The Role of Water in a Healthy Lifestyle
Water is so much more than just a refreshing beverage on a hot summer day and your doctor isn’t telling you to drink it just because they feel like it! Water is an essential part of your body’s cells, tissues, and organs. It helps regulate body temperature, blood pressure, and nutrient transport. Water also helps flush toxins from your kidneys and liver, boosts your skin’s health, aids the digestive system, and so much more. Drinking enough water is important for your overall health and reverse osmosis systems are a perfect way to stay hydrated with clean, quality drinking water.
How Essential is Water in Your Body?
Water is essential for life and so many of your body’s regular functions. It’s the most important nutrient, and it makes up 60 percent of your body weight. The human brain is 75 percent water, while the heart is 75 percent water. When you end up not drinking enough water over time you raise your risk of a number of health problems like dehydration and delayed brain processing and functioning.
Long story, short. Water is essential and drinking the right amount each day is important to maintain healthy brain and body function. The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consider about 15.5 cups of fluids a day for men and about 11.5 cups of fluids a day for women are adequate for daily intake.
Body Temperature Regulation and Blood Circulation
Water helps regulate body temperature and plays an important role in blood circulation. Blood is more than 90 percent water, and blood carries oxygen to different parts of the body. When the body heats up, the water that is stored in the middle layers of the skin comes to the skin’s surface as sweat. As it evaporates, it cools the body. In instances where there is too little water in the body, heat storage increases and the individual is less able to tolerate heat strain. By having an optimal amount of water in the body, there is research to suggest you may reduce physical strain if that heat strain occurs during exercise.
Additionally, the lack of water in your system can affect your blood pressure negatively. When you’re dehydrated, your blood vessels constrict to help conserve water, which can increase blood pressure. Staying hydrated can be essential in maintaining healthy blood pressure levels.
Water is also a major component of most cells in the body, including muscle cells and brain cells. This means that if you don’t drink enough water, your body may not function properly as a result of dehydration, leading to health problems such as headaches or even heatstroke.
Flushing Toxins from Your Kidneys and Liver
Water can be essential for the kidneys and liver in your body to function properly. When you’re dehydrated, your kidneys have to work harder to filter out toxins from your blood. Every day, the kidneys filter around 120-150 quarts of fluid. If the kidneys do not function properly, waste products and excess fluid can build up inside the body. If this is left untreated for too long, kidney failure can occur.
In addition, drinking enough fluids also helps keep your liver healthy by helping it detoxify the body. The less hydrated you are, the less efficient your liver is at filtering out toxins like alcohol or chemicals. Drinking water after waking up, before eating a meal, before and after physical activity, and before bed can ensure your liver has what it needs to function properly.
Skin Tone and Texture Improvement
For many individuals with healthy lifestyles, there are visual representations of the hard work they’ve put in. Water helps the body function properly and is important for maintaining a healthy weight. But that’s not where the benefits end. Drinking enough water has also been shown to improve the tone and texture of some people’s skin.
A hydrated body allows your skin to function properly by keeping it moisturized, helping it maintain elasticity and retain moisture. This process, known as hydration, keeps your skin supple and smooth while slowing down premature wrinkles.
Optimal Hydration for Avid Athletes
A healthy lifestyle can take on many forms, and for some, that form is regular exercise. When you exercise, the body loses water through sweat. Drinking enough fluids helps keep the body cool by making sure that sweat doesn’t get trapped under your skin. If too much heat gets trapped inside the body without being able to get out through sweating, heat exhaustion may occur.
If you exercise in a warm climate or at high altitudes, you may need to drink 2-3 quarts (1-2 liters) of fluid per day in addition to the fluid you get from your food. It’s important to drink water not only before and after your exercise but during as well.
Staying Hydrated with a Reverse Osmosis System
Drinking water is incredibly important in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and keeping your body running at its best. However, not all tap water has the characteristics needed to keep you properly hydrated. Tap water issues are common and can leave your water full of contaminants, acid, and sediment, making it unappealing at times to drink. A reverse osmosis system can help treat many common tap water problems that many homes across the country face.
A reverse osmosis system uses a high-threshold filtration process that pushes water through a semipermeable membrane that filters out impurities or contaminants, leaving you with high-quality drinking water to enjoy. These systems have made amazing advancements in consolidation and can fit under your sink, saving space in your kitchen.
