One of the reasons why it is important that we all drink sufficient water every day even though we may drink plenty of other fluids is because water is the most important nutrient for your body. The average 70 kilogram man has around 42 litres of water in his body and the average adult female has around 27.5 litres.
Even a mild deficit of water can have a substantial impact on your well-being, physical performance, and attentiveness. Dehydration is the loss of body water and important ions, which are blood salts, such as potassium and magnesium. When your body doesn’t have sufficient water and electrolytes in it, normal bodily processes will be impaired.
Even mild water losses can significantly hinder performance. For every 1% of body-weight lost, your blood volume decreases by 2.5%, muscle water decreases by 1%, and your body’s core temperature can increase around 0.5° C. Changes in blood volume during prolonged exercise will impair your body’s ability to deliver oxygen and key nutrients to active muscles, organs, and glands and negatively affect your body’s ability to regulate core body temperature by diminishing the body’s ability to expel heat. Losses of 3% are associated with physiological changes such as decreased blood volume, decreased urine output, diminished performance, and decreased endurance, while losses of 9 to 12% are fatal.
Water is the most important nutrient for your body because it contains electrolytes, which are minerals such as calcium, chloride, magnesium, potassium, and sodium ions, that are essential to your health.
Within your body, electrolytes are dissolved in body-fluids and are responsible for directing water and nutrients to the areas of your body where they are most needed; they also maintain optimal fluid balance inside the cells. Electrolytes also help your muscles to contract and relax and assist in the transmission of nerve impulses from your nervous system to different parts of your body.
Without water your body cannot do what it needs to do, so be kind to yourself and your health and drink water regularly. Don’t like drinking tap water? Get a water cooler that can dispense filtered so chilled and which tastes so great that you would swear that you are in the country drinking from a natural spring. Contact Living-Water today for an introduction to their great range of bottled water coolers or mains water coolers and a free quote for one suited to both your needs and budget.
