Your body needs water to work well. Here are the facts that might help you understand:
75% of your body is water
80% of your brain is water
75% of muscle tissue is water
92% of blood is water
Without enough water none of these organs work well and here are the reasons why:
Your blood, mostly water, carries nutrients and oxygen to all the cells in your body. If you have too little water, your blood is too thick and the nutrients and oxygen can’t make it to the far-off cells.
Water helps convert food into energy. If you want to have enough energy, you need to drink enough water.
Water helps to regulate your body temperature.
You only have to be 1% dehydrated to notice and be thirsty.
There is a 10% decrease in your mental performance by the time you feel thirsty.
Being 2% dehydrated reduces your ability to work.
Being 4% dehydrated results in lethargy, apathy and mental symptoms.
If you are dehydrated, you are more likely to have trouble concentrating, be more irritable and have more headaches.
Long-term effects of being dehydrated include kidney and urinary tract infections, constipation, continence problems, and kidney stones.
It might be hard to believe that drinking more water helps reduce obesity and bed-wetting in children.
If you are well hydrated, exercise feels more enjoyable.
How Much Water Should You Drink?
For school age children:
- Five-year olds should have at least 50 ounces per day.
- Ten-year olds should drink at least 60 ounces.
For adults or children over 100 pounds, the minimum fluid intake recommended is your weight divided by 2, converted to ounces of water. For example, if you weigh 180 pounds, half of your weight is 90 lbs, so you need 90 ounces of water a day. That’s over 11 cups of water.
If you drink caffeine or alcoholic beverages, remember that they drive more water out of your body than they provide. Compensate for this fluid loss by drinking a small cup of water between each festive drink.
Drink enough water so that your urine at every trip to the toilet is nearly clear. Your urine should look more like lemonade and not so much like apple juice. So drink up!
Happy Hydrating for the Holiday Season!
Alice Lockridge,
MS Phys Ed
Pro-Fit