Water is life’s mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”
-Albert Szent Gyorgyi, Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology, discovered Vitamin C
Water may be called the elixir of life, as it is essential for your body to work properly. Water makes up between 55 and 75 percent of the human body. Although food is important, your body can go a considerable amount of time without eating. You can only go a few days without water.
The amount and the quality of the water you consume can have a dramatic impact on your health. Good, clear, drinkable water is very accessible for most of us. Many people have acceptable drinking water in their homes. Others purchase bottled water at their local supermarket. Still others filter the water in their homes to improve the quality.
Most people need to drink more water than they currently do. Juice, coffee, tea, and soft drinks are not water – the body sees them more like food. To estimate the amount of pure, clean water you should drink daily, take half your body weight in pounds, and that’s how many ounces you need – in other words, if you weigh 128 pounds, you need to drink 64 ounces of water, a half gallon, eight glasses of eight ounces each. If you weigh 192 pounds, you need to drink 96 ounces, three quarters of a gallon, twelve eight-ounce glasses. If you are overweight, you need to drink one additional glass for every 25 pounds of excess weight.
A lack of water leads to dehydration. Dehydration is a condition that occurs when you don’t have enough water in your body to carry normal functions. Your body loses water on a daily basis through sweating, urinating and breathing. It’s essential that you replace lost fluids. Symptoms of dehydration include fatigue, headache, dizziness, muscle weakness, dry or ‘cotton’ mouth and little to no urination.
Get into the habit of drinking water – drink a glass when you wake up, another mid morning, one or two glasses with lunch, one mid afternoon and then two or three glasses before, with and after dinner.
You’ll be amazed how good you feel when you keep your body hydrated!