Your best health needs to nail the power of water! - Part 1
Boost your best health with purified water. Water is a critical factor for good health and overall wellness.
More than 70% of your body is made of water, making it a building block of your cells and tissues.
Stay well hydrated for best health
You just need to know the bigger picture of why and how water impacts your life.
This is the first part of a series of articles about water. Water as the essential fluid life depends on, you will be taken to a journey to learn about water as a resource that links us to our environment, water as a commodity that needs to be cared for and water as a utility that allows us to get on with our lives and businesses.
It’s no secret that water is fundamental for best health. We cannot go long without water, it is key to all body functions and for cognition. It is also vital for our everyday routines and how we all live our lives as a community.
According to the National Academy of Medicine, women should consume 90 ounces of water per day and men approximately 125 ounces.
Lets not forget about our pets, they also need purified water at all times!Everyone is different. These are just rough averages. Drink as much as you like
You may feel that to stay hydrated you would need to make many trips to the bathroom. But, your body will get used to the water you drink and will regulate itself.
When I started drinking 32oz of water at my desk at work, in the first few days, I would run to the bathroom every 15 minutes. But 2-3 weeks after, I would go every hour and a half or so. I’m lucky to work at an office that has a great water cooler with a top-notch filter. Our coffee is famous among our clients(!)
If you think that going to the bathroom every hour and a half or two is a lot, you could be suffering from dehydration and not even know it!
My suggestion is to buy a 32 oz BPA-free or glass water bottle and keep it at work, fill it up as soon as you get into the office and try to drink it all before you leave at 5pm. I believe this is a good strategy because it’s easy to automate this while at work helping you get that done and checked from your list - a check mark for your health!
An easy way to gauge if you’re water intake is enough is to look at the color of your pee. Yup that’s right!
If your urine has a dark yellow color or is even deep amber it means that your body needs more water. If your urine is pale or light yellow, it’s a good indicator that your body is well hydrated. The yellow color in our urine is given by a pigment called urochrome and fluids dilute this yellow pigment – the more you drink, the clearer your urine looks.
You can also add water-rich foods as snacks such as cucumbers, apples, watermelon and carrots.
As I suggested above, I believe that if you can adjust your Monday thru Friday habits or rituals so that they become your “healthy” days, amidst the routine and work schedule, you are much better off than most that don’t even bother doing or trying anything.
All our body functions depend on water
Our bodies are using water all the time, even if we are not sweating or exercising.
For
example, to maintain a healthy core temperature and balance
(homeostasis) your body uses water to regulate its temperature as well
as all involuntary functions.
Stay hydrated throughout the day to keep your system in top shape and maintain best health.
How much water is in your organs?
- Brain 73%
- Lungs 83%
- Heart 73%
- Blood 83%
- Kidneys 79%
- Bones 31%
- Muscles 79%
Dehydration, even in the smallest levels, can contribute to a host of illnesses and disease.
Dehydration can cause: headaches, dizziness, loos of concentration, constipation and muscle cramps.
Being well hydrated helps maintain best health, even in emergency situations.These symptoms are your body letting you know that it needs to be hydrated.
Your best health is compromised if you do not deliver this precious liquid, and even more importantly, making sure it’s purified, filtered water. Filtered through enough media saturation and quality so as to get from it contaminant-free water.
Drinking carbonated water such as sparkling water, soda or fizzy water is not as good for hydrating you than plain water. Carbonated water is infused with carbon dioxide gas under pressure to produce the bubbly effect.
However, most of the times this same water has had salt added to improve taste and the salt is what’s not so good for hydrating purposes. Salt is a natural diuretic.
Carbonated drinks that have been infused with flavor and sugar are, we all know it, bad for your health due to extra calories from sugar and zero nutrition.
Drink more water to achieve your best health, the benefits are a no brainer:
- It increases brain power and your capacity to perform. Your brain needs a lot of water to fire up neurons, allowing you to focus and concentrate. Even mild dehydration leads to impaired memory, poor motor skills and diminished attention spans.
- If you suffer from headaches, it could be a symptom of dehydration.
- Water helps you manage your weight by removing fat by-products and flushing out toxins through your digestive tract.
- Being hydrated is a great way to stave off hunger as sometimes we think we are hungry when, in reality, our bodies are just thirsty.
- It also improves your metabolism making sure your liver and kidneys have the substrate necessary to detoxify your body and help you maintain regularity. Your kidneys filter bodily fluids and waste removing some from your body via urine and recycling the rest through your bloodstream.
- Water helps your complexion because 60% of your skin is made up of water. Tight, dry skin could be a sign of dehydration, make sure you are drinking enough to keep your skin soft and supple.
- Water will help you avoid those painful cramps and sprains. Our muscles require a lot of water to perform at its peak. Being hydrated also helps your heart, so it can pump enough blood through your body and feed the muscles.
- It is also necessary to lubricate and cushion our joints and spinal cord, so our whole musculoskeletal system is dependent on this precious liquid.
Quick tip: if your skin is dry and flaky, you might be taking too
hot showers. Dial down the temperature of your shower and it might help
save your skin!
According to Medical News Today, moments when drinking water is important:
- When you have a fever
- When the weather is too hot
- When you are suffering from diarrhea and vomiting
- When you are exercising
Water is your ally to achieve your best health. It is as easy as opening up the faucet and pouring yourself a glass of water. Or better yet, getting chilled water from your fridge to have a refreshing and hydrating sip of the best liquid in the world: water!
We take water for granted
But if you think about it, wouldn’t you agree it’s a miracle that we open a faucet and out comes this precious, potable liquid? The quintessential potion for best health!
However, do we know how this water got here? Where did it come from? How is water created?
Before it pours out of your kitchen faucet, water has traveled far and long through one of humanities greatest achievements. And its journey has originally begun even farther away, in the cracks of millennial rocks from the belly of the Earth, shattered by a great big Bang!
Read the next story to learn how water is created, and where it comes from. You are taking strides to get into your best health, read on.
Part 2 – How is fresh water created?
National Academy of Medicine, Dietary Reference Intakes: for water, potassium, sodium, chloride and sulfate, pg.5
Medical News Today, Fifteen benefits of drinking water, www.medicalnewstoday.com
Time Magazine, What can my pee tell me about my health, www.time.com
H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Organ water composition, http://water.usgs.gov
