Dehydration contributes to Chronic Fatigue, Back Pain & Weight Gain. Why & What you can do about it?
You have heard of the old saying “ You should drink 8 glasses of water/day”. This is not exactly the case in everyone but we do know that not drinking enough water can make us tired, contribute to lower back pain and weight gain as well as a host of other different ailments and diseases. Ask Dr. Batmanghelidj, the author of “Your Body’s many cries for Water” and it makes sense that dehydration must be considered, just as important as exercise and diet to create an effective health & fitness program.
1. Lack of water causes fatigue
Our body is made of 80% water and it is used to regulate blood thickness, to flush our organs of toxins and be a vehicle to transfer minerals, vitamins and signals within the brain as well to the rest of the body to function. When our bodies are dehydrated, these signals are slowed leading to dysfunction in organs, muscles and metabolic processes required to lead a normal life. Much like a car that can’t turn its headlights on too bright because the conduction between the switch and the lights is low or in some cases doesn't even work.
2. Lack of water can lead to chronic back pain
Imagine when our body’s muscles and joints are severely dehydrated. Because of this discs are being flattened by lack of support from water. Then you add the weight of our bodies jumping, running and other types of exercise, it is no wonder knees blow out. Muscles also rely on water for elasticity, if muscles are depleted of water, muscles don't stretch as well and again couple with force leads to muscles being pulled, strained, and even torn.
3. Weightloss
This is nothing new! It’s a well-known fact, that water has no calories so, of course, it is going to aide in weight loss. This is true, but water has far more influence on the body in weight loss than just “no calories”. Water can influence how much food we eat and how often we eat. Try drinking 2 big glasses of water 20 minutes before your meal then see how much you can eat. If you are hungry 1 hour after eating, have 2 big glasses of water and see how hungry you are then. Chances you wont be as hungry as if you didn't have the water consumption. Water also detoxifies the body, flushing the liver and kidneys of toxins then to excrete through the back end. Which we also need water to facilitate. Yes, lack of water causes constipation too.
So what can you do about it?
It’s pretty easy but it’s going to take something to create the changes to reverse all of the above.
1st step is to regularly drink ½ your body weight (lbs) in ounces per day. If you deal with the metric system then you multiply your body weight in (kg) by .03 giving you the required amount of water you should drink daily. NOTE: It will take anywhere between 14 – 30 days to really see the benefits of drinking enough water daily.
Add a pinch of sea salt to your water. Some people say “but I put salt in my food” It is not the same. If you do heavily salt your food, reduce it and put it in your water. The water you take in should be filtered, if not, do so as the water we currently drink may be contaminated with heavy metals, chlorine and fluoride etc. Side note: Why or why not fluoride? Google it and you can make your choice.
Juices, Teas, Coffee or beer don't count! These will only aide in dehydrating you further. Notice how much you go to the toilet once you have had a beer or coffee. It’s pretty quick!
Finally, Get a glass, metal or clay bottle/jug. This way you will not contaminate your body with plastics that leach into the water after being sitting in it for a while.