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The role of water in the body
The human body is about 60 percent water. No wonder that it is an essential ingredient without which the system will not survive for more than 3 days. It takes part in practically all chemical processes in the body. It is found in every tissue and organ. Dehydration as low as 1 percent affects your metabolism, i.e. the cycle of reactions taking place in your body. There are headaches and dizziness, irritability, muscle cramps and pain, exhaustion, and increased body temperature. The more you become dehydrated, the more severe your symptoms become. We wrote about it in ‘Remember to drink’. Water does not have the magic power to burn fat, but it does affect the body’s processes, including fat burning. If you are well hydrated there is no point in adding extra fluid, but if you drink too little, increasing the amount of water will have a measurable effect.
Hungry vs thirsty
The feeling of hunger and thirst are so similar that sometimes we reach for a meal, even though the system really needs a supply of fluids. Sometimes it is difficult for the body to distinguish between these two situations and communicate them to you properly. So if you are wandering around the kitchen looking for ‘something’ it could be a matter of dehydration. In such a situation, it is worth drinking a glass of water, and the troublesome feeling of searching for a kitchen may become a thing of the past. It is worth remembering that if you feel thirsty, you have already become dehydrated to some extent, a the older we are, the weaker this warning signal becomes. Therefore, you should reach for liquids in small amounts throughout the day and make sure that the right amount is given to the elderly, but also to children. Recently, there are more and more reports of nephrolithiasis in ever smaller patients. This is due, on the one hand, to the increasing obesity in children and, on the other hand, to their inadequate hydration.
Burning calories
Research shows that drinking water increases resting metabolism (PPM), i.e. how many calories the body burns for its own needs. Reports from 2003 in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolizm, show that drinking 500 ml of water in people with a healthy body weight increases metabolism by about 30 percent. Another obese study, published in the same journal in 2007, found an increase in energy expenditure by 24 percent for the same water supply. This was due to its thermogenic effect on the body. In turn, the reports from 2008 published in the journal Obesity indicate that increasing water consumption above 1 liter per day, without any additional lifestyle intervention, resulted in a loss of 2 kg per year. Circumference decreased as well as the content of adipose tissue. It should be emphasized, however, that these people ate healthy and were physically active.
Decreased appetite
More and more reports also indicate that water reduces appetite, or rather makes the stomach feel full. There is nothing strange about this. Drinking a glass of water can help you feel hungry, which is often recommended when losing weight. However, if you have trouble eating the right amount of food and you overeat the most during a meal, a great way to reduce your food intake is to drink a glass of water about 30 minutes before meals. This is confirmed by the research from 2015 in Obesity. 84 obese people were divided into 2 groups. Both were given the same dietary indications, one was asked to drink 500 ml of water 30 minutes before their main meals, and the other was instructed to imagine their stomachs full before meals. It turned out that people who introduced water before meals lost an average of 1,3 kg more weight than in the second group.
What and how much to drink
So the age-old question will arise, how do I know how much I should drink in order for my body to function well? On average, it is assumed that you should drink 1,5-2 liters of fluids a day to replace the losses. However, it depends largely on our activity or diet. In the case of a diet rich in vegetables and fruits, they will provide a large supply of water (about 750 ml of water is provided from solid food). Since the daily loss of water is about 2,5 liters, this amount should be provided to the body in food and fluids. However, it should be remembered that its loss increases in heat, during physical exertion, or in diseases with fever or diarrhea. If you want to calculate your water requirements individually, you should take 30-45 ml per kg / body weight or, looking at the diet, 1 ml per 1 kcal. In the balance of fluids drunk, apart from water, you can also include juices, various types of teas or grain coffee. Opinions are divided regarding traditional coffee. Increasingly, however, specialists indicate that weak coffee with an average caffeine content does not cause dehydration, so it can be included in the fluid balance.
The photo comes from flickr.com