Drink Plenty of Water

by Mirella Levin

Water, air, and cleanliness are the chief articles in my pharmacopoeia.Napoleon Bonapart

Not drinking enough water can lead to serious health problems. A loss of 5% can lead to unconsciousness and a loss of 10% of the body’s water can be fatal. This is why it is so important to drink lots of water on a daily basis. It is recommended that we drink at least 2 to 3 liters of water every day. The average person will lose approximately 2.5 liters of water daily. It is important that we replace every ounce of water that we lose throughout the day.

We can increase our intake of water by eating foods that contain lots of water. Foods such as tomatoes, lettuce, watermelon (and any other kind of melon), cucumbers, peaches etc all contain lots of water. Eating foods that contain a high percentage of water can also reduce hunger and help you lose weight.

Did You Know?

• Even mild dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.
  
• Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
  
• A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, and trouble with basic math.
  
• Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, breast cancer by 79%, and bladder cancer by 50%.
  
• At birth, water accounts for approximately 80 percent of an infant’s body weight.
  
• Pure water has a neutral pH of 7, which is neither acidic nor basic.
  
• The average person in the United States uses anywhere from 80-100 gallons of water per day.
  
• By the time a person feels thirsty, his or her body has lost over 1 percent of its total water amount.
  

(Source: Statistics from http://www.watershed.net/water-importance.aspx and http://www.allaboutwater.org/water-facts.html)

A Word of Caution