How Much Water Do You Actually Need?

What you consume on a daily basis literally constitutes what makes up your body. Research has shown that about 60 percent of your body is water. It is also a major recipe for most foods. Water helps regulate body temperature and PH, transports nutrients through the blood stream, removes waste from your body and forms saliva.

Water is crucial to your health. Most people think since beverages such as milk, coffee, tea, juice or soda have caffeine in them, they cannot hydrate the body. Caffeine has diuretic effects to the body, causing headache and lack of sleep but in beverages, it is found in low levels.

Each and every individual’s hydration needs vary depending on body weight, gender, age, health, climate and physical activities. Water in the body can be lost through sweating, vomiting, diarrhea or urination. The more you lose water from your body, the more you would require replacement by drinking more of it.

Benefits of Drinking Water

1. Water Assists in Weight Loss

Drinking plenty of water daily boosts your metabolic rate. It is important to drink water 30 minutes before eating to make you feel fuller so you won’t be able to eat more calorie foods.

Obese or overweight people can easily lose weight by drinking water before having their meals. Drink cold water to enable your body use excess calories to heat it to normal body temperature.

2. Water Helps in Removing Hangovers

Hangovers symptoms are often experienced after you have consumed alcohol. Generally, alcohol is known to be diuretic in nature, meaning it draws water from your body, leading to dehydration.

Dehydration may not be the main cause of hangovers, but can cause hangover symptoms such as headache, dry mouth, fatigue and thirst. Reducing hangovers can be achieved by drinking water in between taking alcohol and before going to bed.

3. It Helps Prevent Kidney Stones

Kidney stones are crystal-like clumps that form in the kidney. Drinking a lot of water increases the volume of urine passing through the kidney. During this process, the concentration of minerals is diluted, giving them less chances of crystalizing to form clumps. A lot of water intake, can also reduce the formation of kidney stones.

4. Water Improves Bowel Function

Constipation is a problem indicated by difficulty in passing stool. Drinking a lot of water helps in treating this problem. Carbonated water can as well be used as an option to relieve yourself from constipation, especially to people who do not drink enough water daily.

5. Water Helps Treat Headaches

Failure to drink enough water causes dehydration, which in turn, triggers headache. Drinking water hydrates the body, relieving you from dehydration symptoms such as headache. Water does not have effect on the frequency of headache experienced. However, it reduces the intensity and duration of headaches.

6. Water Assists in Physical Activities

Your physical performance is determined by your body’s hydration level, especially in high temperature. Physically active people lose a lot of water from their bodies through sweating, altering normal body functions. It can alter normal body temperature, cause fatigue and lower your mood.

Water boosts mood and reduces depression, leading to increased body activity. Body muscles constitute about 80% of water. If you’re physically active, you tend to sweat a lot. Therefore, it is important to stay hydrated to help you perform well physically.

How Can You Tell If You Are Taking Enough Water?

An individual should urinate at least 4 to 8 times a day, depending on your anatomy. Color and odor of your urine tells a lot about your body, whether it’s dehydrated or hydrated. If you eat healthy and drink enough water daily, your urine should be pale yellow without odor.

Dark yellow urine smelling like ammonia signifies a dehydrated body. Drink a lot of water on daily basis. Urine color can as well be based on the type of food you take. At times, if the tint of your urine is unusual, don’t get worried as it can be influenced by what you ate. The tint always disappears with time.

Many opinions exist regarding how much water should be taken on a daily basis. Most health experts recommend at least 2 liters of water daily. On the other hand, some health professionals say taking small sips of water frequently is the best deal. In most cases, the amount of water you take depends on your age, climate or weight.

Staying dehydrated for long periods means your energy levels as well as function level of the brain becomes deprived. Losing a lot of water through sweat, especially after engaging in a physical activity can impair your mood and concentration levels. Headache frequency can as well be increased if dehydrated.

Body dehydration resulting from physical exercises or too much heat can retard performances either mentally or physically. A lot of claims have been made that drinking a lot of water can help reduce weight by reducing appetite and increasing metabolic rate. Keeping the body hydrated can assist in preventing health problems.

Constipation is a common problem caused by lack of enough water intake. Drinking a lot of water helps in improving the body’s bowel function. Cancer of the bladder and kidney stones cases are also reduced by drinking enough water daily to ensure you’re hydrated at all times.

Drinking a lot of water makes the skin glow. Hydrated skin is free from acne and skin-related infections. Foods such as water melon, meat, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables also have high water content. Consuming these kinds of food can help keep your body hydrated. However, they should not serve as substitutes to drinking water.

Water intoxication is a common problem among athletes or people who take a lot of water. Stress can reduce the ability of the kidneys to pass urine to the bladder for excretion. If this happens, fluid could build up in the body, including your brain.

Brain cells can swell, leading to headache, nausea or even death. To avoid such conditions, it is advisable to drink enough water and not gallons. Energy drinking fluids rich in vitamins and electrolytes are also recommended for consumption to keep you hydrated.

Mediplan Diet Services, a medically-supervised weight loss clinic, specializes in helping people lose weight by making lifestyle modifications. We advise clients to schedule an appointment at Mediplan Diet to get started.

Contact us to learn more about our Mediplan Diet for weight loss to help you live a healthy lifestyle

Learn More Weight Loss Tips and Tricks Here!