By Wolney H. Filho
How many liters of water do you drink per day? Everyone should drink at least 2 liters of water per day, and if you exercise or are overweight, even more. Your body is made up of mostly of water. Approximately 85% of your brain, 80% of your blood and 70% of your muscles are water. Every cell in your body needs water to live. Water is responsible for transporting nutrients and energy to muscles and for taking waste from tissues.
Water helps remove the dangerous toxins that your body takes in from the air you breathe, the food you eat, and the chemicals used in the various products you use on your skin and hair. Another thing water does for your body is cushion your joints. Water carries oxygen and nutrients into all your cells. Water also helps regulate your body temperature.
You need water to keep your metabolism working properly. In order for this to happen, there is a certain level of water in each of our bodies that we need to maintain. If we do not keep that amount, our bodies will start to dehydrate. An easy way to think of this is to imagine the oil your car needs. If your oil level gets too low, your engine will start to run rough. If you totally deplete the oil supply in your car, your engine will stop running. It's the same situation with your body.
Therefore, it's easy to see why it's very important to drink six to eight glasses of water per day. If you do not have enough water your blood pressure can fall to dangerously low levels. Blood clots may form. Your normal kidney function may become impaired. You may get terrible constipation.
Some of the signals your body gives of a low water level are constipation, terribly dry skin, and increased incidence of urinary tract infections and reoccurring headaches.
If you have a problem with water retention, excess salt may be the cause. Your body will tolerate a certain amount of sodium, however, the more salt you consume, the more fluid you need to dilute it. To overcome this problem, always drink plenty of water.
Do you see relationship between body dehydration and weight increase? Water contributes to energy storage, along with glycogen. Without water, extra amounts of glucose remain in the bloodstream until reaching the liver ... the extra glucose is stored as fat. Your body takes water from inside cells, including fat cells, in an effort to compensate for a dehydrated state. Less water in your fat cells means less mobilization of fat for energy.
One of the primary functions of the liver is to metabolize stored fat into energy. The kidneys are responsible for filtering toxins, wastes, ingested water and salts out of the bloodstream. If you are dehydrated, the kidneys cannot function properly and the liver must work overtime to compensate. As a result, it metabolizes less fat. So remember, if you are trying to decrease the amount of fat on your body, drink plenty of water.
There are three ways we get water into our bodies: We get it from the foods we eat, the fluids we drink and as a by-product of metabolism. It's always better to drink pure water instead of soda, tea or coffee. These products actually increase your need for fluids because most contain caffeine, which is a diuretic. Diuretics force out stored water, along with certain essential nutrients.
Source: physicalfitnessarticles.net
