Your parents made you drink it, your college coach made sure you didn’t forget it during practice, your trainer asks how much you had yesterday, your friends hand you a bottle or glass of it whenever you visit, and restaurants ask if you want sparkling or tap. Water is available to you everywhere you go. But yet, some people don’t like it.
I’ve known a few people in my life who told me they hated water. A declaration that leaves me so confused. Sadly 2 of those people are no longer blinking and breathing, due to kidney disease. If your kidneys aren’t getting enough water, then waste can’t be removed completely and efficiently. Water helps your blood vessels constrict and dilate, but when they remain too constricted due to dehydration, they can’t carry waste from the kidneys and this causes kidney disease. This is a sad but true occurrence, and I witnessed my friend drink cup after cup of coffee every day, and never drinking any water, because she didn’t like it.
What’s not to like? It’s fresh and refreshing. It’s colorless and tasteless, but somehow it tastes so good. It’s versatile and very satisfying, and it’s healthy even though it has no nutritional value (mostly). Water is vital to every living form. It has no energy value but yet it is essential to your energy metabolism (the breakdown of your food). Your metabolism can’t function properly without it, and your cells would wither from a lack of it. Water helps carry nutrients and oxygen to your cells, therefore allowing your brain to continue to function at a high level. Blood pressure, joints, skin, and all of your internal and external organs would suffer terribly if your water consumption was inadequate.
You have undoubtedly heard of vitamins right? And if you are taking a multi vitamin, that’s a great thing!! But guess what, half of the vitamins are water soluble, which means your body has to be hydrated enough in order for your body to even absorb and utilize them. If you have a vitamin C and B vitamin deficiency, and are also at a constant state of dehydration, you will begin to have ailments that leave you frustrated and confused. Lets, add to that: You go to the doctor for symptoms you are having, and they put you on medication for those symptoms, which in turn causes you to have other undesirable symptoms. You have wounds that aren’t healing, you bruise easily, your energy is low, your muscles stay sore for long periods of time… B vitamins aid in would healing and energy production. If you are dehydrated, those vitamins won’t get to where they are needed, and the formation of red blood cells will suffer, thereby leaving you with low energy to get through the day. If your red blood cells are low, then oxygen isn’t flowing thorough your body and to your muscles properly. With low oxygen, your blood pressure will be low, and so will your energy levels. And maybe, just maybe, if you drank more water, maybe this all could have been avoided. I am writing this post with someone in mind, from observation, and when I suggest to someone they should do something, like drink more water and I see how low their health is diminishing, it makes me a very sad and frustrated that I can’t reach them. So, I turn to other people, YOU, that I hope to be able to inform and help. It is in my make up and my profession to help. It is my desire to help and inform on subjects I am learned in. Obviously, I like to paint a picture, and I like that picture to be clear. I didn’t mean for this blog to be a downer, and I don’t think that it totally is, but this is based on true and emotional events and people. So, I hope I painted a clear picture for you and provided you with some valid and scientific reasons why you should drink more water. Stay hydrated. Even if you don’t like H2O. Its harmless and beneficial.
Staying hydrated is so important to your body and all of its dynamic systems, that many schools and healthcare systems start campaigns on the importance of staying hydrated. Staying hydrated is important to me as a fitness professional, because I have seen what a lack of it can cause. Staying hydrated should be important to you and your family, because it is a vital element that nourishes your bodys every working system and organ. Our bodies are made up of 50 to 75% water, and our brain and hearts are 73% water. Let’s keep our brains and hearts nourished, because those are the 2 things that will help us continue to make changes in our lives and in others.
Drink a glass of water every hour. As you breathe, pee, poop, and sweat throughout the day, you are losing water. If coffee is a diuretic, and you drink it, then you are losing a bit more water. If sugar is dehydrating and you had some today, factor that in. If you drink alcoholic beverages on a regular basis (please stop) that affects hydration levels. If the normal recommendation is 60 ounces per day, you might want to up that to 75 to 80. But to be safe, just drink a glass of water every hour to hour and a half and you will be doing great. But, if you are unsure, and are on any medication that may cause dehydration or retention, Please, please, talk to your health care professional and ask them about how much water you should be drinking.
If you don’t like it, just guzzle it down. The watering hole is a great place to visit. Keep your brain and heart full. Stay hydrated. See you at the watering hole!!
Fluidly,
Tonya T
