Picture yourself on a desert isle with nothing to eat or drink. How long do you think you would survive......10 days?......20?......a month? Actually, you'd probably last about 45 days without food. But without water, you'd be lucky if you lasted 10. Of all the vital nutrients you need to survive, water is the one you simply can't do without.
Have you ever stopped in the middle of a busy day and realized it's been hours since you've had a drink? Suddenly, you feel like you're dying of thirst.
Actually, you are. By the time your brain's thirst center wakes up, you've already lost 2 percent of the water in your body. And if you don't replace it, your body will begin to shut down.
After all, water makes up more than 60 percent of your body weight, and if you don't get enough, any other nutrients you take in will be left high and dry. A lack of water affects everything from your digestive tract to your immune system. It also helps regulate your body temperature.
Your body is so busy that it loses 10 to 12 cups of water per day just from all the normal things you do. When you sweat, urinate, excrete waste, or even just breathe, you're getting rid of some of that moisture.
So how does your body know when it needs more, and how does it get that message to you?
Think about the last time you had "cotton" mouth. That's one way your body gets you to drink. When your blood needs water, it sometimes borrows it from your salivary glands. Your mouth feels dry, and you reach for a drink to "wet your whistle."
The hypothalamus, the part of your brain that regulates many basic body functions, also kicks in when your body is low on water. It watches for changes in your blood, then signals you it's time to drink. Unfortunately, this switch is not always on the ball and sometimes forgets to tell you you're thirsty until way past the time you need water. That's why experts tell you to drink throughout the day even if you don't feel thirsty.
In times of real trouble, the hypothalamus calls out the antidiuretic hormone (ADH). This hormone tells your kidneys to send some of the water they are holding for excretion back into the bloodstream. If your body has too much water, ADH will tell your kidneys to release it. But it always makes sure you only get rid of water you don't need.
9 WAYS WATER FIGHTS AGING
Feeds and cleans your cells. Water constantly moves in and out of your cells - dissolving nutrients, delivering them where they need to go, and carrying waste out of your body. Water plays a big part in feeding your cells so you get all the energy you need. Think of it as your own personal transportation system.
Improves your digestion. Like oil in a machine, water helps your digestive system run the way it's supposed to. Without it, your "machine" will get sluggish.
Suffer from constipation? Water helps soften your stools so you can pass them more easily.
Ever get that painful, burning sensation in your chest? Heartburn is an uncomfortable fact of life for many people. You get it when acid in your stomach backs up into your esophagus and irritates it.
Water helps wash the acid out and gives your stomach a fighting chance to do its job properly. Try drinking water about an hour before or after meals to keep your stomach from bloating. A bloated stomach is more likely to overflow, which is exactly what you don't want.
Water also helps antacids and other medicines do their jobs faster and more efficiently.
Keeps your body temperature even. When exercise or fever makes you sweat, the water evaporating off your skin actually helps cool you down - call it natural air conditioning.
Your body has a hard time handling extreme heat or cold, so during a summer heat wave or winter freeze, you need to drink even more water. If you don't, your body may shut down altogether, leading to serious problems such as heatstroke or frostbite.
Heatstroke often affects older people because they sweat less and don't feel as thirsty as they used to. If you have diabetes or heart disease, you're even more at risk. Drinking lots of water will keep you from getting dehydrated and help prevent heatstroke.
In cold weather, hypothermia, or loss of body heat, is as serious as heatstroke. And dehydration is the number one cause of frostbite, say nurses in an Alaskan hospital's thermal unit. It's easy to forget to drink in chilly weather, but your body still sweats and needs fluids. Make drinking water a year-round habit.
Helps your body heal itself. If you're sick or having surgery, drinking water is an easy way to put yourself back on the road to recovery. After surgery, your body retains water to help it heal, so adding to your supply gives your body an extra boost when it needs it most.
Water is also one of your best bets to prevent bladder or urinary infections. It helps flush the infection from your system before it gets a good grip.
Six to eight glasses of water a day will also help you beat a cold or the flu.
Lubricates and cushions your joints. Water molecules are like people - they don't like to be crowded together. This aversion actually helps protect your joints. By spreading out, water forms a cushion that helps lubricate your joints, which makes them easier to bend and move around.
When arthritis makes you stiff and achy, your first thought should be, "I need some water." This simple solution may help you feel better and even reduce your painful swelling.
If you're bothered by gout, you especially need to drink a lot of water. It dilutes and carries away the uric acid that causes your discomfort.
Along with cushioning your joints, water acts like a shock absorber inside your eyes and spinal cord.
Moisturizes your skin and lips. Water is absolutely critical to healthy skin. Both water in the air and water you drink gives shape and nourishment to your cells. It makes your skin elastic and supple instead of dried up and shriveled like a prune.
But sometimes you can get too much of a good thing. If you love long, hot showers or baths, you may be doing your skin more harm than good. Lingering in a hot tub can strip your skin of natural oils, which help keep moisture in. Make your water temperature warm instead of hot. And if you like bath oil, add a little to your bath water after you've soaked for about 10 minutes to help seal moisture into your skin.
Try spritzing your face with cool water for a quick pick-me-up. Use a humidifier in your home for a taste of the tropics, and take a refreshing walk in the rain. Moist air means moist skin, and that means healthy skin.
And don't forget what it does for your lips. Water keeps them moist, supple, and kissably soft.
Stops stones before they start. A wrenching pain stabs you in your lower back. You groan as you realize it's another kidney stone attact.
If you'd been drinking plenty of water, this probably wouldn't have happened. Water helps flush out the building blocks that form kidney stones before they can join forces to make you suffer.
You are more likely to get a kidney stone during the summer, probably because you tend to sweat more and may not drink enough water to make up for it. Some urologists say you should increase your water intake to at least 12 to 16 cups a day to combat summer's heat and humidity.
In a recent study, coffee, tea, beer, and wine lowered the risk of kidney stones, while apple juice and grapefruit juice increased the risk. Additional studies are needed to confirm these results.
If your problem is gallstones, make water your lifelong friend. Bile, a fluid secreted by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, helps in digestion, especially of fats. When your bile has enough water, it can easily dissolve the cholesterol that forms gallstones. This keeps your gallbladder fit and happy.
Watches your weight. Guess what's at the center of any successful weight-loss program? That's right. good old H2O. Remember, your body needs this nutrient more than any other, and it happens to be calorie free.
Drink a glass before eating. Water fills you up, making it easier to resist that mound of food on your plate. It helps you eat more slowly. When you take your time, you end up eating less.
Drink more whenever you're active. It helps you exercise longer and harder. Walk one more mile. Swim an extra lap. Pound out one more set of tennis. Your body will love you for it.
Rinses away germs. Water can do you just as much good from the outside as the inside. Remember how your mother always nagged you to wash your hands before eating......or after blowing your nose......or coughing......or petting the dog? She knew a good washing gave the old "heave-ho" to germs and other nasty things living on your skin.
Soap and water is the number one way to stop germs from spreading. Fewer germs mean fewer illnesses. And that means a healthier, happier you.
YOUR ACTION PLAN
HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?
Most people tend to drink water only when they are thirsty. Big mistake! The switch that runs the thirst center in your brain doesn't even wake up until you've already lost too much of your body fluids.
As you get older, your thirst switch becomes even more forgetful. Since you don't feel thirsty, you don't drink as much as you should, and you become dehydrated.
Heavy sweating, vomiting, or diarrhea can lead to dehydration if you don't replace the fluids you
lose. These conditions are especially dangerous because they flush away your body's much-needed supply of salt. About half the elderly who suffer from this serious problem will die without treatment.
Dehydration can lead to serious problems like heatstroke (overheating) or hypothermia (loss of body heat).
Symptoms of dehydration include:
Tiredness, headaches, cramps, and pale skin can mean you're critically low on salt.
If you notice any of these symptoms, see your doctor immediately. Fluids and salt must be replaced quickly, and you may require hospital care.
The easiest way to prevent dehydration is to give your body lots of water every day. Just by eating, you get some water into your system, but food provides only two to four cups of water each day. Some experts say you should drink another six to eight glasses (about two quarts) to make up for what you lose. Others recommend as much as 12 to 16 cups every day. If your urine is clear or pale yellow, you know you're getting enough.
Want an easy way to keep track of how much you drink? Try keeping six inexpensive 8-ounce cups in your cupboard. Throughout the day, use each one only once, then put it in your sink or dishwasher. By the end of the day, you'll know how much you've had to drink, and you can finish any that are left.
Of course, the amount your body needs won't always stay the same. It depends on what kind of foods you eat, how hot or cold the temperature is, or whether you're out playing a hearty game of tennis or just relaxing in front of your television.
Your body definitely needs more fluids when you exercise or have a busy day, even if you're not thirsty. Water is best because it gets to your tissues more quickly than other beverages that must be digested.
Exercise actually blunts your thirst mechanism, so by the time you feel like you need a drink, you're already in trouble. Keep a water bottle handy and keep sipping whether you feel like it or not. Water also cools your body down from the inside out.
THE WISE WATER CONSUMER
A 115-year-old man living on an island off Japan was asked how a person his age could be so healthy.
"Simple," the old man replied. "I've drunk water all my life - gallons and gallons of it."
He ended up living to the ripe old age of 120 years, 237 days.
For Shigechiyo Izumi and others on his island, water was the secret to long life. But it was a special kind of water filtered through ancient coral reefs. It gave him extra minerals and other elements that helped keep the spring in his step and a youthful song in his heart.
Today, many people hope to find that same fountain of youth in bottled water. We see exotic labels like "Artesian" or "natural spring water" and think it must be better than plain old tap water. In fact, we drink twice as much bottled water as we did five years ago.
But is it really better?
Judge for yourself. At any given moment, more than 70,000 contaminants are swirling their way through your water supply. Many can make you sick.
Lead is a particularly dangerous problem. As water travels through old pipes in your home, it can pick up lead. If you're older, you need to worry about aluminum in your drinking water. It may increase your risk of Alzheimer's disease.
One sure way you can avoid these bad guys is to use a water-treatment system in your home. There are hundreds to choose from, and they all claim to remove bacteria, chemicals, minerals, and unpleasant odors and tastes. You may already have one of the simpler models. A pour-through pitcher with a carbon filter is a cheap and easy way to take care of minor water problems.
How do you know if you need a bigger and better filtering system? First, you should find out exactly what's in your water. Remember the saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." You don't need a water-treatment system unless you have a problem, so have your water tested before you rush out and plunk down your hard-earned money.
The Environmental Protection Agency's Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791) is a good place to start. The EPA can supply you with the name of a lab in your area that will test your water for lead and other contaminants. If you decide you need a filtering system, the lab can help you determine what type you need.
Your friendly neighborhood plumber also can give you some good advice. He can even help install your water-treatment system. Just be sure that any equipment you buy has a seal from NSF International or the Water Quality Association "Gold Seal." That means the equipment has been tested and meets industry standards.
WATER CAUTIONS
Many of you swear by it. No expensive contraptions. Door-to-door delivery. Goes wherever you do. In fact, one out of every 15 families drinks bottled water because they like the taste and believe it's safer than their local water supply.
Unfortunately, some bottled water may not be any purer than your own tap water.
Remember the Perrier scare several years ago? This popular brand was recalled because it contained too much benzene, a chemical used in making many dyes and drugs. Other brands have been recalled because they smelled bad or contained unhealthy levels of organic compounds.
Let's face it, all water comes from the same place - above or below ground - so it all will be contaminated in some way. How it's filtered and purified is what makes the difference. You may be surprised to learn that a quarter of the bottled water sold is actually tap water that's been re-filtered to make it taste better.
One reason bottled water tastes better is that most bottling companies disinfect their water with ozone, which leaves no aftertaste or smell. Many local water systems use chlorine to help purify the water.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency keeps a close watch over your tap water to make sure it doesn't contain too much of anything that can harm your health.
Since 1975, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been responsible for making sure bottled water is just as safe as tap water. In 2003, the FDA set new limits for as many as 50 chemicals and other contaminants in bottled water.
The FDA also defined each type of bottled water so labels would be consistent from one state to another. Now when you see "spring water" on two different labels, you can be sure they mean the same thing.
BOTTLED WATER DEFINED
Confused about the labels on bottled water? You're not alone. The Food and Drug Administration provides the following definitions to help you figure out what you're buying:
bulk drinking water - tap or spring water that's filtered and purified with ozone. Minerals are removed and may or may not be re-added. The label must state if the bottle contains municipal tap water.
mineral water - water obtained from protected underground sources. It's usually "sparkling," meaning it contains natural carbon dioxide that makes it bubble. The bottle must list a "high" or "low" mineral content. You'll also see a nutrition label if it's high in calcium, iron, or sodium.
spring water - underground water that flows naturally to the earth's surface or is pumped from the source. "Natural spring water" means it has not been processed in any way.
artesian water - well water that comes from an underground rock formation. It surfaces naturally through a man-made hole.
distilled water - produced by vaporizing water, then condensing it in a way that takes out all dissolved minerals.
purified water - treated by certain chemical or physical processes to remove dissolved solids, including minerals. It must meet U.S. Pharmacopeia standards because it's often used in laboratories and for medical purposes.
seltzer, soda, or tonic water - filtered and artificially carbonated tap water that usually has added sodium or sweeteners. These are considered soft drinks and are not regulated.
TIPS FOR WATER SAFETY
If you drink bottled water, follow these steps to make sure it's as pure and safe as possible:
Choose products from companies that belong to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). The IBWA supports the FDA's bottled water standards.
Call the bottler (most have 800 numbers) and get a list of the contaminants it tests for. Ask about chlorine and flouride. Most companies don't use chlorine to disinfect the water because it can combine with other materials to form cancer-causing agents.
Check the source. You don't want water that comes from highly industrialized areas.
Buy your water in glass containers. Plastic packaging may contaminate the water - no one is sure.
Disinfect your water cooler about once a month. Run a half gallon of white vinegar through it, then rinse with four or five gallons of tap water.
Just for fun, join the Water of the Month Club and sample exotic waters from around the world. For example, try super-oxygenated Angel Fire Water or Fiji Natural Artesian Water. Find them on the Internet at
http://bottledwaterstore.com/.
If you prefer using tap water:
Run the faucets for a minute or two first thing in the morning to flush out bacteria, chemicals, and other impurities.
When you're cooking, use cold water instead of hot. Hot water from the faucet may contain more lead.
Try not to boil drinking water longer than five minutes. Because some water evaporates, you end up with a higher concentration of contaminants, including lead.
