exerpt from Fitness: The Complete Guide
Water is the most abundant substance in your body. All of your cells are soaked in water. Water makes up 55 to 75 percent of your total body weight. The food you eat contains about seventy percent water.
A ten percent reduction of water in your body can make you sick and a loss of twenty percent can mean death. Although you can survive for weeks without food, you can survive only a few days without water.
If you happen to be in a hot environment, you might be limited to only a few hours. Drinking five glasses of water a day can lower the risk of deadly heart disease, according to a study released in April, 2002. Researchers at Loma Linda University said that people who drank five eight-ounce glasses of water daily were about half as likely to die of coronary heart disease as those who drank two glasses or less. The benefit was greater than that conferred from drinking a moderate amount of alcohol or taking aspirin, the study said. In fact, drinking water appears to confer as much a benefit to heart health "as stopping smoking or lowering cholesterol," said Dr. Jacqueline Chan, the study's lead author.
"This is a really simple method" of preventing coronary heart disease, she said.
Coffee, soda, milk, and caffeinated sodas did not show any statistically significant heart benefits. Chan said more research is needed to confirm the findings, but researchers already adjusted the figures to account for other potential factors in heart disease fatalities such as smoking, calorie intake, exercise, blood pressure, and socioeconomic status.
The study, which was to be published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, did not specifically explain how increased water drinking might lower the risk of heart disease.
But it noted that dehydration could elevate risk factors such as blood viscosity. This amazing substance is involved in every bodily function known to man. Your vital fluid blood is comprised of ninety percent water. And we all know that our blood is responsible for transporting nutrients and energy to working muscles and then transporting metabolic waste away from tissues. A reduction in water means more concentrated blood. A loss of only five percent body water results in a ten percent loss of water from your blood. The thicker the blood, the more susceptible your body is to clotting, and the less efficient it becomes at delivering oxygen to your brain and muscles. It also becomes harder to transport substances to and from your various tissues. Temperature regulation is controlled by water. If you do not have sufficient amounts of water in your body, cooling cannot take place.
Water lubricates joints and helps your digestive system. Water is also responsible for the actions involved in energy production. If your kidneys do not have adequate water available to them, your liver is forced to detoxify toxins. And when your liver is called upon to do this, other functions performed by your liver are less effective, including the metabolism of food products.
Water helps you recover from your workouts, aids in fat-based fueling of muscles and provides for storage of water inside your cells. When you become dehydrated, all of these functions become less effective and your performance levels lower.
Water contributes to energy storage by being stored alongside glycogen. If you do not drink enough water to facilitate this, extra glucose remains in your bloodstream until it reaches your liver. Then the glucose is stored as fat. You can actually get fatter when you do not consume adequate amounts of water.
If you are dieting, drink plenty of water so your liver can effectively metabolize body fat. And when you are carbohydrate loading, drink water often so glucose can become stored as glycogen.
Active people need more water than inactive people do. A reduction in as little four to five percent body water can result in a drop in physical performance as great as twenty to thirty percent. It is recommended that you consume plenty of water on a daily basis, twenty minutes before any athletic event and following high carbohydrate meals. Do not wait until you are thirsty to drink water. By the time your body reaches that point, you are already deficient in this vital fluid.
When you consider that our muscles are made up of nearly 70% to 80% water, it is easy to see why fluid replacement is so important!
Dehydration upsets the natural balance of fluids in the body and can lead to serious problems, including difficulties associated with heart function and temperature-regulation.
Fluid replacement is as important for the average fitness enthusiast as it is for the well-trained athlete. With so much riding on balanced body fluids, researchers are always seeking the most effective way to keep our bodies well-hydrated and functioning at peak condition.
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