How do you know when you\u2019re dehydrated? How do you keep hydrated? Do you mean drinking water? If so, how much water should we drink? These are all very simple questions to which many do not know the answers. Let\u2019s change that.<\/p>\n
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Whether you exercise or not, hydration is still an important factor in everyday life.\u00a0 Our body is an intricate matrix of systems that work together so we can function properly. If one of those systems is off, it forces the remaining systems to work harder. It\u2019s like riding a bicycle with a poorly lubricated chain. In order for the bike to progress forward, one would have to pedal harder and faster than if the chain was well lubricated.<\/p>\n
Our body depends on water to survive. Every cell, tissue and organ needs water.\u00a0 Without water our body could not remove waste, metabolize food, lubricate joints, maintain its temperature and transport nutrients. Water makes up more than half of our body weight and is the most important nutrient that it uses.<\/p>\n
We lose water every day when we sweat, use the restroom and even when we breathe.\u00a0 We lose water at an even faster rate than normal during high temperatures, exercise<\/a>, sickness, vomiting or have diarrhea. When this happens we become dehydrated.<\/p>\n Have you ever felt so thirsty that when you drank water it was the best thing you ever had? That is most likely due to being dehydrated, meaning the body does not have enough water to function properly. Some signs of dehydration include:<\/p>\n According to Harris Lieberman, Ph.D<\/a>, if you go 4 \u2013 8 hours without water you are mildly dehydrated (1.5% drop in body weight) and then severely dehydrated if you go approximately 24 hours without water (3% \u2013 4% drop in body weight). In order to get the body back to its normal state after being dehydrated, we have to go through the process of hydration, i.e.replacing the missing water.<\/strong> This can be done by:<\/p>\n\n
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But this still leaves one question unanswered: How much