Why drinking water is so Important

by Michelle Owen,
Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesioligist (C.H.E.K L3)
Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach (C.H.E.K N.L.C L2)
www.fitness-n-function.co.nz

The Human Body is comprised of 70% Water. For example, the  brain is 74 %, the blood is 82% even the teeth have 5%. Water is critical for every single bodily function. It provides hydration and irrigation to trillions of cells. Water is necessary for the blood to flow, for oxygen delivery, for waste elimination, for nutrient transportation and for the functioning of almost every organ and biochemical process.

Water Needs
Our bodies require a minimum amount of clean, pure, natural water each day to maintain a good level of hydration. A properly hydrated body will increase your body’s “cell” communication, resulting in better health. In our bodies water transports elements (hormones, chemical messengers and nutrients) to vital organs, which, in turn, produce substances that are made available to the rest of the body. Without proper hydration, the brain, which is 85% water and controls the body’s “waterways”, cannot do it’s job properly.

The following functional, healing benefits are assisted in our bodies by drinking plenty of water every day. (the opposite to these will result from not drinking enough water every day):
• Increased absorption and utilisation of nutrients
• Increased oxygen availability to the cells
• Increased detoxification of the body as a whole
• More perfect cell replication

In our Western society people have adapted to drinking coffee, fruit drinks, soft drinks and other such products as a means of satisfying our thirst.

What many people do not realise is that many of these drinks in fact dehydrate our bodies of water and are of no assistance to us at all. Everyone needs to intake a minimum amount of water each day to at least maintain the level of water in our cells. Good hydration is as important as good eating.

Water Requirement Calculation
A good guideline below as promoted by Paul Chek (world-renowned expert in the fields of corrective and high-performance exercise kinesiology) see www.chekinstitute.com is for the minimum daily intake for our body weight. We can calculate the amount of pure, filtered, non treated water that we need on
average each day. This amount of water is the minimum you need a day to assist your cells functioning optimally. This is calculated on our body weight in kg’s, divided by 0.024. This level of water intake works out at 1 litre plus 1 cup (1250ml) for each 30kg of body weight.

Example
An 80 kg person would require 3 1/3 litres per day (80kg divided by 0.024 = 3.3 litres per day) Coke, lemonade, alcohol and caffeinated beverages do not count as water intake as they are dehydrating to our system and easily strip water from our bodies. We also have to remember that is we are undertaking physical
exercise or it’s a hot day we will have to increase our intake.
Also we loose at least 450ml of water each day as we breathe. This will increase to at least 1 litre if the day is hot or we are doing exercise.