Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Water helps keep us going

By Jeff Cline

I remember sitting in a classroom in 7th grade learning about how water was made up . All the atoms, molecules, oxygen and hydrogen facts. One thing I do not remember is my teacher mentioning how much I should drink to stay healthy and how very important it is too the body.

Here is some facts; our bodies are 60 to 70% water. It regulates our body temperature and helps nutrition get through our bodies It support all lungs, brains and kidney's to name a few. Our blood is mostly water.

You must drink water through out the day to replace water that your body naturally uses. We use water when we urinate or sweat. So it makes since to drink more water on a hot day or when exercising.

Dehydration is what happens when we do not get enough water. Dehydration can have many symptoms. One is aches and pain in the muscles, joints and back. It causes headaches and constipation. Another clear sign is a darkening or odor in the urine.

Now that we understand that our bodies need water, we need to know how much we should be drinking. A good rule of thumb as to divide you body weight by 2, that is how many ounces you should be consuming.

All of the water does not have to come from straight water. Water can be found in 20% of the foods we eat. We can also count decaffeinated tea, Kool-Aid's and flavored water such as sport drinks and vitamin water.

Our schedules are sometimes so hectic that we can not keep up with how much water we have drank though out our day. You could keep a water bottle at all times, wear 8 rubber bands removing one for each 8 ounces you drink or something of that nature.

So it is very important that you get the daily amount of water your body needs. Make it a habit to drink all you can. Sip on it all day. Pay attention to the signs that you are not getting enough water. - 15683

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