Water: The Elixir of Life

But did you know?

The average woman needs to drink 2 liters of water a day and the average man 2.5 liters a day.

The human body is made up of 60% water.

85% of our brain mass is made up of water.

Drinking water can help decrease tooth decay by increasing saliva which cleans our teeth.

By the time you feel thirsty, you have already lost 1% of your body’s total water content.

Drinking water can help you lose weight by increasing your metabolism and reducing water retention.

You could survive a month without food but only a week without water.

You could be drinking the same water that dinosaurs drank or worse still even the same water that they pooed in! Yuk but yes, it’s true! There is the same amount of water on Earth now as there was when our planet was formed; it just goes round and round – ooh what a thought.

Drinking water is probably the most important thing we can do to enhance our fitness and overall well-being but we don’t do it enough. Fact!

Water governs the whole of our functional system from our brains, to our hearts, to our muscles, to our nervous system and helps balance our bodily fluids. Without water, we would perish very quickly from dehydration.

Dehydration put in simple terms, is when the output of water expelled from our bodies does not equal its input.

LOOK OUT FOR THE TEN SIGNS OF DEHYDRATION:

Feeling tired and listless
Muscle spasms
Headaches
Feeling faint and dizzy
Dark urine
Non-supple skin. Here’s a quick test: pinch the skin on the back of your hand. If it doesn’t flatten out in a few seconds, you are probably dehydrated!
Bad breath! People who speak a lot such as MPs can suffer from bad breath due to not producing enough saliva.
Constipation
Stomach ulcers and gastric problems
Kidney stones

I think we have all suffered from one or more of these symptoms, so why don’t we drink enough?

Well, if the truth be told, it’s boring! We’d rather have a soda, a coffee, a beer, or a glass of wine. But that is just an excuse. There are many ways to liven up water from adding herbs, vegetables, fruits, citrus, and transforming it into the more glamorously named ‘spa water’.

WHY WE SHOULD DRINK WATER

Anyhow, once you’ve read the reasons why we should drink water, I bet you’ll all be reaching for the bottle (of water that is):

It increases our energy: next time have a glass of water instead of a coffee, it has the same effect!

It gives you glowing, youthful skin: the wrinkles literally decrease! If you want to boost the effect, drink water and then lock it in with a moisturizer.

It banishes those blues: that’s because water makes up 85% of our brains.

It can get rid of unsightly spots, skin blemishes, and red patches on the face. Try drinking a glass of hot water with lemon or cider vinegar every morning, it’s proven to work.

It can make you slim. Yes! It’s true. Dehydration causes bloating from water retention. Actually drinking water flushes it through reducing puffiness.

It stops us from feeling sick and sluggish as it flushes out the liver.

It aids digestion by keeping the intestinal tract clean, pushing the waste through, and stopping it from lingering and festering – sounds awful but it’s true!

It stops constipation. If you are dehydrated the colon soaks up the water from your food waste rather than expelling it.

It keeps muscles functioning especially during workouts.

Allergies and asthma can be minimized by simply drinking water: when the body is dehydrated histamine increases promoting an allergic response.

So, there are many incredible reasons to keep drinking water. Why on earth don’t we do it? It’s easy and it doesn’t have to be expensive.

We should all develop a new habit: carry a water bottle with us no matter where we are and keep taking sips throughout the day. The benefits to our health and fitness are too great not to!

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