Fluid Need In Overall Health

Water is one of the essentials of the diet. All bodily functions use it, and it helps to keep the body cool. About 60 percent of the body is composed of water; the exact proportion varies, depending chiefly on body fatness. Fatter people have a lower percentage of water because fat cells contain very little of it.

To stay in good health, your water consumption and output need to balance, and the water within your body needs to stay in the right place. Most of this happens automatically. Your hunger and thirst regulate your intake of water and minerals, and your kidneys control output. The sophisticated physical and chemical mechanisms that keep you alive also automatically ensure that all the body fluid, and the minerals dissolved in it, remain in the right compartments in the body – most of the sodium outside the cells, and most of the potassium inside.

Diet and Fluid Balance

You get the water you need in food as well as drink. Most food contains a high percentage of water – fruit and vegetables are about 80 percent water, cooked rice and pasta are about 70 percent, and bread is about 35 percent. Generally, about 7-10 eight-ounce glasses of fluid a day, in addition to the food you eat, is as much as you need.

Getting too little water is rarely a problem. Athletes and others who sweat a great deal lose sodium, potassium, and chloride as well as water during vigorous exercise. Most people get enough water and minerals in their normal diet to meet even these needs. The kidneys are able to regulate water, sodium, and potassium levels in the urine when there are alterations in water and salt intakes, or losses through sweat and moist air exhaled through the lungs. You do not need to take salt tablets or special “sports” beverages, powders, or foods. In fact, if such products are sweet and quench your thirst, they might discourage you from drinking enough, and thus do more harm than good.

You don’t need to worry about drinking too much water. You won’t become waterlogged, since the kidneys will quickly adjust the amount of fluid in your body, and you won’t rapidly gain weight, since pure water provides no calories. Remember, however, many other fluids, particularly soft drinks, alcohol, fruit-ades, juices, and milk shakes, are high in calories.

Your diet can temporarily affect your fluid balance. Crash diets can lead to a loss of a few pounds of body water, but they soon return. Drinks containing alcohol and caffeine, including coffee, tea, and some colas, act as weak diuretics, increasing the amount of fluid expelled by the kidneys. Taken in excess, they can cause dehydration, which stresses the heart and blood vessels, and makes it more difficult for the body to rid itself of excess heat. Severe dehydration, when water losses are more than about two percent of body weight, can increase the pulse rate and body temperature, resulting in fatigue, apathy, and decreased performance.

Fluid Needs In Special Situations

• Although the body usually keeps its fluid needs in balance, in certain circumstances, you need to consciously increase your fluid intake.
• When you have a high fever, you need to remember to drink plenty of fluids to replace the water you lose by evaporation.
• If you go to a hotter climate, or the weather becomes hot and dry, it takes your body some time to acclimatize, and you will lose a good deal of water as sweat.
• If you undertake unusually heavy exercise, weigh yourself (preferably nude) before and afterwards. If you lose more than two percent of your body weight, you need to drink more before and during the activity to compensate for losses in sweat and evaporation.
• Keep fluids, preferably chilled water, nearby and remember to drink periodically even if you don’t feel thirsty. If you monitor how well you are replacing your water losses, eventually you will learn to drink enough automatically.

FYi

All body cells are bathed in a watery fluid similar in composition to the seawater in which life evolved. Of the fluid in the body, 37.5% is made up of this extracellular fluid. Some 55% is inside the cells; the remaining 7% is in circulation in the bloodstream.

Get updates and read additional stories on the Health Orbit Fan Page.

For Guest posts, sponsored posts and other details, please click the ‘Contact Us’ page.