How Much Water Should I Drink?

Enthusiastic about Drinking Water

June 14th-19th is nutrition and hydration week. I wanted to talk to you about being enthusiastic about drinking water and why you need to drink more of it!

Water is Essential for Good Health

We are all told water is essential for good health but why? Your body’s principle chemical component is water and makes up at least 60% of your body’s weight. Water is held in all our bodily systems and is required for every chemical reaction that occurs. Water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and is required in the making of new cells. It also transmits messages to and from the brain and provides a moist environment for the nose, throat and ears.

Dehydration

Lack of water can lead to dehydration. A sure sign you are dehydrated is a dry mouth and this means your body will not be performing optimally.

How much water do you need to avoid dehydration?

Water is constantly lost from the body via breathing, perspiration, urine and bowel movements. To keep our 60% we must replenish our supplies by eating and drinking. On average we need 1 litre of water for every 25kg of body weight, (in a temperate climate such as the UK). This however, does not mean you need to drink litres of water daily! The water in your food counts too. Fruit and vegetables are very high in water as well as being full of vital vitamins and minerals.

Water can Help Reduce Back Pain

Making sure you drink enough water can also help to reduce back pain, how would that be so? In your spine you have discs between each vertebra (bone). The disc is like a cushion and it’s job is to absorb stress and pressure that goes through your spine. This stress and pressure occurs as you move around your daily activities. These discs are also largely made up of water. If you are dehydrated, the discs in your spine are also dehydrated and they won’t be as efficient shock absorbers. This can lead to other surrounding structures taking excess pressure. As a result, a risk of an injury around the spine is increased.

Water is an Appetite Suppressant

Another hidden benefit of water is that, if you need to, water helps you to lose weight! It is a natural appetite suppressant and helps metabolise stored fat.

Why and how does this work?

Without enough water your kidneys cannot function correctly. In essence the kidney’s job is to filter out ‘the junk’ in our bloodstream, ridding us of toxic waste!

If the kidneys cannot work to capacity, some of their load is dumped on the liver, which is also a detoxifier. However, the liver’s primary function is actually to metabolise stored fat into usable energy. If it is doing the kidneys work it cannot do its own. The result: more fat remains stored.

Moral of the story…be enthusiastic about drinking (more) water!

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