WATER & ARTHRITIS

In our quest for better health, most of us will resort to consuming any health supplement that we hear is good for our body.  But we tend to forget that one of the most basic thing that our body need is water. Yes, plain old water which is freely available and cheap.  Most of us are quite dehydrated and we don't even realise or think much about it.  We all seemed to know that water is good.  But how many of us will consciously drink enough water to hydrate our body and how many of us are aware that dehydration can cause diseases including arthritis?

Some time ago, I discovered a book called "Your Body's Many Cries for Water" written by the late Dr. F. Batmanghelidj who had spent many years researching about dehydration which is most enlightening for me. His research revealed that unintentional dehydration produces stress, chronic pains and many degenerative diseases.  I have also done some research on dehydration and personally experienced the benefits of increasing water consumption drastically.

I learnt from the book that our body consist of 25% solid matter and 75% water.  Our brain tissue is said to consist 85% of water.  It is the water that energises and activates the solid matter.  Even our blood contains 50% of water.  So if we are dehydrated, our blood becomes more concentrated.  In simpler term, it means that our organs need water to function and if we don't consume enough water, our organs cannot function properly and eventually, we start to have symptoms such as pain.  If we ignore the symptoms, then the condition will become worse. 

Some of the symptoms of dehydration includes the following:-

• Headache                                       Dizziness 
• Fatigue                                           Excessive thirst
• Dry mouth                                      Muscle weakness
• Lack of urination                             Constipation
• Dry skin                                         Muscle cramps
• Kidney problems                             Migraine

After learning about the importance of water, I increased my water consumption drastically as I  wasn't drinking enough water in the past. I have been drinking from a bottle so that I know how much water I consumed.  I can drink lots of water at home but going out is a problem.  When I am working in my office, I tend not to drink enough water because of the busy work schedule.  Sometimes, I ended up having headaches when I reached home and I realised that I did not drink enough water at the office.  So I quickly grab my bottle of water and gulped down lots of it.  After a while, the headache was gone.  Its amazing.  I would not have thought about this in the past and I would have swallowed some medicine for it.  But now, I know that the problem was just dehydration.  So the next time any of you have headaches, migraine or pain, try increasing your water consumption drastically and see whether it works.  It could just be a thirst signal.

Another interesting thing I learnt is that our cartilage surfaces of bones in a joint also contain water.  The lubricating property of this "held water" is utilised in the cartilage, allowing the two opposing surfaces to freely glide over one another during joint movement.  Therefore, water lubricates our joint and dehydration can cause joint problem.  Wish I knew about this much earlier.

So the next question is how much water do we really need to drink?  It is recommended that the daily intake of water should be within 2 - 4 litres depending on the size of the person.  The bigger we are, the more water we require.  The more active we are, the more water we need.  Don't forget that we also excrete a lot of water through perspiration due to exercise or heat, urine, bowel movement, sweaty palms or feet and breathing - yes, our lungs expel water through normal breathing and even more during cold weather.

Alcohol, coffee, tea and beverages containing caffeine are not counted as water.  A good indicator for water requirement is the colour of urine.  A well hydrated person produces colourless urine.  A comparatively dehydrated person produces yellow urine.  A truly dehydrated person produces urine that is orange in colour.  Of course, there are concerns about drinking too much water.  Though this is uncommon but those with certain medical conditions should seek their doctors' advice first.

Now some of you may have heard about the benefits of lemon.  Lemons are antiseptic, has excellent digestive properties, cleanses and stimulates the liver and kidneys, good for relief from cold and flu symptoms due to its Vitamin C contents and great as a skin cleanser.  Lemons have been shown to be helpful for reducing some of the symptoms of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. They are acidic in its basic state but because of its very low sugar content and high alkaline mineral content, lemons actually have an alkalising effect on the body.  So its good to drink water with lemon.  We could just drop a slice of lemon into our water or squeeze the juice into the water.  I have a slice of lemon in one of the bottle which I drink daily.  There are also claims that lemon can kill cancer cells.  How true is this?  I really don't know but if its true, then it will be a bonus for us.  Anyway, I would continue drinking water with lemon simply for its natural health benefits.  On top of that, they are tasty, refreshing and inexpensive.

We all know that exercise is good for our body. And I also learnt that exercise makes the muscles hold more water in reserve and prevent increased concentration of blood that would otherwise damage the lining of the blood vessel walls. Fat holds less water than muscles. So this gives us another reason to exercise. 

In  summary, I feel that water and exercise are two important factors for good health and they don't burn holes in our pockets too.  So lets drink up!