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How important is water?
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I just had a patient in my office that was asking me that question. Since this is yet another topic that I speak about daily to my patients, I figured this would be an excellent topic for today's posting.
In keeping with the theme of simple ways to improve your health, drinking more water would be at the top of the list. There are many different advantages to drinking more water throughout the day, all of them equally important. I would like to stress to you the reader that we as a population NEVER get enough water during the day. Those of us that make a point of drinking more water than the rest usually loose that excess water while running or biking (as those seem to be the popular hobbies.)
To become properly hydrated the average person needs to drink more than 60 ounces of water a day. You are probably 
thinking that if you drank that much water you would go to the bathroom 35 times a day and would never get anything done. There is some truth to the humor. The first week or so of drinking that much water you will go to the bathroom much more frequently, but your body is also processing a lot more toxins and waste out of the body that it couldn't before. After about a week of living in the bathroom, your gradients will balance out and you will be back to your normal bathroom routine while still drinking the increased amount of water.
For those of you reading that loose your water while exercising not only do you need to increase your water intake to match your sweat output, but you also have to increase your sodium and potassium intake as well. Whenever you sweat you will loose sodium in the sweat (thats why it tastes salty,) and due to the lose of sodium your body will excrete more potassium in your urine. So therefore it is important whenever you are doing a lot of sweating that you not only increase your water intake, but also your sodium and potassium.
Remember, your body is a giant sack of water. What happens when the sack gets a hole in it? It leaks of course! Have a wonderful Wednesday evening.
