Water Facts

Did you know that a loss of 20 % water could be fatal to us? Water constitutes 60 % of our body weight.

Thus, when we talk of healthy living, the importance of water cannot be overemphasized. Some important functions performed by water are:

• Maintaining body temperature
• Transporting nutrients to various parts of our body
• Protects joints
• Maintains structure of most of our organs

Previous articles of this site have stated that many symptoms like mild back pain, low immunity, and joint pains can be controlled by regulating our intake of water.

How much water should one drink? Is it harmful to drink too much water? What is the right time to consume water? Are some questions people often ask.  A simple rule is to drink as much water as what is excreted. This is the reason we need to drink more water in hot weathers or after an exercise. Another guideline is to check the colour of urine. If the urine is dark or bright yellow, one is in a dehydrated state.

Here are some tips to ensure that one is taking optimum amounts of water.

• One feels less thirsty as we age. This does not mean that we should drink water only when we feel thirsty. It is best to have water after an interval of every hour. This will keep the metabolism high & help in weight loss
• Eight glasses per day is what most experts recommend. A more accurate measure is to have I ounce of water for every kilogram of our body weight.  Eating lots of fruits & vegetables will also contribute good quality of water that our body needs. Ideally 20% of our fluid requirements should come from foods that we eat.
• Cultivating a habit of drinking water as soon as we get up will help in regulating blood pressure & maintain good overall health.
• Too much of anything is bad & the same is the case with water. Drinking too much water too soon can cause our brain to swell. But this does not happen by drinking a couple of extra bottles of water. If someone is bent on drinking bucket load of water at a time they most probably already suffer from swollen brain!