Why Drinking Water is Vital to Good Health
©Alva Carpenter
Water can seem very ordinary, and can be taken for granted, but it certainly isn’t ordinary.
In fact, water’s unique chemical properties make it so complicated that even after decades of research, scientists still have much to learn about the wonders of water.
It is evident that water is essential for life, as we know it, to exist on earth.
Water is a magical substance.
Water is powerful: it covers 70 per cent of the earth and shapes our environment and even controls our climate and weather.
Water is essential to life on earth. Every drop you drink has a long history and story of its own. It may have travelled down mountains picking up minerals. It has energy of its own: its greatest desire is to move and flow.
Water is found in all three physical states: liquid, solid (ice), and gas (water vapour). Water is in a constant cycle. It evaporates from the ocean, travels through the air, rains down on the land and then flows back to the ocean. The oceans are huge. About 70 per cent of the planet is covered in ocean, and the average depth of the ocean is several thousand feet (about 1,000 metres). Ninety-eight percent of the water on the planet is in the oceans, and therefore is unusable for drinking because of the salt.
The drink your body desires most is water!
Water is essential to all life. You cannot survive for long if you have no water; it is needed for circulation, respiration and converting food to energy. If you are losing more water than you are taking in, dehydration will occur. When faced with a survival situation, clean water is often the most important consideration. People have survived without food for weeks or more; but to go without water for even just one day in harsh climate would be very difficult.
World experts recommend 8 glasses a day under normal conditions, but if you are spending the summer in the Gulf you should aim for at least 10 glasses daily.
Check out your Hydration
Is your skin dry?
Do you get headaches?
Does your tongue look pink and healthy?
Check the colour of your urine. The paler and clearer it is the better. If it is dark coloured, it is a sign that you are dehydrated. Check this daily.
It is not only the hot sun that robs bodies of liquid. Air conditioning in homes, offices and cars is also a culprit. Drinking tea, coffee, colas, and alcohol tend to dehydrate the body causing water loss.
Take plenty of water with you wherever you go and sip at it frequently. Small, frequent sipping is better than drinking a lot at one time, which can cause cramps. The water should be cool rather than cold, as cool water is absorbed faster. Water coolers allow you to choose between hot, cold or cool water temperatures.
Children and Water
Doctors are concerned with boosting the consumption of water in young children and with developing their good habits. Research has shown that pupils with free access to water in the classroom achieve improved tests results and better levels of concentration. Children should have between 8 to 10 glasses of water a day as it prevents dehydration in the brain, which is 70 percent water. Children would need more water if they were spending long periods in the heat or in school buses.
The new theory is that many illnesses in modern society may be due to the fact that the majority of the population suffers from dehydration. Doctors believe that thousands of lives could be saved each year, if only we drank more of the cheapest, simplest drinks of all, water.
I hope after reading this article you will look again at your glass of water and think of it as something really special and really cool.
Try these cool water tips
- Always have a bottle of water by your bed
- Drink a glass of water before each meal
- Always take water with you in the car
- Always have a drink of water when you return from a journey
- Pack plenty of water on picnics and trips to the beach or desert
- Always drink water before taking caffeine drinks
- Be aware of the dehydrating effect of alcoholic drinks
