Saturday, May 15, 2010

GOT WATER?


Melissa sent me an interesting email with a link to THIS STORY regarding a coffee drinkers hatred of drinking water. This was me last year. Well ok, not just last year but I can tell you last year I'm can think of weeks that I only drink diet Coke or milk from my cereal. It was a good read but the long and short of it is you need to drink water. There is no magic number of ounces. It varies by size of person, weather conditions, exercise. 64 ounces is a good rule of thumb, some people say way more. The point is you need to drink water and here are a few important reasons why:

The human body is made up of approximately 60% water depending on size. It serves many functions. Some of them are the riding your body of waste kind but when it comes to being healthy it's important to understand why your insides need water.

Functions of Water In the Body
Water serves as a solvent for nutrients and delivers nutrients to cells, while it also helps the body eliminate waste products from the cells. Both the spaces between cells (intercellular spaces) and the spaces inside cells (intracellular spaces) are filled with water. Water lubricates joints and acts as shock absorbers inside the eyes and spinal cord. Amniotic fluid, which is largely water, protects the fetus from bumps and knocks.

Water also helps the body maintain a constant temperature by acting as a thermostat. When a person is too hot, whether from being in a hot environment or from intense physical activity, the body sweats. When sweat evaporates, it lowers the body temperature and restores homeostasis.

Sometimes when we first start drinking more water we may feel like we are retaining water. Sometimes we do retain water because we are taking in high amounts of sodium. Whatever the case you need to continue to drink a good amount of water, that actually helps get rid of the water retention. Water retention is just another of your bodies survival mechanisms.

Drinking water helps control appetite. You may not like the taste of water but it may help you not want to TASTE something else.

It's even more important to drink extra water when you exercise and when the weather is warmer. You body loses more water in perspiration during those time and you need to make sure that you're replenishing it.

Can you drink to much water? It's pretty hard to drink to much water but it can happen. Most often it happens in babies who drink to much water or diluted formula. The other is in long distance runners (or other endurance races.) Usually if someone is participating in an event like this they need to make sure they are taking on sports drinks along with water. Sports drinks have electrolytes that keep the body in balance. Drinking to much water dilutes the bodies electrolyte balance.

The only other case in which you may disturb this balance is if you drink to much water at one time. I'm talking copious amounts at one sitting. I can't even imagine sitting down and drinking that much at one time. I'd probably get sick. But, I'm trying to fuller inform. It's important to spread your water intake throughout the day and not chug all the water at one time.

So keep drinking that water ladies. It does your body good!

4 comments:

  1. I've always loved drinking water. But since starting this challenge, and reading the comments of others who think it tastes nasty, I have started to notice it tasting funny sometimes. Still, I know I just feel better when I'm drinking lots of water - so I'll take mine very cold on solid (not crushed) ice cubes please!

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  2. It's funny when you actually pay attention, it tastes all off. I used to enjoy water in any kind of cup until someone one day said she could only drink water in a plastic cup because it tasted funny from a glass cup. It's really hard to drink water out of a glass cup now.

    Thankfully it's starting to get really warm around here which makes water taste so much better to me! I really don't have to keep track anymore because I drink a lot when it's hot out!

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  3. Great post Audrey! Lots of interesting facts that I didn't know about. I knew water was important, but didn't know all the reasons for it.

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  4. I've also read that water helps with anger/frustration management. Before you're about to yell at your kids or cry, drink a tall cool glass of water and see what happens.

    What I found interesting in the link article is that although 64 oz is the common recommendation--even the Mayo Clinic recommends this amount--there's no medical study backing that number. Some need more, some maybe a bit less. My doctor says 64 oz of non-caffeinated liquid in any form (including from food, kind of hard to measure though).

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