If I ask you the question: What is the most precious commodity for you, what is your answer? If women were asked, majority might answer “diamonds” and most guys might answer: “sportscar ‘! People will have different answers, but for most people, it’s water. One can sustain life without food for weeks but not without water. Every part of the human body depends on water. Our blood, for example, is more than 75% water. Bodily fluids like urine, saliva, digestive juices are water based. The body’s excretory system will have difficulty doing its job without water. Constipation is a good way to describe lack of water and of course enough fibers, in our food intake. Almost every chemical reaction in bodily functions occurs in in a water medium. It would be convenient if our joints, organs, especially the mouth and nose, could be lubricated by oil or fat so that eating deep fried food and lots of yummy fries can be justified, but unfortunately it is still water that helps moisten them.
Have you ever wondered how the body temperature stays regulated near that 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit mark? Our body needs water so that we can sweat it out when we are hot. The sweat evaporates on the skin creating a cooling effect on the body. Without this process, a heatstroke can occur.
The skin benefits from adequate hydration of the body. The skin being the largest organ and the most external part of the human body is always the last to benefit from hydration. If the body is not supplied with enough water or fluids, the skin dries up due to poor oxygenation and cells of the skin become weak and undernourished. As we age and all the collagen fibers tend to break up in the skin, signs of aging become more obvious. When the skin becomes “water thirsty” the oil glands produce more oil to compensate for the lack of moisture. We have to understand that not only oily skin tends to break out. Dehydrated skin ( not necessarily “dry”) is also prone to breakouts. There are other factors happening in the body which triggers acne but skin dehy dration aggravates it by the hyperactivity of the oil glands when the skin is thirsty for moisture, making acne a very challenging condition to treat.
How much water do we need to drink? There is a standard guide to follow: 8 glasses x 8 ounces per day. Some medical practitioners refute this and claim it does not have to be that much or there is no scientific basis to this rule. Some even contradict the common notion that skin benefits from water intake. Well, I am not a doctor but I can only speak of my personal experiences and how my body tells me I need to guzzle some water.
Under normal circumstances, the body excretes about 2 liters of fluid daily, so a reasonable measure is to drink up 2 liters per day to replenish the fluids lost. The body’s size and active lifestyle have to be taken into consideration.
If you sweat more, drink more. Listen to what your body is telling you. If you consume alcoholic beverage, one drink may not make too much of a difference but several servings will definitely take its toll on the skin. I do not take vitamin C supplements in tablet form because the color of the urine changes as the body excretes all the Vit C that the body gets in excess.
The color of my urine has always been my gauge in terms of hydration level. My experience tells me that dark and pungent urine suggests a SOS for water, light yellow urine reflects an acceptable level of hydration, colorless urine is the best indicator that my body is adequately hydrated. Even my children at a very young age, and the caregivers, were trained to tell me the color of their urine as a simple indicator of water intake.
Not everyone though should follow this suggestion because for some, it may actually be dangerous. I read on the internet that for people who have trouble eliminating fluids (ex.diabetics taking antidiuretic hormones), may suffer from water intoxication because the excess water cannot be eliminated by the body. It is always best to consult with the doctor and follow what the doctor says. Another guide would be passing urine 3- 4 times a day if you take vitamin supplements that alter the natural color of the urine.
Some say that drinking too much water causes health problems. I looked into this incident but the reason they said this is because the water ingested by the people who got sick was contaminated. That is where the problem may originate, we can never be sure if the water we drink, whether claimed ‘safe and pure’, are really safe. There are so many researches as to what is the best source of water to drink. Even chlorinated water from the tap poses some health hazard because of the “disinfection byproducts” (DBP) . Bottled water has been so popular but do we really know where the water came from? Could be from the same tap that could have the same harmful byproducts, right? It is a fact that the chemical used to make plastic bottles can leach toxic trace elements to the water and then ingested by the unsuspecting consumer. Never drink from a bottle that has sat inside the car and subjected to heat.
The heat from the confined car creates a chemical reaction on the plastic that could give off the toxic stuff. Of course the Canadian Bottled water Association, who had a revenue of $652 million in 2005 will always say , “everything is ok..” Do your research on your free time and you will find out a lot of scary facts.
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