Our health is truly dependent on the quality and quantity of the water we drink.
Water is the basis of all life and that includes your body. The muscles that move your body are 75% water; the blood that transports nutrients is 82% water; the lungs that provide your oxygen are 90% water; the brain that is the control center of your body is 76% water; even the bones are 25% water.
The human body is about 75 percent water and 25 percent solid matter. The brain is said to be 85 percent water and is extremely sensitive to any dehydration or depletion of its water content. The brain is bathed constantly in salty cerebrospinal fluid. The water content of the body is called the solvent, and the solid matter that is dissolved in the water is called the solute. It is water (solvent) that regulates all the functions of the body, including the action of all the solids (solutes) that water carries around.
You lose water through urination, respiration, and by sweating. If you are very active, you lose more water than if you are sedentary. Diuretics such as caffeine pills and alcohol result in the need to drink more water because they trick your body into thinking you have more water than we need. The signs of mild dehydration include chronic pains in joints and muscles, lower back pain, headaches and constipation. A strong odor to your urine, along with a yellow or amber color indicates that you may not be getting enough water.
In advanced societies, thinking that tea, coffee, alcohol and manufactured beverages are desirable substitute for the purely natural water needs of the daily ’stressed’ body is an elementary but a mistake. While these beverages do contain water, they also contain dehydrating agents. They get rid of the water that they are dissolved in plus some more water from the reserves in the body.”
“Soda and caffeine-containing beverages don’t replace water needs of the body. Caffeine is a dehydrate substance. It does not allow the water to stay in the body long enough. Within an hour you will urinate more than the cup of beverage that you drank. When children are give fruit juice and soda to the exclusion of water, it only compounds the dehydration problem. At the same time, a cultivated preference for the taste of sodas will automatically reduce the free urge to drink water when sodas are available.”
The chemical understanding of the human body brought about an almost total concentration of research into the detailed molecular composition and minute fluctuation of the solid matter in the body. Thus a chemical-pharmaceutical perception of human body took shape, resulting in the development of the “medical-industrial system.” Adherence to the understanding that it is primarily the body solid composition that governs all its functions has produced much misinformation and has contribute to the present chaotic status of medicine.
The Flaw in the above approach to understanding the body lies in the fact that even with all our amassed knowledge, the human body is still an almost unknown structure. We know no more than 10 percent of how the body functions and it is integrated chemically.
The whole structure of modern medicine is built on the pitifully flawed premise that dry mouth is the only sign of dehydration. This false premise is responsible for the lack of understanding about various painful health problems that result in premature death to many millions of people.
Water is too important to the body to signal its shortage only through the experience of a dry mouth. The human body has many other signals to indicate when it is short of water. The body can suffer from deep dehydration with-out showing a dry mouth. Dehydration produces severe symptoms, even to the point of causing life-threatening crises.
Dry mouth is one of the very last indicators of dehydration of the body. By the time dry mouth becomes an indicator of water shortage; many delicate functions of the body have been shut down and prepared for deletion. This is exactly how the aging process is established – through a loss of enzyme function. A dehydrated body loses sophistication and versatility.
How Much Water Do You Need to Drink?
A good estimate is to take your body weight in pounds and divide that number in half. That gives you the number of ounces of water per day that you need to drink. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, you should drink at least 80 ounces of water per day. If you exercise you should drink another eight ounce glass of water for every 20 minutes you are active. If you drink alcohol, you should drink at least an equal amount of water. When you are traveling on an airplane, it is good to drink eight ounces of water for every hour you are on board the plane. If you live in an arid climate, you should add another two servings per day. As you can see, your daily need for water can add up to quite a lot.
Twenty percent of your water need will come from the foods you eat. The rest of your water need should come from the beverages you drink. Water is the best choice. Sodas have a lot of sugar in them, so if you drink sodas, you may take in more calories than you need. Herbal teas that aren’t diuretic are fine. Sports drinks contain electrolytes and may be beneficial, just look out for added sugar and calories that you don’t need. Juices are good because they have vitamins and nutrients.
