Search Joint Pain

You're Not Drinking Enough Water

by Dr. Julian Whitaker

Published 04/30/09

After finishing ninth in the Indy 500 on Memorial Day weekend, rookie racecar driver Tony Stewart flew to Concord, North Carolina, to compete in NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 that same night-a grueling feat in racing. During the race, he began to feel nauseous and hot. By the race's end, he had become so weak and dizzy that he was unable to climb out of his car and had to be taken to the hospital to replenish his fluids and be cooled down.

Tony was suffering from dehydration, the combined result of exertion (he drove 1,090 miles that day), heat, and inadequate fluid intake. Although Tony's story is extreme, many people fail to drink enough water, and as you'll see, this can have disastrous health consequences.

Your Body Is a Water-Based Environment

Up to 75 percent of the human body is water. It is the liquid portion of the blood and the fluid found both inside and outside cells. Water is required for the distribution of nutrients, electrolytes, hormones and other chemical messengers throughout the body, and for the removal of waste products from cells. Water is involved in cellular energy production and the maintenance of body temperature. It is also an important structural component of skin, cartilage and other tissues.

A precarious balance exists between fluid intake and output. You get water from three sources: drink (60 percent), food (30 percent), and cellular metabolism (10 percent). At the same time, you constantly lose water. A sedentary person in a temperate climate loses about two quarts of fluid per day, primarily through urine, sweat and respiration. That amount can jump to four to six quarts per day in hot and/or humid weather, and one to three quarts per hour during physical activity. It's easy to see how fragile your body's water balance is. And, as Tony's story illustrates, dehydration can quickly take its toll.

Dehydration is a Health Risk

While extreme, life-threatening dehydration is recognized by most medical professionals, more subtle water losses are often overlooked. Physicians simply are not taught to recognize the hazards of less severe dehydration. However, new research is shedding greater light on the health risks of inadequate water intake. One of the most recent studies, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, was published in the May 6, 1999, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Data on almost 48,000 male health professionals was analyzed, and it was determined that the men with the highest fluid intake had half the bladder cancer risk of those with the lowest intake. One of the most vocal spokespersons on the dangers of inadequate water intake is F. Batmanghelidj, M.D.

In his book, Your Body's Many Cries for Water, Dr. Batmanghelidj proposes the paradigm-shifting theory that chronic dehydration is the root of many of our health problems. As he points out, during a state of drought, your body switches into its "water conservation" mode. One of the primary ways it ensures adequate hydration is by holding onto sodium. The result is sodium retention, followed by a rise in fluid levels-the precise mechanism involved in high blood pressure.

1 2 3