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Keep Yourself Well Hydrated – Drink Water

by Sharon Hopkins

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An essential ingredient of life is water. Every living thing will cease to exist without water in their system. In fact, seventy five percent of the human body is composed of water.

From the blood that flows in our blood vessels, to the water found in each and every cell of our body. Without water, there will be no cells. With no cells, there will be no living thing and life will cease to exist.

This is also one of the reasons why Mars was rejected as one of the planets that can be habitable for human beings: the absence of life giving water.

There are a lot of drinks that can keep you hydrated. But not all drinks can cause hydration.

In fact, some of these liquids can cause dehydration instead. Examples of this are caffeine containing drinks like coffee and soda, and alcoholic drinks. They taste good, especially when mixed with your favorite flavors. But they are diuretics, meaning they rid your body of a lot of water by urinating often, thus you lose water instead of keeping them in your body. Have you ever tried drinking an ice cold soda when you feel really thirsty while outdoors under the blistering heat of the sun? Notice that after five to ten minutes of finishing off that soda, you are thirsty again. It is because it does not really quench your thirst, in spite of advertisements showing how refreshed and hydrated you are going to feel if you drink those kinds of beverages. Our body signals thirst when water stores are low in the body. It means that it needs to be replenished of water. And only by drinking water can you truly quench your thirst.

Scientifically speaking, our body always strives to maintain balance or homeostasis within their cells. It means that the concentration of water and other electrolytes inside the cells should be at least similar to the concentration outside the cells. When a highly concentrated beverage like a sweetly prepared fruit juice is ingested by the body, this forces water out of the cells to be able to dilute or lower down the concentration of this certain beverage. It then goes down to the urinary system, the kidneys, then out as urine. This will then trigger a thirst stimulus to be able to regain back the lost water through drinking water. If instead of taking in water, another type of beverage is taken in, like coffee, then the body will rid itself again of water. This loss of water gradually occurs until you come to a point that you realize that you are actually experiencing symptoms of dehydration such as having dry skin, dry hair, a slow down of your metabolism and shortness of breath.

Drinking water daily, at least eight glasses, can help rid the body of harmful toxins that you inadvertently take in through your diet and environment. It also helps promote the metabolism of the body’s energy which is most helpful when you are trying to lose weight. Proper hydration also keeps the skin look and feel younger. This is why people tend to become wrinkly when they age since their skin loses water thus becoming dry and rough as opposed to a baby’s skin that is soft and supple.
I can go on and on discussing the benefits of drinking water but one thing is clear. Water is truly essential for one to live and live healthy. Just make sure that the water that you drink is clean and potable. There are a lot of dangers when you drink dirty water. But that is another story.