Water: Important and forgotten

A complete guide to WATER, with the participation of Dr. Alain Dutra - watch to clear up all your doubts and correctly adopt this fundamental lifestyle habit in your routine. Why drink water regularly, how to drink it properly, water quality, the most common myths and truths, and dozens of questions answered.

About eight years ago, I saw a woman in her “almost” 30s at the HFA with a fairly common complaint: a headache. The patient reported that she had already been to an otorhinolaryngologist, an ophthalmologist, a neurologist, a clinician and even an endocrinologist, with prescriptions for the most diverse treatments and the assumption of various diagnostic hypotheses, but without any improvement. During her consultation, among the usual questions, I asked her how much water she drank a day and how often. She told me that she drank very little water every day and especially at night, because she “didn't feel thirsty”. After a few more questions and a practically unchanged physical examination, I stopped the migraine and general headache medication the patient was taking and told her that she just needed to drink water properly. Somewhat disbelievingly, after a little chat, she went home.

After just one week, he returned saying that he no longer had a headache, that his bowels worked better and that his mood had even improved... Miracle? No, common sense. Cases like this are quite common, and when the cure doesn't depend on simply changing or adapting habits in our lives, at least some degree of improvement is involved. We all know how important it is to drink enough water every day, but we almost always neglect to pay enough attention to it.

To show how easy it is to convince yourself of the countless benefits of drinking adequate water and how to do it, just note that all the data provided in the following text was obtained by searching for the words ‘water’, ‘importance’ and ‘health’ simultaneously on the Yahoo! Brazil search engine. This resulted in 40,103 references on the subject! Therefore, there is no way to justify the lack of information with lack of time, not knowing where to find it, difficulty of access...”

All living organisms contain between 50 and 90% of water. The human body itself is made up of 70% of water which, in constant movement, hydrates, lubricates, heats, transports nutrients, eliminates toxins and replenishes energy, among countless other uses. In constant renewal, an adult loses an average of 2.5 liters of water a day (around 800 ml through exhalation and urine, 1.2 liters through perspiration and 0.6 liters through fecal evacuations). A normal adult should therefore drink at least two and a half liters a day to avoid dehydration.

Some people think they've never been dehydrated. I can tell you that dehydration happens every day, several times. This is because all the processes mentioned (urine production, perspiration and stool/urine production) are constantly taking place, which makes water loss an equally constant condition. To give you an idea, when a person feels thirsty, water has already been “missing” from their body for some time. This is because the body has mechanisms to reduce water loss, such as decreasing urine production, dehydrating feces, reducing perspiration and even “stealing” water from breathing to preserve hydration levels. When thirst appears, the body is actually showing that its water reserves are low and that it is no longer able to compensate for water losses. Therefore, water intake must be independent of thirst, constant and rigorous.

A minimum of one 200 ml glass of water per hour is recommended while awake.

And there's no point in letting yourself drink the 2-3 liters you need every day in one go. Studies show that the stomach is only capable of accommodating 12 ml/kg/hour of liquids, meaning that an adult will not be able to ingest more than 1 liter of liquid in one go without becoming ill. In addition, it is important to note that if there is excess fluid in the body, urine production increases proportionally.

If you're still not convinced that you should drink your 3 liters of water every day, all you have to do is look at what daily dehydration can do:

• Devitalization of the hair, leading to hair loss and “whitening”;
• Scaling of the scalp;
• Concentration, sleep and memory disorders, with a loss of energy to carry out daily activities, due to impaired cerebral circulation (a low amount of water makes the blood more “viscous” and “thick”, with slower circulation);
• Dryness of the eyes and airway tissues which, with low humidity, are more easily damaged because they become more fragile, making them more prone to inflammation or infection (conjunctivitis, sinusitis, bronchitis, pneumonia);
• Skin lesions and bleeding, with the appearance of “blackheads” and “pimples” due to the lack of proper elimination of toxins via the skin and their local accumulation;
• Hair loss and thinning;
• Low saliva production, leading to a feeling of dry mouth;
• Disturbance in the proper utilization of vitamins and minerals, with excess in some places and lack in others, leading to cramps, numbness, loss of muscle strength and bone, dental, etc. problems;
• Difficult breathing, sometimes leading to shortness of breath, especially during exercise;
• Constipation and sometimes rectal bleeding (due to dry, hardened stools that damage the intestinal tissue as they move through it);
• Headaches (due to less blood flow to the brain and the retention of toxins that are not properly eliminated due to low perspiration and urine/faeces production);
• Impotence or erectile dysfunction or, in the case of women, vaginal bleeding.

It is true that there is water in food, even solid food, but supplementing your daily water intake should be done periodically, as already explained. A practical way to check that you are consuming the right amount of water for your body is to look at the color of your urine, which should always be colorless. The more intense the color, generally the more concentrated the urine, which means that there is less water in relation to what is being eliminated.

It's worth remembering that it's always a good idea to avoid alcoholic drinks and non-natural drinks (soft drinks, colas, etc.). Both alcohol (present in wines, beers, etc.) and caffeine (present in cola drinks, coffee, etc.) are diuretics. Although they can help the kidneys eliminate metabolic waste (formed during muscle work and detoxification and filtering processes), they also cause the kidneys to eliminate water and mineral salts that should be retained to compensate for dehydration. Therefore, the tip is to always intersperse the consumption of these substances, when it occurs, with an adequate amount of water or natural juices.

It is also important to emphasize that drinking fluids should be done at least half an hour apart from meals, so as not to impair digestion.

A curiosity: There are scientific studies showing that many treatments with oral medications, especially contraceptives, hormone replacement therapy and antihypertensive drugs, are unsuccessful due to the patient's low water intake. This is due to both poor circulation of the substance through the body and poor absorption of the substance in the intestine, a process that depends on water as a transport vehicle for the substance.

Taking into account the specific reality of our community, here are three additional comments:

1. To hypertensive patients: The kidney plays a fundamental role in controlling blood pressure and is the only organ in the body that can stop receiving blood if there is considerable dehydration. Adequate water intake is therefore especially important for those with high blood pressure.
2. Air-conditioning units further dehydrate the environment, especially the airways, making frequent water replenishment considerably more important and mandatory.
3. Adequate water intake, combined with a regular diet (5 to 6 meals a day) rich in fiber and regular exercise, is all anyone needs to lose weight and/or stay at their ideal weight.

Article written by Ícaro Alves de Alcântara

Staying hydrated is essential for good health, but incorporating other healthy habits also makes all the difference. Find out more at: https://icaro.med.br/15habitos/

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