Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!

 

Morgan Davis, RD, LDN, CSSD
Registered Dietitian

Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics

 

The human body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water depending on age, gender and amount of body fat. Water is one of the most essential elements to human life.

 

Water forms the basis for all fluids in the body, such as blood and digestive juices, and it’s the catalyst in all metabolic functions throughout the body. Water removes toxins and waste products from the body, and it carries nutrients to the cells of the body.

Your body is dynamic and always changing, and this is especially true with regard to water in your body. You lose water routinely when your body performs normal functions such as breathing, sweating and eliminating waste. In a typical day, you need to consume a substantial amount of water to replace this routine loss. Dehydration occurs when the amount of water leaving your body is greater than the amount being taken in.

Severe dehydration can cause symptoms such as extreme thirst, lack of sweating, rapid heartbeat and delirium, and it can be life threatening. But most people who experience dehydration experience mild to moderate dehydration.

Here are the effects of dehydration at a mild to moderate level:

• Fatigue
• Muscle weakness
• Poor concentration
• Headaches
• Dizziness or lightheaded
• Decreased metabolism

Many people who suffer from one or more of these ailments have no idea that dehydration is the cause, and that getting relief is as simple as consuming more water. Water is the best type of fluid to drink to stay well hydrated because water is processed by the body differently than other types of fluids.

So how much water should you drink to avoid dehydration and stay healthy? Eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day is a commonly quoted amount, but this is just a general rule. The amount can vary widely from person to person depending on factors such as age, physical condition, activity level and climate. A better recommendation is to drink half your body weight in ounces of water. (ex. if you weigh 150 lbs then you should shoot for 75 ounces of water each day) This is the best recommendation, but can’t be accurate 100% of the time. If you drink enough water so you rarely feel thirsty and you produce urine that’s clear or light yellow, your water intake is most likely adequate.

You also need to make sure that the water you drink is as clean and healthy as possible. This is why I recommend drinking filtered water instead of tap water or bottled water.

Tap water contains trace amounts of a variety of contaminants such as chlorine, lead and pesticides. Bottled water is often little more than tap water in a bottle. There are no government standards that require bottled water to be any better, purer or safer than tap water.

Using a high quality water filter like the Aqausana faucet water filter, a Britta water filter, or a reverse osmosis machine is the only way to ensure that the water you drink is clean and healthy.

In summary, mild to moderate dehydration affects many people and causes several common ailments. But dehydration is easily preventable by consuming an adequate amount of water. Make sure for this challenge that you are consuming additional water everyday to ensure your weight loss success.