You’ve certainly familiar with numerous titles, articles and medical reports on the importance of regular water intake for your health, your body and all of your organism’s functions. Water is an essential for all living beings, including plant, animal and human world. Without it, all life on Earth would be doomed to an end and perish in relatively short period of time.
Water feeds our body cells and it makes them develop, grow and keep in appropriate levels and form. Humans’ bodies are consisted of approximately 70% of water, so you could easily guess it is the most valuable substance we should intake daily.
The very essentiality of water
Water is essential for normal humans’ body functions and our metabolism, in the first place. In the same time, it is an important transmitter of very valuable and necessary elements we need to get on a daily basis, such as calcium, magnesium and flour. We get those via water in our organism, so it is of an extreme importance in supplying essential material to our body cells.
In addition, water works as a purifier of our overall body system. It helps our organism in extracting toxins and unused material, while in return also helps us get nutritional and useful elements.
Precious and life giving, water is inevitable for keeping our physical and mental health in good shape. It hydrates our organism, keeping our body temperature in appropriate levels, regulates our blood pressure and hydrates our skin, making it elastic and soft. It supplies all our cells, so it is also inevitable for our brain functions. Every medical expert would say you need to drink water regularly, in order to supply your organism with needed amounts and hydrate it. How much water would someone take in a day depends on many factors. Some of the basic factors affecting our daily water intake are general health condition, level of our physical activity and weather conditions, of course.
How much water do we need on a daily basis?
Many people don’t drink the right amount of water during the day, mostly because of misunderstanding of so many times repeated norm of drinking two or more liters of water a day or eight glasses of water. The thing is water is also found in various beverages and food we consume during the day; therefore, many people commonly misuse this golden rule, thinking they’re doing just fine.
Water could be found mostly in fresh fruits and vegetables. Freshly squeezed juices, tea, milk and other things we consume also contain water. Alcoholic drinks, coffee and coffee based drinks, sugary soda drinks and such also contain water, but you’ve probably aware consuming them won’t actually supply your organism with so much needed nutrients, but other ones. Our body and brain need fresh, pure, untouched water, without added sugars, chemicals, calories and other.
So, about two liters of water a day is an approximate amount of water our body needs for its proper and healthy functioning. It is an approximate for a person of average physical activity and of good health, on mild weather conditions, considering outside temperature.
However, during hot summer days, our body loses more water through sweating, helping us keep regular body temperature, in order to prevent overheating of the system, literally. The same is with excessive physical activity. If that so, you’ll need more than two liter a day.
How and when to drink water?
Water is usually taken for granted. We just drink it when we feel thirst, which is a sign of dehydration. Drinking water isn’t a complicated practice; it is simply incorporated in our daily routine. There is no person who doesn’t drink at least a couple of glasses during the day.
However, two glasses are not enough; we’ve already gone through it. We should drink water regularly and frequently, in general. However, there are some tips how to benefit from this miraculous and life saving liquid the best way possible.
First of all, water shouldn’t be only when we get thirsty, but before that. By drinking water, we should prevent the stage of thirst, actually. There are some good ayurvedic tips on healthy intake of water. This old medicine lore provides us precious guidelines to a healthy and fulfilled life. So, here is what it says concerning drinking water.
While most of us usually drink water in standing position, it is advised to drink it slow and while sitting, just as we should do while eating. You should take a sip and breathe before you take another. Nor water neither any other drink should be swallowed in a row. If we take too much water in a row, our body won’t be able to use it; it would just run out through our body. The water we drink should be of room temperature. Many people make a terrible mistake drinking too cold water to refresh themselves during hot periods. It is a shock for our organism and it literally extinguishes the fire our body uses as a fuel for our digestion.
Water should be taken frequently. However, we shouldn’t drink too much water before, after or during meals. If we take too much, there won’t be enough space for digesting food.
According to ayurvedic guidelines, we should fill 50% of our belly with food, 25% with water and leave the remaining 25% empty. That way our digestive tract won’t be overloaded and would work properly.
Should you drink water before bed?
The simple answer is yes. Drinking water just before you go to bed is very beneficial to your organism and for your overall health. There are lots of speculations over the matter and the common opinion you’d often come upon is that it is not a good practice, mainly because people are concerned for the quality of their sleep. Most of people avoid drinking any amount of water before they go to bed, because it might cause them to wake up for urinating, especially if they are sensitive and suffer from difficulties of falling to sleep again.
On the other hand, some people regularly drink water before bed; some of them do wake up to urinate, some not. The thing is, our bodies are different and there is no rule to apply on everybody. Whatever the case may be, drinking water is important and it is recommended to have a glass of water before bed. A glass of water would be sufficient and efficient. If we drink water before we go to sleep we’ll help our body keep and utilize all the valuable ingredients and healthy properties we normally get from and via water.
A glass of water before bed
So, drinking water before going to sleep is not to be avoided, on the contrary. It will keep you healthy, fit and energized. Drinking water before bed improves overall benefits of water we get by having it on a regular basis, during daytime. It should become our daily routine, as well, just as many would suggest drinking a glass of (warm) water just after waking up.
- Hydration
Regular hydration of our body is of the most importance for our normal body functions. When we don’t get enough water we get dehydrated, which leads so to constipation, dry mouth, irregular urinating, headache and vertigo, not mention severe and life threatening cases. If we drink up a glass of water before going to bed, we’ll help our body keep hydrated. As we don’t need much liquid during sleep, a glass of water will be sufficient to keep our organism well hydrated until morning.
- Detoxication
Water is a natural purifier of our organism. During the day, our body is exposed to various sources of toxins. We ingest them through food and drinks we consume and get them from surrounding. Drinking water before bedtime naturally speeds us the process of detoxication and exertion of bad material from our body. It cleans our intestines and our blood and refreshes our muscles and skin. We would feel better and more energized in the morning.
- Burning calories
Water is good for increasing the level of calories burned. You’ve may heard that taking small swallows of cold water works as an metabolism booster, because the body needs to involve more energy to heat up the system. While drinking cold water isn’t considered particularly good, having a glass of room temperature water before going to bed could also help us burn more calories. Since our body will need to take an extra effort to boost our metabolism after drinking water, it will use more energy. Since we don’t take extra calories during the night, our organism would burn those existing.
- Better sleep
Although people usually avoid drinking water before they go to sleep, in fear it would cause them to wake up later during the night, drinking water is, in fact, good for sleep. It improves the quality of all our body functions and gets them in balance. Our muscles, bones and all other tissues get energized and refreshed and our hormones balanced during the night. It improves the quality of our sleep and helps us relax. People who regularly drink a glass of water before bedtime feel refreshed, energized and rejuvenated in the morning. They start a new day with eagerness, a lot of energy and joy.
