Advantages Of Drinking Water
Water is a fundamental part of our lives. It is not easy to forget how completely we depend on it. Human survival depends on water. Water is extremely essential to life and has been ranked by experts as second only to oxygen.
Water and weight loss
Drinking water may be the most important piece to the weight loss puzzle. Water contains no calories, fat, or cholesterol and is low in sodium. It is nature's appetite suppressant, and it helps the body to metabolize fat.
Current research shows that low water intakes yield an increase in fat deposits. Conversely, a high water intake reduces the amount of fat deposits.Without enough water, the kidneys cannot function properly. As a result, some of their workload is pushed off onto the liver, in turn preventing the liver from operating at peak levels.How does all this tie into weight loss? Because metabolizing fat is a primary function of the liver, and because the liver can't function at peak levels when taking on the added workload from the kidneys, less body fat is metabolized and more is stored. This leads either to weight gain or reaching a plateau of weight loss.
When dieting, we restrict the calories we take in, to some degree. By doing so, we lessen the total amount of water available to our bodies since about 30 per cent of the average person's water intake comes from the food they eat. This gives us even more reason to raise our water intake.
Water and waste
During weight loss, the body has much more waste to expel in the form of metabolized fat. Since water helps digestion and rids the body of waste, it only makes sense that more water is better.
Water and body temperature
Water helps us maintain our body temperature through perspiration. Perspiration dissipates excess heat and cools our bodies. Without water, this delicate balancing act of the body is disrupted.
Water and asthma
Histamine is a major factor in regulating the way we use and distribute water. It also helps control the body's defence mechanism. Asthmatics' histamine levels increase with dehydration, mobilizing their body's defence mechanism to close down their airways. Knowing this, we can conclude that asthma could be relieved through increased water intake.
Water and the brain
Eighty five per cent of brain tissue is water. The brain is about 1/50th of the body's total weight and it uses about 1/20th of the body's blood supply. Dehydration causes energy generation in the brain to decrease. In fact, studies have linked depression and chronic fatigue syndrome with dehydration.
Water and migraines/headaches
Dehydration is a major factor in causing headaches and migraines. In times of "heat stress" migraines are often signs of dehydration. To further complicate the matter, dehydration brings on stress and stress brings on dehydration.
Water and back pain
Minimizing back pain can be as simple as hydrating your body! The water stored in your spinal disc core supports approximately 75 per cent of the upper body's weight. Your spine is dependent upon the hydraulic properties of water.
