This week may be the most important post I will ever do because the subject matter is so vital to all body function, especially athletic function, and the number one answer to many problems that we suffer on a daily basis.
All actions in the body require a medium to occur and this medium is one of the most readily available as well as ignored substances in the planet; water. Our bodies our comprised of about 70% water in the form of blood, lymph (transports cells, bacteria, and fats), and other cellular fluid. Some of the major functions of water in the body include transport, lubrication, molecular structural support, regulating of body temperature, and maintaining blood volume. When we do not drink enough water our body is forced to prioritize what systems will get water. What this means is that the body will cut back on functions to preserve water for the brain, which is about 80% water, and cause us to experience fatigue, energy loss, constipation, lack of focus, cramps, weight gain, digestive problems, skin problems, joint pain, blood pressure imbalance, and premature ageing.
This leads to a question I am sure is entering your mind at this point; how much water should I drink and what kind of water should I drink? It is recommended to drink about 2.5 to 4 liters of water, which for my US readers is slightly over 10 to 16 Cups of water a day. For me, an easy way to get me going in the right direction is to have 32oz of water with ½ a lemon juice right when I wake up. Not only does this get me a large portion of water early on in the day, but the lemon helps my liver jumpstart its detoxification processes. It is important that the water is room temperature and that you use real lemons, not juice from the plastic lemons for sale at the grocery store.
When you train your gonna need a lot more water, and it is important to hydrate during training if you can. A 2% loss in body weight during exercise has the effect of a 20% decrease in performance, and for endurance athletes this can have a tremendous impact on results. It is important to drink before training, and drink 8 oz or so every 20 minutes if you can during a session. If your going for more than an hour be sure to add some electrolytes to the water.
With all the functions performed by water in the body, it is clear that high quality water is important to achieving optimal health. The best source of water is strangely highly debated and can be too expensive, or impractical to fully experience. Looking past the high priced filtered and from the source spring water, we are left with carbon filters (Pur/Brita), distilled, bottled, reverse osmosis, and tap water.
First the easy ones, the only thing worse than tap water is paying for filtered tap water in a convenient BPA laced bottle (Dasani, Aquafina, etc). Tap water contains many harmful chemicals such as fluoride, nitrates, lead, and the scariest to me, pharmaceuticals. Your carbon filters are a great choice and will get rid of 95% of these chemicals but not all of them, and not the pharmaceuticals. Your best value option is to get real spring water from a trusted source in your area. Many companies deliver and some grocery stores will sell the spring water in 5 gallon jugs at a very reasonable price. Distilled water is also a good choice, as this is the purest water you will find; it is completely void of all and any impurities or contaminants, but is also void of minerals.
Also, it is important to touch briefly on what does not count as water for our daily needs; coke, sports drinks, energy drinks, tea, coffee, and lemonade, while being made largely of water, do not count as water. Many of these act as diuretics, which actually have a dehydrating effect on our bodies, and the others are loaded with sugar which can also negatively affect hydration as well as many other systems in the body.
I know that it is not always practical to follow these guidelines, and please do not forgo water when you cannot find a good source. If all you can drink is bottled water just be sure to look at the bottle and see what kind of water you are drinking. Also if you must, drink tap water do, but this is a rare justification as it is pretty easy when traveling try and go to a grocery store and buy the gallon jugs of distilled water right when you get to your destination so you can have high quality water and do not have to make compromised decisions.
Drinking high quality water is crucial to our health and with proper planning and budgeting can be an easy way for everyone to improve health and vitality. Try implementing some of this education and see if it doesn’t make a difference.
