Sixty percent of the adult human body is comprised of water. Our bodily fluids: blood, lymph, digestive juices, urine, tears, and sweat are predominantly made up of water. Living healthy must include conscious water consumption.
Water is critical to almost every bodily function–circulation, digestion, absorption, and elimination of wastes, just to name a few. When toxins from our environment or food make their way into our bodies, they are carried out in our urine (95 percent water) and our sweat (99 percent water).
The amount of water required can vary from person to person. Where we live, our activity level, and our diets will influence how much water our bodies need. As our body uses energy, we lose water, so it’s important to constantly lubricate ourselves. Turns out that to avoid even moderate dehydration, 8 cups of water is a pretty good starting point for living healthy and staying hydrated.
Some suggest 8 (8 oz) glasses a day, while others suggest taking your body weight (in pounds), dividing it in half and drinking that many ounces. Depending on your diet, this could give you slightly more water than you need. Most people receive about 20 percent of their daily hydration needs from their food, according to the Mayo Clinic. But a little bit of extra water won’t do any harm.
If you’re exercising, you will need to compensate for the water lost from sweat. For a typical workout, lasting about 30 minutes, about two cups of extra water should be enough.
Here are eight reasons to keep drinking water:
Also, during periods of weight loss, the body will break down more substances that require elimination. Toxins that have been stored in fat tissue can be released in greater amounts during this time. Water helps to flush these out of our bodies.
Water is especially important for people who follow low carb/high protein diets, which tend to put extra stress on our kidneys due to nitrogen buildup. It takes a bit more water to process this excess nitrogen byproduct.
So, remember, the next time you need to quench your thirst, choose water. Your body will thank you with good health.