Water is the most important nutrient body and it makes up 50-60% of our total body mass. For the average adult that equates to between 10-13 gallons of water that we need to consume per day. Most of the fluid in all of our cells and body fluids is made up of water, including our blood. Even though water is essential to life, it is the most common nutritional deficiency in the American population. It’s not surprising when you pay attention to most people’s habits of drinking coffee, tea, soda, sports drinks and alcohol while barely drinking plain water.
Roles of water in the body
- Improves oxygen delivery to cells
- Transports nutrients
- Enables cellular hydration
- Moistens oxygen for easier breathing
- Cushions bones and joints
- Absorbs shocks to joints and organs
- Regulates body temperature
- Removes wastes
- Flushes toxins
- Lubricates joints
- Improves cell-to-cell communications
- Maintains normal electrical properties of cells
- Empowers the body’s natural healing process
The body can actually produce less than 10% of it’s daily water needs through metabolic processes, including the digestion of food. However, the standard American diet is mostly full of processed food that is devoid of the natural water that you find in fruits and vegetables because it needs to be shelf stable. Since our body is constantly using water and it cannot be stored it requires that we drink it every single day and half of your body weight in ounces is the minimum. Water is mostly absorbed from the GI tract through osmosis, which is the passage of water through a membrane from an area of higher water concentration to an area of lower water concentration. About 8.3 liters of water is absorbed in the small intestine, about 1 liter is absorbed in the large intestine and the rest is excreted in feces.
In addition to water, electrolytes are essential for the proper absorption of water. Electrolytes are minerals that become capable of conducting electricity when they are dissolved in water. They also control osmosis of water between fluid compartments, help to maintain pH balance, carry electrical current and serve as cofactors needed for optimal activity of enzymes. Diuretics are liquids that deplete water from the body instead of hydrating it. Soda, containing phosphoric acid can impede the production of HCL and can interfere with the body’s ability to use calcium. Aspartame found in many “diet” drinks has almost 100 different side effects including cancer and eventually changes to methanol and then converts to formaldehyde. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like something that should be in my body!
If the body’s water content drops by as little as 2% it will cause fatigue. A drop of 10% will cause significant health problems: digestive, cardiovascular, immune, musculoskeletal, losses greater than 10% can cause death. When you are dehydrated your body is also smart enough to actually compress certain, less important blood vessels in order to provide the most water volume to the most important vessels in the body for sustaining life. Electrolytes are also extremely important for hydration and the bodies ability to hold onto water and not just flush it straight out. If you are drinking a lot of water and feel that you are constantly urinating or you experience headaches after exercising, you probably need to add some electrolytes. The electrolyte minerals are sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium and magnesium. A really simple way to add electrolytes is by adding some quality sea salt to your water or by drinking coconut water. Contrary to popular belief gatorade isn’t always the best way to rehydrate, since it’s got a lot of sugar and is actually more of a diuretic. Natural electrolyte sources are always best. My favorite is Redmond’s brand real salt because it has 60+ natural trace minerals that occur naturally. You can easily add 1/4-1/2 TSP in your water once a day and that will help your hydration immensely.
A lot of people have many different signs of dehydration and think they are just part of life or relate them to something else. If you experience any of these symptoms, you may want to look at your water consumption. As I said earlier, hydration is also key every single day. It is something that you need to continuously work at and will not happen in one day. It needs to be a priority!
Early Signs of Dehydration:
- Fatigue
- Anxiety
- Irritability
- Depression
- Cravings
- Cramps
- Headaches
Mature Signs of Dehydration:
- Heartburn
- Joint Pain
- Back Pain
- Migraines
- Fibromyalgia
- Constipation
- Colitis
Do you experience any of these symptoms? Increasing your water intake could greatly effect many common symptoms that you experience. To calculate how much water you should drink take your body weight and divide by two and that is the minimum amount of water you should drink per day. If you are drinking diuretics you will need to supplement 1.5 ounces more water for every ounce of diuretics that you consume.
This concludes our journey through the foundations! I hope that you have learned a little bit more about your health through these posts and that you have been able to fix some dysfunction that you were experiencing.
If you have more questions, as always feel free to reach out via my contact links.