One of the questions we ask our new clients is “How much water do you drink daily?” Since a 5 % reduction in water levels can cause fatigue and memory loss, we were duly perplexed when a client responded that he had not had a glass of water in the last 4 years!    His body was like a concrete block and had the texture of armour-plating! He had nerve pain, muscle spasms and disc degeneration to boot!  Coffee, tea and fruit juices were his beverages of choice - all very dehydrating!

Much is often written and debated about the importance of hydration and re-hydration for the body’s systems and its organs. However, water serves many other important purposes in the body that are not so well known.

One of these important functions concerns the muscles of the body.  The importance of water in muscles goes right down to the cellular level.  In the soft tissues of the body, water represents about 75% of the total volume of the cells. Outside the cells, 94% of the blood and other fluids are water. Water has a tendency and a desire, to flow from low concentration solutions to higher concentration solutions. This is known as osmosis.  Due to this process of osmosis, water outside the cell can flow across the cell membrane and into the cell itself. The difference in concentration between the solutions inside and those outside of the cell causes osmosis, which in turn, generates hydroelectric energy inside the cell.  This energy is harnessed as Adenosine Tri-phosphate (ATP), the energy fuel of the body.

ATP is extracted by the cells to manufacture, grow and divide new cells, as well as to secrete products from within the cell. This energy fuel is also used to transmit information within the nervous system.  Lack of hydration will then reduce our energy levels and our muscles’ abilities to contract.

 We believe that good general health can be easily measured by how much energy we have to expend and in many people we see, it is severely lacking! Never leave the house without that bottle of water in hand!

Food is mainly used to repair damaged areas and to deal with the general wear and tear of the body.  However the energy derived from food is far less than that produced by the natural hydroelectrically-generated energy inside individual cells. The bulk of the energy used by the human body comes from the total amount of hydroelectric energy produced at the cell level.  Obviously our body will be compromised should we find ourselves even slightly dehydrated!

However, other problems will occur when there is not enough water flowing across the cell membrane to produce this hydroelectric energy.  One such problem is the build up of acidity in the cells.  Without the presence of ample water, the cell cannot maintain its balance of alkalinity and acidity, known as pH and it becomes too acidic.  Once the acidity reaches a certain level a chemical reaction occurs that creates pain producers known as kinins, along with their subordinates, called K agents. This results in the affected cells becoming painful in order to immobilize the area so that the process of repair can begin.

This is a common occurrence in muscle tissue but perhaps even more important to the body are the intervertebral spaces in the spine. These ‘discs’ are comprised of about 80% water.  The body tends to start its dehydration at about age 20 and these discs are often a primary area of concern.   If these discs become dehydrated then narrowing of these spaces can occur, which may in turn lead to spinal damage and nerve compression? 

The water within these discs is known as bound water. Bound water as the name suggests is water that is already serving a purpose within the body. Water in the body also comes in a free state which means that it is available for new employment.  When we drink water, we are topping up our ‘free’ water levels. So if we don’t drink enough water on a daily basis then we don’t have a supply of water readily available for serving important purposes in the body, such as maintaining intervertebral spaces and creating hydroelectric energy in cells. 

So how much water is enough?  One should drink anywhere between 1.5 – 4 litres of water per day. The amount largely depends on the size of the person, their lifestyle and their environment. However alcohol, coffee and tea tend to force water out of the body, hence they are known as ‘drying agents’.  Having said this, it is important to note that drinking this much water  reduces the body’s salt levels as the volume of urine passed per day is very high hence the amount of salt passed is also very high. Since salt is used to push acid out of a cell, salt depletion can cause cramps. Drinking plenty of mineral water and including salt consumption in one’s diet will help to prevent this problem.

Understandably drinking this much water can seem to be a fairly daunting prospect. Instead of drinking out of a large 1.5 – 2 litre bottle, it helps to drink out of a smaller bottle or glass and continue to refill it throughout the day.

Happy hydrating!