Did you drink water today?
Water is our most important source of life substance besides air that Mother Nature provides in this beautiful earth. So, how much water we should drink a day to be sufficient for daily activities and survival? It all defers person from person.
Health authorities recommended a rule of thumb to have eight glasses of Water for daily optimal health and digestion. But there is no one standard amount of water that everyone should be drinking. We must first understand the importance of water to our body and its benefits of drinking enough to cater to our body’s needs.
Helpful expert advice from Dr Drew Sinatra, board-certified nephropathy, summarized the following benefits of Drinking Water:
- Water plays an important role of transporting substances and nutrients throughout the body for vital functions such as breathing; thinking and even sleeping!
- Water regulates body temperature by way of sweating to release heat and cooling down the body.
- Water flushes out toxins, lubricates joints, helps relieve constipation, improves concentration, focus energy, skin elasticity, mood and overall health.
With all these life-giving health benefits, we need to stay properly hydrated by drinking sufficient water intake daily, especially in today’s Convid-19 situation faced by every population in the entire world. Hydration is a must!
how much Water should we drink a day?
That depends on the following factors:
- Activity level such as challenging sports or slow walk in the park will require different water level and frequency
- Age for elderly people will require less water compared to younger ones
- Diet intake with high proteins, sodium, or fibre-rich requires more water for the body to process nutrients and breakdown
- Climate in hot condition will require more water consumption than in cold weather
- Medications will require water to breakdown the properties for better adsorption by the body
In order to meet the hydration level of the average healthy adult, most health experts will generally recommend drinking around two liters, or eight-ounce glasses of water daily. This amount of water includes fluids such as other liquid beverages, and water-dense foods.
Hence, when we don’t drink enough water, we will feel signs of dehydration in our body:
- Dark amber urine color and longer urinary frequency like every six hours or longer
- Pinched mark on skin that doesn’t snap back quickly a tell-tale sign of low skin elasticity that is probably lacking of sufficient water level in body
- Experience of dizziness, brain fog and fatigue indicate dehydration symptoms
What are the Delicious and Fun Ways to Drink (and Eat) More Water?
Try increasing fluid intake beyond plain water by infusing water with fruits, adding frozen fruits instead of ice cubes to the water, or go for seltzer water with a healthy boost. You can also consume foods with high water content that can be extracted from many fruits and vegetables. All of these are excellent source of hydration that the body will need to function daily. In additions, you could heat up a nice chicken broth and throw in some potassium rich foods like celery, carrots or potatoes.
It is also important not to incorporate too much salt or sodium in the food, as this will create more dehydration. To stay away from processed foods; caffeine and alcohol as well. They will hinder the hydrating efforts.
With understanding of the importance of water function and hydration benefits mentioned, let’s start today to boost up our water consumption to our daily activities. The current Covid-19 situation is all the more essential for us to hydrate enough to flush out virus aside of keeping healthy with vitamin C and D, practicing personal hygiene and safe distancing.
Take care and stay safe!
