The Importance of Water

As Salam Walakum was rahmatullahi was bataktoh,
Good Morning, Evening, Afternoon…

How are you feeling today? We are well .. Winter is coming to Egypt. The temp has not dropped far but you can feel a difference. What about you?

Today I wanted to talk about the importance of water for the body and mind. We all heard the 8 glasses a day but is that really how much we should be drinking? Do we really know why we should drinking it ?

• According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry 158, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%.
• Its so important that we do not let these water percentages go down, to keep our health .
  
  Let us start with the mind with out water.
• cognitive impairment
• motor coordination
• attention
• memory
• reasoning
• delirium
• impaired blood flow
• global hypoxia (brain damage)
• ischemic stress (Abstract. Mental stress ischemia (MSI) is a recently recognized phenomenon defined by the occurrence of myocardial ischemia during the experience of mentally and/or emotionally stressful circumstances.)
• sleepiness
• irritability
• your mood , making you more anxious , nervous, angry?
  
  Heart
• Impairs vascular function
• blood pressure (BP) regulation. Specifically, acute hypohydration may reduce endothelial function, increase sympathetic nervous system activity, and worsen orthostatic tolerance.
• Endothelial dysfunction (type of non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) in which there are no heart artery blockages, but the large blood vessels on the heart’s surface constrict (narrow) instead of dilating (opening)is a clinically significant marker of cardiovascular health.
• Aortic stiffness
  
  Lungs
  (asthma) dehydrated, histamine production increases
  May contribute to chronic bronchitis
  
  Intestines
• Constipation
• Inhibits vitamin and mineral absorption
  
  Kidneys
• renal disorders
• kidney stones
• oxidative stress in kidney cortex and apoptosis in cortex and medulla( which is responsible for progressive renal damage, which can lead to renal ischemia, lesions to the glomeruli, cell death and apoptosis, exacerbating the severe inflammatory processes )
  
  liver
• build up in toxins
• ending up in liver issues
  
  galbladder
• Gallstones
  
  Bladder
•  Increases Risk of Bladder Cancer
• inflammation of the bladder
• increased risk of bladder infections
• Uti’s
  
  muscles/joints/bones/ teeth
• cramping
• muscle weakness
• muscle tightness
• Water lubricates joints and helps bring calcium and other nutrients
• not drinking enough can effect Bone density and joint lubrication
• WEAKER ENAMEL on your teeth
• limits your mouth’s ability to remove plaque and bacteria
  
  eyes
• dry eye
• eye strain
• burning or stinging sensation in your eyes,
• blurry vision, or a scratchy feeling
• layers of tissue become less plump.
  
  Our immunity

• Immune communication & biochemical pathways
• Optimal hydration may help to support communication and biochemical pathways in the immune system.

• Supports blood volume
• Your immune system relies on your blood stream to transport fluid, nutrients and important communication signals to organs. Since blood plasm is about 90% water, hydration is necessary to support this.

• Lymphatic system
• Being well hydrated is also important for a well-functioning lymphatic system which works closely with the immune system. The lymphatic system relies heavily on a clear and colorless fluid called lymph which is made up of about 90% water. Less body water content may mean less lymph production. A well-functioning lymphatic system helps to remove toxins, waste, debris, abnormal cells and pathogens from the system; it also helps to transport infection-fighting white blood cells throughout the body.

• Histamine balance
• There is evidence that histamine release may be enhanced under extreme conditions such as dehydration or hypoglycemia or by a variety of stressors.¹ Histamine is a central mediator released from mast cells and involved in many different body processes. Perhaps best known is histamine’s role in familiar allergic symptoms such as mucus production, itching, wheezing, rashes and hives. Hence why ‘anti-histamines’ are the over the counter medications typically used to reduce allergic symptoms in problems such as hayfever. 
  
  Last but not least the biggest organ on our body ..
  our skin/hair/nails
• itchiness
• dullness
• darker under-eye circles
• sunken eyes
• “shadows” around the face (especially under the eyes and around your nose)
• increased incidence or appearance of fine lines and surface wrinkles
  

So how can we avoid dehydration, and how to hydrate our self?

Drink water. Daily … simple as that.. most of us (including me) have a bad habit of drinking coffee first in the morning. Which is not the best thing to do.

1st: A Tbsp of apple cider vinager (with water)
a cup of lemon water and a cup of plain water.

Now wait for 30 min. Let it digest and then have your morning Joe, but we have to think about how much of that non-water (coffee, pop, juice) are we ingesting. For me my biggest problem is and maybe you can relate. When I drink the coffee in the morning . I am no longer hungry . Nor do I want to drink anything. So, I try to have only 2 cups of coffee a day one in the morning and one when the kids go to bed…. the rest of the time I am drinking water. For me I really need to focus on it. I can forget. I have literally gone all day with just a cup of coffee. maybe even more then that. I have started to have a water bottle and focus on drinking it through out the day…. My Goal for me is 2 liter. there is a great website : https://www.hydrationforhealth.com/en/hydration-tools/hydration-calculator/F Where you can calculate how much water you should be drinking on a daily baises

How do you know your dehydrated?

Well, we have the symptoms above, you can also do a pinch test on your hand.

How long does it take ? to get rehydrated?

Not long at all, 2-4 hours. The thing is though it has to be a conscious effort to keep it up.. Its clear from the research that its so important to be hydrated for our whole body and mind. Please let me know if you have any questions, if you liked this blog or what a topic you like me to talk about.

*****Fun fact : Even though dehydration describes the state of body water deficit, some scientists have suggested that dehydration refers to the process of losing water, while hypohydration is the state of water deficit, and rehydration is the process of gaining water from a hypohydrated state towards dehydration.

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