Written By Michelle Gonsalves
ONE day, as I was thumbing through my favourite tome about the maintenance of health with vitamins and supplements, I came across a surprising entry: WATER. Whether you call it ‘Adam’s ale’, ‘H20’, ‘Wataah’ or ‘Wuhter’, this substance, the plainest of drinks, is the most essential of all to life.

The need for water can hardly be overstated. As humans, we are composed of approximately 70 per cent of water, and nearly every aspect of our body’s function calls for the fluid. Water makes up much of the medium that helps our cells communicate with each other.

Picture yourself on a dessert island with nothing to eat or drink. How long do you think you can survive…10 days? 20? Actually, while you might probably last 45 days without food, without water you would be lucky if you lasted 10.

In a market saturated with specialty coffees, soft drinks, sports and energy drinks, plain water often loses its lustre. As crucial as water is, it seems the majority of the population is in a dehydrated cycle.

Have you ever stopped in the middle of a busy day and realized you haven’t had a drink for hours? That realization comes with a sudden feeling that you’re dying of thirst. Well, the amazing thing is that by the time you get this feeling, you are! By the time your brain’s thirst centre wakes up, you have already lost two percent of water in your body; and if it isn’t replaced, your body begins to shut down. A lack of water affects everything, from your digestive tract to your immune system.

Your body is so busy that it loses 10 to 12 cups of water a day from everything you do. When you sweat, urinate, excrete waste, or even breathe, you’re getting rid of some moisture. The hypothalamus, the part of your brain that regulates basic body functions, also kicks in when your body is low in water. It watches for changes in the blood, and signals you when it’s time to drink. In times of real trouble, the hypothalamus calls out the antidiuretic hormone (ADH). This will tell your kidneys to send some of the water they are holding back for excretion into the bloodstream.

These days, there is bottled water, flavoured water, vitamin water, and, of course, tap water. Vitamin and specialty waters can become a problem due to added sugars. Others promise extra vitamins when in fact they contain very few. In truth, water doesn’t need to provide anything other than water. It’s important enough.

The best source for drinking and cooking is water filtered through a reverse osmosis system, such as from a very high-grade filter that can be installed under your kitchen sink. In Guyana we often purchase our drinking water in large five-gallon bottles through the local beverage companies. Any other form of regular water, tap or bottled, is still better than a soda (sweet drink).
Plastic bottles
Plastic bottles have become so widespread that we see people with buckets of plastic bottles selling water down at the minibus parks. This has also triggered a huge influx of plastic bottles being dumped into our environment, which allows certain chemicals, like phthalates, to leech into the ground water and our bodies. These pose various risks, including cancer. Try to transport water in stainless steel or glass bottles. If you have plastic bottles, don’t allow them to sit in the sun. Also, don’t use plastic to carry or heat water, as this might increase chemical leeching.

Eight ways water improves your health

1: Water feeds and cleanses your cells. Water constantly moves in and out of your cells, dissolving nutrients, delivering them where they need to go, and carrying wastes out of your body. It is your body’s transportation system.

2: Water improves your digestion. Like oil in a machine, water helps your digestive system run the way it’s supposed to. Suffering from constipation? Water helps soften your stool so you can excrete it more easily.

3: Water keeps your body temperature even. Your body has a hard time handling extreme heat or cold, so you need to drink more water when exposed to either.

4: Water helps your body heal. If you’re sick or having surgery, drinking water is an easy way to put yourself back on the road to recovery. Water is one of your best bets to prevent bladder or urinary infections.

5: Water lubricates and cushions your joints. By spreading out, water helps to form a cushion that helps to lubricate your joints.

6: Water moisturizes your skin and lips. Water is critical to healthy skin. It makes your skin elastic and supple, instead of shrivelled and dried up.

7: Water stops stones before they start. Water helps to flush out the building blocks that form kidney stones, before they can join forces to make you suffer.

8: Watching your weight? Drink a glass of water before eating. Water helps to fill you up, making it easier to resist the mound on your plate. Drink more when you’re active; it helps you to exercise longer and harder.
How much water should you drink?
While it’s a fact that we can only survive a few days at best without water, are eight glasses of water a day really necessary? The answer depends on many factors, including these three important points:

– The person’s general health status. Patients with chronic pain need to seriously evaluate their water intake. Clinically, patients have noticed improvements in treatments they were already pursuing, such as chiropractic work, acupuncture or massage, just by being better hydrated.

– Is the person engaged in activities that increase water loss (sweating)? Is the person working out extensively, or do they have a job that frequently puts them outside in the heat?

– Does the person drink a lot of coffee or soft drinks? Coffee can act as a diuretic, which means it may increase urination. “A lot” of coffee in this case would be defined as three or more 6-ounce cups a day. Regular or diet soft drinks pose many health issues. Those drinking multiple cans of pop a day may not be getting enough water. One of the biggest problems those who drink high volumes of coffee or soft drinks run into is that those beverages eventually replace water as the daily form of hydration. Again, coffee is a diuretic, so excessive amounts of coffee can actually worsen the water balance in the body. If this situation goes on long enough, patients could encounter nagging pains that don’t respond to conventional therapy.

Athletes in training should target at least 80 to 90 ounces of water, depending on how much they are sweating. If urine appears dark yellow, water intake needs to be increased. The colour of urine should typically be a pale yellow. Everyone should realize that hydration can come from no other source but water.