The Damage You Do To Yourself By Not Drinking Enough Water

Now that summer is over and you don’t feel as thirsty, don’t let up on drinking enough water and I will tell you why. Most of us know it and commit to do it but don’t follow through. I’m not taking about exercise or getting more sleep. No, it’s even more simple than that. It’s getting enough water, pure water.

It seems people like to think that regular tea, green tea, coffee, soda, energy drinks, alcohol and juice count as water. They don’t. As a matter of fact most non-water drinks function exactly the opposite. They have diuretic functions in the human body. The best beverage for hydrating the body is clean, pure water.

So how do you know if you are dehydrated and need more water? Here are a couple of clues. 1. Your urine is very yellow even if you aren’t taking B vitamins. 2. If you had to collect your spit in a bottle it would take you much longer than it should. Just creating saliva takes between 2-5 cups of water per day. More on saliva later.

Starting with your brain – when it’s dehydrated you don’t transport nutrients as well as you should. Your concentration decreases by up to 13% and your short term memory decreases by up to 7%. I’ve seen people whose dizziness, light-headedness and headache disappear simply by increasing their water intake.

By the time you think you are thirsty you are probably down by a quart. You wouldn’t let the oil in your car get down a quart –why do you let your body get that low? Being dehydrated can also affect your overall energy. If you are dragging, drink a couple of glasses of water.

Saliva protects your teeth. When you are dehydrated, you don’t make enough saliva to rinse bacteria off your teeth, let alone help with digesting carbohydrates. Minerals dissolved in saliva help with repairing your enamel. Can you see that not drinking enough water might be contributing to dental and digestive problems? Washing food down with water or other fluids does not help digestion or dental health.

Water is critical in maintain blood volume and keeping heart cells healthy. Research has shown that drinking more than 5 glasses of water per day can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

It’s equally important to not get too much water. Endurance athletes who drink too much water without replacing important electrolytes have died. Sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium need to be diluted properly in the body for them to do their jobs with nerve impulse transmission and muscle contraction and relaxation. Waste products need to be diluted to make it easier to sort them out from fluid that the kidneys need to recycle. Proper hydration is also key in preventing kidney stones, bladder and kidney infections. When the toxins are too concentrated, you are dehydrated and they can’t keep up. Your kidneys play an important role in fluid balance and blood pressure regulation.

You lose water with every breath you take. Keeping the lining of the lungs moist helps oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange.

Digestion requires water – but this one is tricky because consuming water with your meals dilutes digestive juices which makes them less effective. For water to help with digestion it needs to be consumed 15-30 minutes before the meal. Possibly the most important water you drink on a daily basis is the water you drink first thing in the morning, when you get up well before you eat breakfast. After fasting all night your body is dehydrated. That means you don’t have fluid for the stomach to put its digestive enzymes into, which means you won’t have enough digestive juices to adequately digest breakfast. Try drinking 2 cups first thing in the morning and see what kind of changes it makes throughout your body. Lack of water intake also leads to constipation. Think of it, if healthy poop is 75% water and you are dehydrated you are actually making bricks not poop. So many cases of constipation have been corrected not with laxatives but by drinking more water.

Your skin does so much more than hold you together. The natural oils on your skin help to preserve your body’s water level. When your oils are gone you and your skin dries out. You will dehydrate even more as your skin leaks more fluid out. Try pinching the skin on the back of your hand. When you release the pinch what does the pinched skin do? If it stays pinched you are dehydrated. If it retracts to normal quickly you are hydrated. You may also try treatments such as IV Therapy in Louisville, KY if you’re dehydrated. 

What does this all mean for you? You probably need to drink more water. Ditch the diuretic fluids. They are only sucking water out of you not to mention the B Vitamins and Vitamin C that are in the water. Most adults need a base of ½ oz. to ¾ oz. of water for every pound of body weight. If you weigh 100 lbs. you need 50-75 oz. of water. If you are active you need to add 4-8 oz. of water for every half hour of moderate energy output.

Start drinking the right amount of water. Watch how your body responds and you will begin to really understand the importance of pure water.

Till next time,

Diane L. Toombs, CNHC
www.mynsp.com/toombs
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The information in this article is for educational purposes only and is not meant for diagnosing or prescribing.