water (Fiji water is awesome because they show you the PH level on the bottle)
- Filtered Tap Water
- Tap Water (I highly recommend you avoid drinking tap water)
Top 5 Reasons you should drink water
- Drinking Water Helps Maintain the Balance of Body Fluids. Remember…the majority of your body is composed of water. The functions of these bodily fluids include digestion, absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintenance of body temperature.
- Water Can Help Control Calories. For years, dieters have been drinking lots of water as a weight loss strategy. Water is not the only way to create weight loss… but substituting it for higher calorie beverages will definitely help.
- Water Helps Energize Muscles. Cells that don’t maintain their balance of fluids and electrolytes shrivel, which can result in muscle fatigue. When muscle cells don’t have adequate fluids, they don’t work as well and performance can suffer. It is recommended that you drink about 17 ounces of fluid about two hours before exercise. During exercise… start drinking fluids early and drink them at regular intervals to replace fluids lost by sweating.
- Water Helps Maintain Normal Bowel Function. Adequate hydration keeps things flowing along your gastrointestinal tract and prevents constipation. When you don’t get enough fluid, the colon pulls water from stools to maintain hydration — and the result is constipation .
- Water Helps Keep Skin Looking Good. Your skin contains plenty of water, and functions as a protective barrier to prevent excess fluid loss. But don’t expect over-hydration to erase wrinkles or fine lines. Dehydration makes your skin look more dry and wrinkled, which can be improved with proper hydration.
How Do You Get Dehydrated?
Through activities of daily living, the average day’s loss of fluid is about 2.5 liters, which is generally replaced by the fluid we drink and the food we eat. But exercise, sweating, diarrhea, temperature, or altitude can significantly increase the amount of fluid required.
The most common cause of increased fluid loss is exercise and sweating. The effects of even mild dehydrating are decreased coordination, fatigue, and impairment and judgment. The sources of fluid loss are respiration, perspiration, urination, and defecation. The rate of loss from each of these vary according to activity levels, air temperature, humidly, and altitude.
How Do You Know If You Are Dehydrated?
Adult dehydration is a common occurrence. Keeping your body from becoming dehydrated is extremely important to your health and you need to know the warning signs of dehydration so you can take action, especially if you have a very active lifestyle. Simply occasionally pay attention to your mouth and lips. If they are dry… you’re thirsty… you need more water!
Here are some signs and symptoms of dehydration:
- Dry mouth and dry lips
- Dark Urine
- Sunken eyes
- Flushed skin
- Cramps
- Headache
- Fatigue
Fluid losses occur continuously, from skin evaporation, breathing, urine, and stool, and these losses must be replaced daily for good health. When your water intake does not equal your output, you can become dehydrated.
Tips to avoid dehydration :
- When exercising, drink early and often. Research shows exercise under warm or hot and humid conditions can cause dehydration in as little as 30 minutes. So it’s important to consume fluids not only during and after exercise, but also before a workout or strenuous activity.
- Don’t wait until you’re dehydrated to start drinking. Drinking in a dehydrated state can cause gastrointestinal distress.
- Check the color of your urine. If your urine looks like the color of apple juice, you are probably dehydrated. If it looks more like the color of lemonade, you are probably well hydrated. When you’re getting enough fluids, urine flows freely, is light in color and free of odor. When your body is not getting enough fluids, urine concentration, color, and odor increases because the kidneys trap extra fluid for bodily functions.
Bottom line… just drink water. Everything in your body is made of it… God put it on this earth for us to drink … It’s good for you….and it tastes awesome.
Tips from this article
- Drink 1/2 of body weight in ounces of water
- First thing in the morning drink a glass of room temperature water
- Carry a special jug that has the proper amount for the day