Hydration

  A common denominator in all living things is the need for water.  Building the molecules of life is only possible when their components are dissolved in water.  Adequate water intake and utilization is indispensable to all microorganisms, plants, and animals.  The human body is composed of 25 percent solid matter and 75 percent water.

  Water is essential to life and is a key to the rate of aging, immunity, and all biochemical processes that occur in biological systems especially the brain, which consists of about 85 percent water.  Water makes life possible because it has unique physical and chemical properties.

  Most people are unaware of what happens to the body if it is not adequately hydrated.  Whole metabolic systems are disturbed, often severely by dehydration.  Some of the signs of dehydration are bloating or abdominal discomfort that occurs after drinking, dry mouth or difficulty forming saliva, disinclination to drink water because of the taste and sometimes not drinking water but obtaining water from coffee, tea, fruit drinks or manufactured beverages, etc.  Other symptoms include insatiable thirst, craving and eating sweets followed by drinking a lot of fluids, lack of elasticity in skin and water retention are but a few.  Unfortunately many of these beverages accelerate water loss rather than increase hydration.

  Hydration & Musculoskeletal Pain

  Hydration can affect any or all parts of the body, especially the spine, intervertebral joints and their disc structure.  Hydraulic properties of water stored in the disc core, as well as other parts of the musculoskeletal system are indeed dependent upon adequate hydration.  Contact surfaces in the spinal vertebrae require water for it’s lubricating.

  The disc core within the intervertebral space also contains water, and supports the compression weight of the upper body.  Fully 75 percent of the upper body is supported by the water volume that is stored in the disc core; 25 percent is supported by the fibrous materials around the disc.  The fifth lumbar disc is affected in the majority of cases.

  Water appears to be a universal lubricating agent for all joints in addition to sustaining the force produced by weight or tension produced by the action of muscles on the joint.  Water is made available in most joints through an intermittent vacuum effect.

  The water is then dispersed by pressure brought about by joint movement.                                                   (continued on page 2)

h2O

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· 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.

· In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.

· Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 3%.

· Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

· A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

· Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 79% , and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

 

Hydration

Facts