How Water Affects Aging

How often have your heard drink 8 to 10 cups of water everyday?  How often do we actually drink that much pure water?

Would you think that as you are reading the current page you are dehydrating?  We were all born as grapes, but now we’re turning into raisins.  Your body was once more than 70% water and now, if you are like most Americans past the age of forty, you are fortunate to have a hydration level above 60%.  The bodies of most hospitalized aged are less than fifty percent water.

Today, northern Americans consume more coffee and cola drinks than water.  These drinks, together with tea and alcohol, are diuretics and dehydrate the body.  All of the moisturizer in the world won’t revive a young appearance.  By dehydrating your body you are essentially pulling a hundred times as much water out of your skin through the urinary tract.  Miles worse than the skin dehydrating, is the dehydration of the internal organs, connecting tissue and the brain.

Insufficient fluid intake and excess water loss can disrupt critical cell function.  Most people experience this level of hydration all day, nearly every day.  Water is essential for all anabolic repair functions, and conversely, dehydration accelerates the aging process.

A study at Fred Hutchinson Research Center in Seattle discovered that ladies who drank 2 cups of water a day had virtually twice the chance of cancer of the colon than ladies who drank 4 glasses a day.  The few ladies who did drink 8 or more cups of water a day had less than half the chance of those that drank only 4 glasses.  The association of increased water intake may also cut back the risk for other types of cancer.  In one study, the girls who drank the most water were 80% less certain to develop bladder cancer than girls who drank the least.  Other conditions that often make a response to increased water intake include the reduction of headaches, muscle aches, hangovers, fatigue, constipation, and heartburn.  Drinking enough water will also reduce liquid retention and edema.  Sometimes it is hard for people to grasp that drinking plenty of water basically decreases water retention.  If you provide your body with ample amounts of pure water, it will not have to retain water in the tissues The body can become significantly dehydrated before we feel parched.

In the morning, you’ve got a true need for water, but you may not feel it.  For most people, the 1st liquid they consume is coffee, a libation that sucks the water out of our cells.

Try this test : Before you eat or drink anything in the morning, sip about four oz. of water-no more.  You’ll be surprised to see that in two to three mins your mouth will feel parched.  Drink another four oz and in 2 - 3 minutes you will be parched again.  You may have to repeat this six or more times before you are no longer parched.  Add up all of the four-ounce servings that you consumed, and you will discover your body’s true metabolic need for water.