The Health Benefits of Water
Did you know that your body weight is approximately 60% water?
Your body uses water in all its cells, organs, and tissues to help regulate its temperature and maintain other bodily functions.
Because your body loses water through breathing, sweating, and digestion, it is important to re-hydrate by drinking fluids and eating foods that contain water. The amount of water you need depends on a variety of factors, including the climate you live in, how physically active you are, and whether you’re experiencing an illness or have any other health problems.
Water does more than just quench your thirst and regulate your body’s temperature; it also keeps the tissues in your body moist. You know how it feels when your eyes, nose, or mouth gets dry? Well keeping your body hydrated helps it retain optimum levels of moisture in these sensitive areas, as well as in the blood, bones, and the brain. In addition, water helps protect the spinal cord, and it acts as a lubricant and cushion for your joints.
Get ready for some poo talk!
Adequate water intake enables your body to excrete waste through perspiration, urination, and defecation. The kidneys and liver use it to help flush out waste, as do your intestines. Water can also keep you from getting constipated by softening your stools and helping move the food you have eaten through your intestinal tract. Digestion starts with saliva, the basis of which is water. Digestion relies on enzymes that are found in saliva to help break down food and liquid and to dissolve minerals and other nutrients. Proper digestion makes minerals and nutrients more accessible to the body. Water is also necessary to help you digest soluble fibre. With the help of water, this fibre dissolves easily and benefits your bowel health by making well-formed, soft stools that are easy to pass.
Your body loses fluids when you engage in vigorous exercise, sweat in high heat, or come down with a fever or contract an illness that causes vomiting or diarrhoea. If you are losing fluids for any of these reasons, it is important to increase your fluid intake so that you can restore your body’s natural hydration levels. Your doctor may also recommend that you drink more fluids to help treat other health conditions, like bladder infections and urinary tract stones; sometimes having a regular drinking habit (of the right refreshment) can help prevent some of the most common ailments we go to see our GP about.
If you are pregnant or nursing, you may want to consult with your physician about your fluid intake because your body will be using more fluids than usual, especially if you are breastfeeding, it is really important that you get your hydration & nutrition levels right to be able to produce the right amount of milk for your baby.
There is no hard and fast rule, and many individuals meet their daily hydration needs by simply drinking water when they are thirsty, according to a report on nutrient recommendations from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. In fact, most people who are in good physical health get enough fluids by drinking water and other beverages when they’re thirsty, and also by drinking a beverage with each of their meals, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. If you are not sure about your hydration level, look at your urine. If it is clear, you are in good shape. If it is dark, you are probably dehydrated.

So what if water just does not do it for you?
You find the plainness of it uninviting, struggling to get through enough each day and need some inspiration to make water less boring…..try some DIY flavoured waters. They are fun, easy, and a delicious way to trick yourself into drinking more.
Here is what you need to know to get started:
Tools: You can buy a special water bottle, with a basket to hold fruit and other ingredients, which makes cleaning up convenient. But a regular water bottle, mason jar, or a larger pitcher for bigger batches work too.
Ingredients: There are lots of fun fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients that impart flavour and aroma, starting with these general categories.
Fruit: Citrus, berry, cherry, grape, peach, melon
Vegetables: Cucumber, celery, fennel, carrot
Herbs: Mint, rosemary, basil, thyme
Spice: Vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom
Flowers: Lavender, rose, hibiscus
Tea: Green, white, black
Tips: Give fruits and veggies a rinse and scrub before they go in, and slice or chop firmer varieties to release more flavour. Thin-skinned raspberries are fine left whole, but slices get more out of a tart apple, and if you are trying tea, consider the strength and caffeine. (You might want to pull the leaves out before they become over-steeped or bitter.
7 Delicious Flavour Combos for Infused Water:
Spa water = cucumber + lemon + mint
Very berry = strawberry + raspberry + blueberry
Citrus breeze = orange + grapefruit + rosemary
Cherry crush = cherry + blackberry + vanilla
Pool party = watermelon + lime + mint
Peachy keen = white tea + peach + cinnamon
Green teaser = green tea + lemon + ginger
With all those benefits and simple ways to make water less boring, there is no excuse not to be getting enough water into your body each day.