BENEFITS OF WATER FOR HEALTHY LIFE

By: SANJANA GUPTA, MD

       Ludhiana, Punjab, INDIA

Did you know that your body weight is approximately 60 percent water? Your body uses water in all its cells, organs, and tissues to help regulate its temperature and maintain other bodily functions. Because your body loses water through breathing, sweating, and digestion, it's important to rehydrate by drinking fluids and eating foods that contain water. The amount of water you need depends on a variety of factors, including the climate you live in, how physically active you are, and whether you're experiencing an illness or have any other health problems.

Pure Water Protects Your body Tissues, Joints and other organs

Water does more than just quench your thirst and regulate your body's temperature; it also keeps the tissues in your body moist. You know how it feels when your eyes, nose, or mouth gets dry? Keeping your body hydrated helps it retain optimum levels of moisture in these sensitive areas, as well as in the blood, bones, and the brain. In addition, water helps protect the spinal cord, and it acts as a lubricant and cushion for your joints.

Water Helps Your Body to Remove Waste

Adequate water intake enables your body to excrete waste through perspiration, urination, and defecation. The kidneys and liver use it to help flush out waste, as do your intestines. Water can also keep you from getting constipated by softening your stools and helping move the food you've eaten through your intestinal tract. However, it should be noted that there is no evidence to prove that increasing your fluid intake will cure constipation.

Water Aids in Digestion

Digestion starts with saliva, the basis of which is water. Digestion relies on enzymes that are found in saliva to help break down food and liquid and to dissolve minerals and other nutrients. Proper digestion makes minerals and nutrients more accessible to the body. Water is also necessary to help you digest soluble fiber. With the help of water, this fiber dissolves easily and benefits your bowel health by making well-formed, soft stools that are easy to pass.

Water Prevents You from Becoming Dehydrated

Your body loses fluids when you engage in vigorous exercise, sweat in high heat, or come down with a fever or contract an illness that causes vomiting or diarrhea. If you're losing fluids for any of these reasons, it's important to increase your fluid intake so that you can restore your body's natural hydration levels. Your doctor may also recommend that you drink more fluids to help treat other health conditions, like bladder infections and urinary tract stones. If you're pregnant or nursing, you may want to consult with your physician about your fluid intake because your body will be using more fluids than usual, especially if you're breastfeeding.

How Much Water Do You Need?

There's no hard and fast rule, and many individuals meet their daily hydration needs by simply drinking water when they're thirsty, according to a report on nutrient recommendations from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. In fact, most people who are in good physical health get enough fluids by drinking water and other beverages when they're thirsty, and also by drinking a beverage with each of their meals. If you're not sure about your hydration level, look at your urine. If it's clear, you're in good shape. If it's dark, you're probably dehydrated.

6 ways how you can keep healthy and fit when you don’t have time

1. Use household objects

Who needs a gym? Use household objects to accelerate your workout. Try doing squats over a dining room chair or triceps dips using a table as support. Use different types of items at home to do biceps curls, front raises, and standing fly’s which have helped to tone your arms, shoulders and chest. You really feel it working and the best thing is you didn’t spend any time or money buying special equipment or commuting to a gym.

2. Three-by-three challenge

A full body workout you can do in 10 minutes: start with three minutes of stepping up and down on a bottom step, followed by three of squats and three of crunches or sit-ups. A 30-second rest between each exercise will keep you going without letting your heart-rate drop too much, so it’s great for both cardio and toning.

 

3. Skip yourself fit

Keep a skipping rope by the sofa and use TV ad breaks as your cue to get moving. Skipping is great for cardio, endurance and coordination – just roll up the rug first and make sure you’ve got enough space to avoid smashing your favorite lamp shade.

 

4. Use sticky notes to motivate you

Important things to remember is use quick sticky notes reminders front of your quick excess area; kitchen, washroom, living room, car, work place etc. Write the short exercises reminders to do each day on a sticky note and put them somewhere quick exercise area where you could easily notice them. After each activity which was anything from a one-minute plank to dancing for three minutes to your favorite song or working just threw the note away. It’s amazing how satisfying it is, by the end of the day, all the notes were gone.

5. Set workout alarms

It's easy to sit for several hours for work at home or office and realize you’ve not moved since excess time, so where you need to set alarm on your phone which went off during the day, reminding you to get up and do a quick three-minute workout. It certainly gave you the kick you needed.

 

6. Exercise with your kids

Head into the garden or Local Park and have an energetic family outdoor game. As well as football, rounder’s and tag rugby, mix things up with hula-hoops, homemade obstacle courses and hopscotch.