A person can live a few weeks without food. But without water, even the toughest person can only live just for 4 to 5 days.
Water has the following functions:
- To transport nutrition to the whole body through the bloodstream and the spleen system. Water is needed by our body to transport all the nutrients from the food we eat to our whole body. Without water the nutrients cannot be sent to where it is needed.
- To smooth out the body excretory system through urinating and excreting. Water is also needed to disposed all the waste materials from our body. These includes by urination, respiration and defecation. Without water these processes cannot happen and all the waste materials get accumulated inside our body. This is toxic to our body and dangerous to our health.
- Becoming a media for biochemistry reaction in the body. For a biochemistry reaction to happen in our body, chemicals from nutrients and other sources in the body need to be dissolved in water. Water act as a media where the reactions happen. Water also turns compound into ionic phase so proper reaction can happen. This way we can extract the energy from the food we eat and change the energy back to other phase for storage and other uses.
- To soften up foods and make chewing it easy. Food entering our mouth usually is in solid form. We chew the food to soften it up and mix it with our saliva. Our saliva is of course contains water. The saliva has the function of digesting our food at initial before entering the next phase of digestion. Water soften the food eaten and make our chewing easier, and prepare it for the digestion process.
- Preserving the body temperature. Our body need to stay at a certain temperature which is around 33 to 38°C. Water helps to regulate the temperature by cooling off our body through respiration and breathing. Water also transport heat to needed area or from area which excess in heat. Water acts as media of heat transport in our body.
Apart from the function above, drinking a lot of water avoid the body from dehydration or liquid deficiency. Insufficient liquid can give adverse impact to the body's condition. Our body not only can easily become tired but the skin also become dries quickly, our mind become difficult to give attention, muscle can cramp easily and the kidneys may get damaged.
So, from now on don't forget to drink plenty of water. Don't only drink water when you get thirsty. Try these tips:
- Do not forget put a drink on your table. Besides taking plain water, try to rotate it with other drinks such as juice, milk or tea.
- Bring drinking water wherever you go
