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 Susan Kleiner of Water [13:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Proteins, carbs, vitamins, minerals, water, and fats. Of the 6 primary classes of nutrients, which is the most critical for growth, muscle development, and health? If you guessed water, you’re right!

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

But with all the obvious importance of water it appears that most of us aren’t drinking enough. Nearly one-third of the U.S. population is walking around slightly dehydrated. “So what?” you ask. “What’s the big deal about being slightly dehydrated?”

A VOLUMINOUS PROBLEM
Just about anyone who knows anything knows that you can get pretty sick and even die from severe dehydration. But the fact is that chronic, mild dehydration, a constant 1 to 2 percent deficit of body weight caused by loss of fluids, can have a measurable effect on mental and physical performance, muscle growth, and even long term health.

WATER AND YOUR MUSCLES

Since muscles are nearly 70 percent water, even a small loss of fluid will affect their function. Muscles are controlled by nerves. The electrical stimulation of nerves and contraction of muscles occurs due to the exchange of electrolytes dissolved in water across the nerve and muscle cell membranes. If you’re low on water or electrolytes, muscle strength and control are weakened. A water deficit of just 2 to 4 percent of your body weight can cut your strength-training workout by as much as 21 percent, and your aerobic power by a whopping 48 percent!

WATER AND YOUR FAT
When your goal is losing body fat, water is your friend. It can help take the edge off hunger so that you eat less, and it has no calories. If you are on a high protein diet, water is required to detoxify ammonia, a by-product of protein energy metabolism. And as you mobilize your stored fatty acids to burn off as energy, you release any fat-soluble toxins that have been benignly stored in your fat cells. The more fluid you drink the more dilute the toxins in your bloodstream, and the more rapidly they exit from your body.

WATER AND YOUR BRAIN
When it comes to peak mental capacity, whether in school or in competition, your hydration state will affect your performance. In a study of subjects’ abilities to perform mental exercises after heat-stress induced dehydration, a fluid loss of only 2 percent of body weight caused reductions in arithmetic ability, short-term memory, and the ability to visually track an object by 20 percent compared to their well-hydrated state.

WATER AND YOUR HEALTH
Probably most surprising is the effect that chronic, mild dehydration has on health and disease. It was a practice of Hippocrates to recommend large intakes of water to increase urine production and decrease the recurrence of urinary tract stones. Today approximately 12 to 15 percent of the general population will form a kidney stone at some time. Many factors can modify the urinary risk factors for developing stones. Of these, diet – especially fluid intake – is the only one that can be easily changed and that has a marked effect on all urinary risk factors.

Mild dehydration can also be a factor in the occurrence of mitral valve prolapse. In a study of 14 healthy women with normal heart function, mitral valve prolapse was induced by mild dehydration, and resolved with rehydration.

YOUR FLUID PLAN
Contrary to our drive to eat, our drive to drink is not as keen. Our thirst mechanism doesn’t kick in until we are already mildly dehydrated. When you’re working out moderately in a mild climate, you are probably losing 1 to 2 quarts (2 to 4 pounds) of fluid per hour through perspiration. That means that a 150 pound person can easily lose 2 percent of their body weight in fluid (3 pounds) within an hour. If exercise is more intense, or the environment is more extreme fluid losses will be greater. You can see how easily you become dehydrated. If you don’t replenish your fluid losses during exercise, you will fatigue early and your performance will be diminished. Without fluid replenishment after exercise, your performance on successive days will decay, and your long-term health may be at risk.

Monitor your hydration status. One of the easiest ways is to check your urine: it should be relatively odorless and no darker colored than straw. Anything more and it is a good sign that you are dehydrated and need to be drinking more.

DON’T GET CAUGHT EMPTY-HANDED

FLUID GUIDELINES

• Drink a minimum of 1 quart (4 cups) of fluid for every 1,000 calories you eat every day.
• Drink at least 5 cups of water every day.
• Fluids should be cool.
• For moderate exercise that lasts an hour or less, water is sufficient for replacing lost fluids. If you like flavored drinks better, then use flavored beverages.
• For intense exercise that lasts less than 1 hour and exercise lasting more than an hour, carbohydrate-electrolyte sport drinks are best.
• Drink 2 cups of fluid 2 hours before exercise.
• Drink 4-6 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise.
• Drink 4-6 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise.
• After exercise, drink 16-20 ounces (2-2½ cups) of fluid for every pound of body weight lost during exercise

Tags: fluid replenishment, severe dehydration, The Nutrient for Life, Water, WATER AND YOUR BRAIN, WATER AND YOUR HEALTH, YOUR FLUID PLAN