What are the main things that we need to live?
Food and water? Are you sure, that those are the only things that we need for
our bodies and mind to function properly? Well, in a nutshell, yes, but I’ll
get into the detail another time.
The most basic thing that our bodies need to
function properly is water. Our bodies are 46-61% made out of water and the
amount of it varies between age groups and sexes. Women do tend to have more
adipose/fat tissue then men, and that tissue is more hydrophobic. That means,
that it does not like water, to put it simply (adipose tissue contains only 10%
of water). Men, on the other hand, have more muscles than fat, which means,
that they have more water in their bodies (water makes a 65-75% of muscle)1,3.
A study made in 2006 states, that the bodies of infant boys had a greater
percentage of water than the bodies of infant girls2 A study published in 2002,
where over a course of an eleven day hike they observed nine young people (age
24 ±3 )and eight older people ( age 57 ± 3) they found out that “The finding
that the older group had both higher levels of dehydration and impaired
psychomotor functioning and jump performance tests is an important
consideration«6. Also »Both groups showed a marked slowing of choice reaction
time after the 10 days of walking«6 which clearly means, that in order to have
your metabolism running optimally, you need to be well hydrated. Proper
hydration not only improves your concentration and gives you more energy, but
it also helps you to burn more calories while resting by up to 3%.
Nevertheless, both men and women need water to
live. Period! Water transports nutrients, gasses, waste, hormones and ions
thorough our bodies. It plays a big, if not the biggest part in almost all bodily
functions, not to mention that it helps to regulate our temperature, it helps
us to have regular bowel movements thus helps our bodies to detoxify themselves
and it lubricates our joints.
It is said that a grown adult loses around 2,2
liters of water per day, just by living and breathing. Now, the thing with
water is that you do need to drink it, but how much is kind of a problem. I
usually instruct my clients to drink around 20 ml per kg if they are exercising
regularly and around 30 ml per kg if they have very hard and long workouts
(like preparing for a marathon). Just a 2% loss of water can drastically impact
our ability to exercise right and a 5% drop can reduce our exercise performance
by a whooping 30%5.
But the rule of thumb is much simpler. Drink
fluids until your pee looks like lemon juice. If your pee looks like apple
juice, then you need to drink more water. But if it looks like water, then you
need to cut back on your water intake, because you might wash out a lot of
essential salts from your body4.
A great source of water is… well, no need to
reinvent the wheel… A good source of water is water. Actually it is the best
source of water. Green tea is also a great option, just be sure not to overdo
it, because it has caffeine in it. Whatever you do, just be sure to avoid
juices and drinks with artificial sweeteners and coloring in it. You do not
need the extra sugar juices have and especially not the extra artificial
sweeteners.
Until next time, stay strong and be kind.
Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/0qvmhw
Links:
1.http://www.tkevinwilsonlawyer.com/library/gender-differences-and-body-water.cfm
3."Exercise
Physiology: Energy, Nutrition, and Human Performance"; William D. McArdle,
Victor L. Katch, Frank I. Katch; 2009
5."Sport
Nutrition"; Asker Jeukendrup, Michael Gleeson; 2004
6.http://www.jappl.org/content/93/2/714.full
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