Water, water everywhere
Everything you wanted to know about your health and H2O.
Water is vital to your survival. Your body uses water in so many ways. From moving nutrients through your body, to regulating body temperature, water is essential. Here’s more about why water is so important for your health.
Why Drinking Water Helps Keep You Healthy
Sometimes the benefits of drinking water are over-hyped, but the reality is this: Drinking water does have real benefits.
1. Drinking water can help you consume fewer calories. Water is not a weight-loss solution, but when you drink water instead of calorie-filled drinks to stay hydrated, you could be saving hundreds of calories each day. Drinking water can also make you feel full, and staying hydrated keeps you from mistaking thirst for hunger. It also pays to eat fruits and vegetables such as watermelon and strawberries that have a high water content. They provide hydration and nutrition for only a few calories.
2. Drinking water is important for healthy digestion. No one likes to talk about it, but when you’re constipated, you probably want all the advice you can get. Instead of seeking help from over-thecounter remedies, try drinking more water. If you aren’t getting an adequate amount of water, your colon will let you know by taking the water it needs from your stool and causing constipation, which can be painful.
3. Drinking water can help prevent kidney stones. When you drink enough water, it prevents waste products from becoming concentrated in your urine while also causing more frequent urination, which gives the waste and minerals that form kidney stones less time in your body, providing fewer chances for a stone to form.
4. Drinking water can energize you. If you’re not drinking enough water, you can become fatigued. Dehydration causes your heart to pump harder, and it makes your other organs less efficient as well. Drinking water also gives your muscles the energy they need to work hard during the day, especially during workouts.
5. Drinking water makes your skin beautiful from the inside out. Water hydrates and moisturizes your skin, and it also makes it more elastic. Dehydrated skin can look dry, rough and wrinkled, while well-hydrated skin looks smoother and softer. When you use moisturizers, you help lock in and protect your skin’s natural moisture.
How Much Water Should You Drink Each Day?
You may have heard that you need to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day, but it’s not quite that straightforward. The Institute of Medicine recommends that adults consume about 91 ounces (2.7 liters) of water each day, but that includes the water that is found in other beverages and foods. Most people consume about 80 percent of their water from drinks and 20 percent from food. When you’re exercising or outside in the heat for extended periods of time, you will need to drink more water to replace what you lose while sweating.
How Do You Know When You’re Dehydrated?
Basically, dehydration occurs when you have lost more bodily fluids, including water, than you have taken in. Many things can cause dehydration, including working in the heat, exercising, illness with vomiting and diarrhea or simply not drinking enough water. Symptoms include:
• Thirst, dry mouth, feeling like your tongue is swelling
• Feeling dizzy, weak or confused
• Feeling fatigued or faint
• Fast heartbeat, rapid breathing
• Inability to perspire or cry
• Reduced urine output
• Concentrated, dark-colored urine
For mild to moderate cases of dehydration, you should drink water or something like Gatorade or PowerAde to replace electrolytes. If you experience symptoms of severe dehydration—inability to urinate, serious thirst, confusion, shriveled skin, fever or rapid heart rate—seek medical attention immediately.
Is It Possible to Drink Too Much Water?
The answer is yes! Water intoxication, or hyponatremia, is a rare but serious condition that can cause people to have seizures, go into a coma or even to die. When you drink too much water too fast, you can change the level of sodium in your body, diluting it down to a dangerous level.
Generally, you would have to drink liters of water very quickly to cause this condition. People are more vulnerable when they’re participating in strenuous exercise, such as running a race, followed by drinking large amounts of water. You should drink only until you feel your thirst has been quenched, and you may want to drink a drink with electrolytes after serious exercise.
If you experience headache, confusion, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness or seizures, seek medical help.
Water is vital for life, so take advantage of the many ways it works to make and keep you healthy.
Health Benefits of Water-Based Exercise
The Centers for Disease Control says swimming and water-based exercise offer many health rewards. They note that “people report enjoying waterbased exercise more than exercising on land. They can also exercise longer in water than on land without increased effort or joint or muscle pain.”*
There are several reasons to add swimming and water-based exercise to your routine. They include the following.
• It’s low-impact, so it isn’t hard on the joints and bones.
• It’s a good cardiovascular workout that strengthens your heart and lungs.
• Water’s buoyancy helps protect bones and joints from injuries.
• It’s safe and beneficial exercise for people with arthritis or osteoporosis.
• Water-based exercise provides more resistance than the same exercises done on land. This burns more calories and strengthens muscles.
*cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/health_benefits_water_exercise.html
A Glossary of Water
Here’s a guide to the water that’s everywhere these days:
Tap water is treated by local municipalities, and it contains chlorine and added fluoride.
Distilled water is vaporized to remove the minerals.
Natural spring water comes from and is bottled at a natural spring.
Artesian or spring water also comes from a natural source of water, but this water is processed, purified and bottled at another source.
Mineral water has to have 250 parts per million of solids, which include minerals, according to the FDA’s definition.
Sparkling water is just water with carbon dioxide added in, nothing else.
Natural sparkling water is water that contains carbon dioxide from its original source, such as a spring.
Vitamin water is available in several different flavors. All vitamin water contains some amount of fortified vitamins, but some brands also contain caffeine and more artificial ingredients than others. There are no- and low-calorie versions available as well. It’s important to read the labels to see what is in the brand you choose.
Coconut water is found inside the center of a young, green coconut. This clear liquid contains high levels of potassium and low levels of sodium.
Taking the Waters
For centuries, people have gone to various mineral springs throughout the world to “take the waters,” meaning they bathe in the springs in the hopes that the water will help improve their health. We have a famous spring in Austin—Barton Springs—and the Hill Country is also home to several natural springs.
Here are some springs for you to try:
Chinati Hot Springs is located in Marfa, Texas. chinatihotsprings.net
Comal Springs is the largest in Texas. edwardsaquifer.net/comal.html
Krause Springs has 32 springs on its property. krausesprings.net/about-us
San Marcos Springs is also known as Aquarena Springs. edwardsaquifer.net/comal.html
San Soloman Springs is part of Balmorhea State Park. tpwd.texas.gov/spdest/parks/balmorhea
Photo by Victor Ovalle, Austin Parks and Recreation.
Hit the Water
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