admin
Trust Marandure
MOST people take water for granted yet it’s a truly vital resource for our bodies. A human being can go for weeks without food, but can only survive between five to seven days without water. An average adult body contains 42 litres of water and if it’s reduced by just one percent, you become thirsty. At five percent, muscle and endurance declines significantly and you become hot and tired. When the loss reaches 10 percent, disorientation and blurred vision occur. A 20 percent reduction in the body’s water levels results in death.
Water regulates the activities of fluids, tissues, cells, lymph, blood and glandular secretions in our bodies. The body loses about 2-3 litres of water through elimination, urination, perspiration and respiration. This may increase during illness, high performance, exercise, pregnancy and nursing. This should be replaced by drinking pure water, fruit, vegetables and their juices.
The beverages most people choose to consume are often counter-productive in promoting hydration. Coffee, tea, alcohol, soft and sugary drinks are all diuretics and will cause not only the loss of water they are dissolved in, but they will also draw water the body reserves. Another important factor is the amount of water necessary for our body to function at its peak performance.
Bearing in mind again that your body is about 75 percent water, it is easy to understand that water must be your body’s most essential daily ingredient.
So how much water must one drink a day? If there’s one health recommendation that everyone seems to know, it would probably be to drink eight glasses of water a day. It sounds logical enough since our bodies need water to function and not drinking enough of it prevents the body from functioning optimally.
However, it is recommended that one drinks an even higher volume of water daily; about 3.7 litres for the average adult male and 2.7 litres for the average adult female. The amount sounds daunting, but keep in mind that water needs vary tremendously by individual and are dependent on numerous factors such as activity level, geographic location and temperature.
Attention must be given that the elderly and children meet their daily requirements. People must acquire the habit of drinking water even when they think they don’t need it. Pure water to drink and fresh air to breathe invigorate the vital organs of the body and purify the blood. Livestock and wild animals know what to do when physical sickness strikes. They have been observed eating certain plants or seeking a stream to lie in to treat their injuries.
Water is one of the most valuable helpers you have in the daily task of keeping yourself in health or in recovering when ill. Water intake can increase physical endurance and ability to work by as much as 80 percent. When you do not drink enough water, your blood thickens and circulates with greater difficulty, causing trouble for your tissues, organs and heart.
So many people eat far too much salt and protein yet each of these substances require additional water process. Even the World Health Organisation has officially stated that the incidence of illness around the globe would fall by 80 percent if people in developing nations had access to pure drinking water.
Lack of water does not only affect health, but work production as well. Athletes in particular find that a slight decrease in fluid will greatly affect performance. But it is recommended that you don’t drink your water with meals, but in between meals. The very best times to drink water is first thing upon rising in the morning, and then 30 minutes before or after each meal.
One or two warm glasses of water about half an hour before breakfast will help clean the stomach and sharpen the appetite. Small amounts drunk from time to time throughout the rest of the day are also helpful. The average person will, by the age of 75, have drunk 76,000 litres of water. However, many have never learned by experience the beneficial effects of the proper use of water and are afraid of it.
Water treatments are not as appreciated as they should be. There are many ways in which water can be applied to relieve pain and check diseases. All should become intelligent in its use in simple home treatments.
Mothers, especially, should know how to care for their families in both health and sickness. Let us change our attitude and start drinking the water that our bodies require to function optimally.
Body water composition
Tissue Percent Water
Blood 83.0
Heart 79.2
Muscle 75.6
Brain 74.8
Skin 72.0
Bone 22.0
The writer, Trust Marandure, is a Naturopathic practitioner based in Bulawayo. He can be contacted on 0772 482 382
Online Reporter