However many people are unaware of the fact that you are ALREADY dehydrated by the time you feel thirsty. Blood becomes thicker when dehydration occurs and the body has to work harder to help it circulate. As a result, the brain becomes less active, the body becomes tired and it becomes harder to concentrate on any task.
Everyone’s personal hydration level is not the same. It is dependent on many factors including height, weight, age and sex. In order to determine yours, try this formula. Divide your weight in half and drink that many ounces of water per day. As an example, if you weigh 160 pounds, drink 80 ounces of water (about 2 ½ quarts or 10 eight-ounce glasses) every day.
Benefits of Drinking Water
Drinking plenty of purified water has many benefits- it increases mental and physical performance; removes toxins and wastes from the body; improves energy; helps with weight loss; reduces headaches and dizziness; helps to keep alkaline levels balanced in the body, and it leads to the contracting of fewer colds and flu’s. Drinking water will also help in other ways. The additional fluoride added to our supply of drinking water provides extra strength and density to bones and teeth. Drinking plenty of water cushions joints (as previously mentioned) and protects tissues and organs, including the spinal cord, from damage and shock.
Adequate hydration is one of the best ways to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight, as water is a natural appetite suppressant. Fat cells become “rubbery” when the body is dehydrated and cannot be easily metabolized. What this means is that it is harder to lose weight when you don’t drink enough water.
Water is a powerful “healing tool” for people with a history of kidney stones. Drinking at least 8 glasses of water daily reduces the risk of stone formation as water dissolves calcium in the urine. Adequate hydration is also an effective way to prevent urinary tract infections in both sexes as water flushes impurities out of the system. Even a mild case of dehydration makes a person more susceptible to picking up viruses. Water helps the recovery process from illness and disease move more quickly.
When a body is well hydrated, drainage from allergies and colds doesn’t stick and collect in the throat and lungs, and the cough is more productive in getting rid of the bad stuff. Surprising to some, even cold sores that appear on the lips are decreased by drinking water because the eruptions tend to favor dry areas on the body.