Water

Today, I have read an article in The New York Times entitled Dehydration: Risks and Myths (source:http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/dehydration-risks-and-myths/?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&_r=0) . At the beginning the auteur presents his own story wherein he describes his one day in which he drank little but his day was very active and the next day, he felt very bad.

Next, we read that we should drink especially the water, but coffee or tea and the others drinks of course without sugar can be. Interestingly, the body need’s for water depend on circumstances, that is mean if we exercise and it is hot, we should drink more than usually, because water evaporates from us and we lose it when we sweat. Unfortunately, a lot of people chose drinks with sugar and the others additives which are not good for our health and are too many calories.

Water is the single most important substance we consume. You can survive for about two months without food, but without water you will die within about seven days. Water makes up about 75 percent of an infant’s weight and 55 percent of an older person’s weight. Moreover, human cells simply don’t function without water. For example, the kidneys need water to work properly, that is mean, to detoxify the body. Thirst is one of the signs that we are going to dehydrate. When we drink sufficient amount of water, our skin is more moisturized and it looks better. But Barry M. Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said that we don’t truly understand how hydration affects our health, but it is sure that dehydration is dangerous.

The Institute of Medicine stated that adequate amount of water amounts to about three cups a day for newborns to 16 cups for lactating women. Furthermore, the institute stated that all kinds of liquids can contribute to a person’s total water needs, as tea, coffee, juices, as well as the moisture contained in foods like fruits, vegetables and soups.

In the one hand, extra hydration that is overdone, is really dangerous. When we drink more than we should, our cells would swell and electrolytes level would lower. But in the other hand, the lack of water, can cause extreme fatigue and headache. For instance, older people are in danger because their mechanism of thirst becomes less effective with age. They don’t want to drink, because they don’t want to go often to toilet.

But we really need water, too much is bad, but too little is bad. So we should keep restrain.