Adjust Text Size

Health Education

Are you drinking enough water?
Take a moment and take a deep breath of fresh air.  As you know, oxygen is necessary for human beings to live.  Now go and get a glass of water.  Take a nice drink.  Next to oxygen, water is the element most necessary for survival.

While getting the air you need to live comes easily, making sure that you’re getting the adequate amount of water daily isn’t for many people.

Numerous sources say that at the very minimum, one should consume daily one cup of water for every 20 pounds of weight.  That calculates to around six to eight glasses for the average person.  The web site www.about.com, an online neighborhood of hundreds of helpful experts, has created a “Hydration Calculator.”  Take the opportunity to visit www.nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercalculator.htm to determine how much water you should be drinking each day.

Drinking water is the only way that your body can eliminate concentrated toxins from your cells.  When you do not drink enough water, dehydration can occur and it can have harmful effects on your body, including failing health and even in extreme circumstances, death.  Therefore, getting enough water into your body is one of the most important tasks that you must practice in order to continue living a long and healthy life.

While on the subject of a long life, water consumption affects senior citizens differently than it does younger people.  Seniors who drink less water become less thirsty.  Seniors often become confused as to whether they are hungry or thirsty and such misunderstanding has been known to intensify as one ages.  Many seniors are asked to increase the amount of fiber they consume.  Those who do so need to understand that such a dietary change also requires an increase in the need for water.  Additionally, kidney function diminishes as one ages.

The safe thing to do is make sure you continue to drink water regularly throughout the day.  That way, regardless if you’re eight years old or eighty, your joints remain lubricated, your temperature regulated and your lungs moistened.  By simply raising the glass to your mouth you can help prevent problems, or at least do your part in trying to avoid common health problems many seniors face today.

Why don’t you go grab a nice ice-cold glass of water now?

Return to Health Education