What is the real benefits of drinking water? And what kind of water is good for us?

Through out our lives, we heard the phrase: “to maintain your health, drink 6-8 cups of water”. “What? I’ll be visiting the restroom every 15 minutes!” You might be thinking to yourself. That was the very first thing that came to my mind when I heard that. And when I was growing up, I could go through a whole day without drinking water, didn’t feel too bad then, but later on in life, I developed a severe case of constipation as a result.

So, if I had known how important it is to drink enough of water every day to avoid many illnesses, I wouldn’t mind going to the restroom often to flush out whatever my body doesn’t need.

Did you know exactly what and how water can affect our well beings?

Water plays an important role in our body. There are 92% of water in the blood, 22% in the bones, 75% of the brain and the muscles are water. So there is an average of 65-75% of our body’s weight is water! Water makes up the majority of every cell in our bodies. It helps flush out the toxic substances in the kidneys. It helps control the blood pressure by balance the electrolytes. It helps moisten the eyes, mouth and nasal passages. It helps keep the body cool when it is hot and insulates the body when it is cold. It also acts as a shock absorber that cushion the body’s organs and it helps lubricate joints and is part of sweat, tears, and saliva.

Now can you see why drinking enough water has major benefits to maintain a healthy body?

• Water helps maintain blood volume, which maintains your energy
• Proper hydration improves your concentration and reaction time, especially during exercise
• Water increases the number of calories you burn during regular daily activities, helps body reduce fat deposits
• Water can help prevent the stomach distress concentrated medicines can cause
• Water helps rid the body of excess sodium that can cause fluid retention

Water also helps protect against a variety of ailments. There may be links between high water consumption and a reduced risk of: cold, constipation, urinary track infections, kidney stones, and bladder cancer.

Did you know that drinking enough good quality water might improve your appearance? Because water reaches the skin last, if your body doesn’t get enough water, your skin will feel the effects more than any other organ. Water can help hydrate the skin, leaving it:

• Smoother
• Softer
• More supple
• Less wrinkles

It may even help you lose weight. People often mistake thirst for hunger pangs, so we tend to eat snacks, when in reality, our bodies just need some water to drink. Drinking water can also help you feeling full, thus lessening your desire to eat.

How much water do you drink a day? It really depends on several things: the size of your body, how physically active you are, under what condition do you work, and even the climate you are in because your body works hard to keep you warm or cool. As a general guideline, the average person should drink between 1.5 to 2.5 liter (about 1.5 – 2.5 quarts) or 6 to 10 8 oz. cups, or half the body’s weight in ounces. For example, if you weight 120 pounds, and exercise 20 minutes a day, then you need to drink at least 8 cups of clean water to replace the bodily fluids normally lost throughout the day. We loose body fluid every day through urinating, sweating and even breathing.

Do not get dehydrated. Dehydration occurs when your body has less water than it needs, and it is a very serious condition. When your body is just 1% below normal, you feel extremely thirsty, when you are 5% below, you will have a mild fever, and if you are 10% low on water, you will turn blue and not able to walk!

Fresh, clean purified water is the best way to keep hydrated. Caffeinated beverages such as coffee, tea, and colas actually dehydrate the body, using more water to process than they provide; alcoholic beverage do the same.

To maintain the optimum health from the inside of our bodies, drink plenty of freshly purified water is the best way to stay hydrated. A healthy body reflects in beautiful, supple skin.