Health tips

Water our secrete gold

Water is the most important treasure on earth, without drinking water you could die in about three days. If you are one of the many people that do not drink enough water, here are some reasons for you to start drinking more of this precious liquid.
Why should we drink 8 glasses of water per day?
Normally, approximately 2.5 litre of water is required each day for a fairly sedentary adult in a normal environment to replace the total loss of water that occurs though urine, faeces, skin and lungs.
To replace the water loss about 1 to 1.2 litre needs to be in drinks, (manly water or cold herbal teas), 0.9 ml is taken through food and 0.3ml will be made my the body (oxidative metabolism).
Effect of water restriction-
What happens if you don’t drink enough?
The following are a series of changes in a case of water restriction:
1- Increase in pulse rate and in rectal temperature.
2- Increase in respiration.
3- Tingling and numbness of fingers and feet.
4- Increase in concentration of blood
5- Diminution of blood volume and more difficult circulation.
The difficulty and inadequacy of the circulation of blood under these conditions leads to difficult breathing, to gastro-intestinal upsets accompanied by nausea and appetite failure and eventually to difficulty in muscular movements and emotional instability. (Lloyd).
In an animal study, where water was restricted the animal were highly irritable and in some cases bad tempered
Thirst
It has been shown that under intense activity a man will voluntarily drink only about half as much water as what is needed to replace his losses from sweating and urine. Only after food and rest does a person crave the water needed to replace the deficit.

Herbal teas
Ingestion of hot drinks may cause internal body temperature to rise, which will result in sweating in order to cool the body down. Hot drinks are sometimes used in medical practice when it is desired either to temporarily increase body temperature or induce sweating. Therefore cold or cool drinks are preferred to hot drinks to replace fluid during the day, especially if the hot drinks are the only fluid daily intake.

Sugary drinks
During physical activities lasting less than 90 minutes, water is generally the beverage of choice, however, the inclusion of small concentrations of carbohydrate (6%-8% carbohydrate) have been shown to better sustain power output over water alone during physical activities that produce fatigue in 60 minutes or longer.