You Need Water to Process Food

  How drinking water helps your digestive system and helps fight COVID-19. Your digestive system is important to your survival. Your body needs nutrients to survive. You need water to be able to produce enough saliva and stomach acid to process the food you eat as well as carry it through the intestines and remove the waste.

  Dehydration can cause serious problems to your digestive system. Drinking water helps keep your stomach and digestive system healthy. The saliva your mouth produces every time you chew is the first step in the digestion process. Saliva helps make food wet and easier to swallow, as well as beginning to digest some starches. Saliva is 98% water. So drinking water is important to help your body produce enough saliva.

  A lot of people think that acid reflux is when your stomach has too much stomach acid and actually the opposite is true. Acid reflux is caused by too little stomach acid. When you're dehydrated, your body doesn't have enough water to make enough stomach acid, which makes it harder for it to digest food.

  If you have food in your stomach and not enough stomach acid to process it, it will send it back up into your throat. When it sends the food up, some of the stomach acid will go with the food causing acid reflux. To demonstrate this we have a glass jar with food and colored water to represent stomach acid. The Jar holds 32 ounces, which is about the size of your stomach with food in it.

  In this first jar, you can see we have the food and we have plenty of stomach acid to process it. In this second photo you can see the jar has food in it but a much lower level of stomach acid which doesn't even cover the amount of the food so it's going to have a much harder time processing it.

  Drinking enough water so your body can produce enough stomach acid will help your digestive system process food and help you avoid acid reflux.

  75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated, which can cause damage throughout the digestive system. Drinking water to stay hydrated can help heal your digestive system.

  I talked with a person who after four months of drinking water to help keep their body hydrated and help their digestive system heal, were able to eat things that they couldn't before, including an increased tolerance for gluten.

  Your body needs water to help your intestines absorb nutrients and deliver them to the rest of your body. Water helps the mucosal lining and villi in your small intestine absorb nutrients. Without water, the mucus and villi lining your small intestine can be damaged.

  Water is also needed to create blood to carry the nutrients throughout your body. Your digestive system needs water to get rid of waste, which leaves your body as pee or poop. Your kidneys need water to help them process waste and toxins and remove them from your body when you pee.

  Your intestines need water to help create a soft stool or turd that can easily pass out of your body. When you're dehydrated there is not enough water so the stool is dry and hard and harder to pass. Drinking water is an easy way to help keep your digestive system healthy.

Kidneys & Liver Need Water to Process Waste

  If you are dehydrated, your kidneys don't have the water they need to process and carry the toxins and waste out of your body. If your kidneys get plugged up and they fail, toxic waste can be stuck in your body, reducing your health and your ability to fight off infections. Drinking water helps your kidneys function.

  Each day your kidneys filter about 40 gallons of fluids in your body. Your kidneys then get rid of about two quarts of waste and fluid they filter out each day when you pee. When kidneys can't function like they should, instead of filtering the waste it is sent back into your body where it builds up causing problems inside your body.

  Lack of water can also cause kidney stones. When your body gets dehydrated, your urine can become concentrated and the excess minerals in it can form a crystal formation which as it gets larger becomes a kidney stone. Kidney stones can get up to the size of a golf ball, are very painful and you want to avoid them. Drinking water helps you avoid kidney stones. Not drinking enough water can also contribute to urinary tract infections, which can be painful as well.

  Dehydration causes low blood level, which can cause an increase in vasopressin, which constricts blood vessels and raises blood pressure, which isn't good for your heart. It also isn't good for your kidneys and liver as vasopressin tells your kidneys to retain water and the liver to produce blood sugar.

  If you have diabetes, your kidneys can become overworked, trying to process the extra sugar in your blood and excess sugar must be peed out, which can lead to dehydration. Dehydration can also make your bladder feel irritated, which can make you feel the need to pee more urgently and frequently.

  Kidneys also help control blood pressure, make red blood cells, help keep your bones strong and help regulate electrolytes so you want to keep your kidneys healthy. Water is needed to help your kidneys function as they should to remove toxins and waste from your body. Drinking water is an easy way to help keep your kidneys healthy.

  Drinking water helps your liver function. Your liver is the largest organ in your body and does about 500 important functions for your body. The blood leaving your stomach and intestines goes into your liver, which processes and filters it. Your liver is like a factory, which processes protein, carbohydrates and fat sent from the digestive system and creates custom fluids for many organs in different parts of your body.

  Your liver is also like a control panel, which controls different systems in your body as well. Your liver also stores vitamins and minerals, as well as helping your immune system. Drinking enough water to stay hydrated is vital to the liver being able to function as it should.

  Dehydration can also cause the bile duct in your liver to contract and form gallstones. Drinking water helps your kidneys and liver stay strong and be able to do their jobs. Your kidneys and liver are vital to your survival and to helping you fight and defeat the COVID-19 virus.

  Drinking water helps your kidneys and liver and helps fight the COVID-19 virus. The war between your body and the COVID-19 virus leaves broken cells, toxins and waste in your body that need to be cleaned out. Your kidneys need water to help them process and get rid of the toxins and waste that is sent to them to dispose of.

Dehydration Stresses the Brain

 How drinking water helps your brain and helps fight the stress and fatigue from COVID-19. Dehydration damages organs and create stress. Dehydration physically stresses all the organs in your body, causing emotional stress in your brain as it worries about your organs and your body's survival. This added stress can lead to anxiety, feeling moody, headaches and depression.

  Drinking water helps hydrate the body so all the organs are doing good which helps the brain to feel good. Drinking water is one of the easiest ways to reduce stress in your life.

  I've talked to people who've started drinking water and they love the results. When things happen like a computer crashing, spilling something in the kitchen, or just something bad happens, instead of getting angry, now their reaction is a short laugh and a smile. They find themselves being more relaxed and more confident.

  Reducing your overall stress level will have a positive effect on your relationships with your family, friends, coworkers, and new people that you meet. In addition to adults, studies show that children are often dehydrated, which can lead them to act out as well as feeling depressed.

  Drinking water to stay well hydrated can help children deal with things better. Parents need to take care of themselves and their children. Drinking water can help you feel better and have more patience with your children.

  Dehydration can also cause fatigue, and low energy. Dehydration causes a lower blood level so your brain may be getting less blood and oxygen, as well as having to ration the reduced blood level to the most important organs, which lowers their ability to function.

  Less blood, oxygen and nutrients to your brain can cause your body to feel tired, fatigue, and low energy. If you feel like you could use more energy, try drinking some water. It does make a difference.

  1% dehydration equals 5% loss of brain power. Even a mild amount of dehydration can affect your mood and brain. If you are 1% dehydrated, you lose 5% of your brains processing power. If you are 5% dehydrated, you lose 25% of your brain's processing power, hurting your ability to think and make decisions.

  It's harder to think when you are dehydrated. Studies show that when you feel thirsty, you may already be 2 to 3% dehydrated, which means your brain is working at a 10 to 15% reduction, inability to think as well as affecting your mood.

  If you work in a job that requires thinking, drinking water so you brain is functioning at its best processing power really helps.

  If you're an athlete, drinking water helps your brain calculate quickly. Calculating the distance and angle to the basket or goal, or your opponent's move and your response faster can help you win.

  If you're a coach who wants a winning season, keep your team hydrated even during practice. If you play video games, drinking water makes your brain faster with stronger processing power.

  If you're a student, drinking water helps increase your ability to concentrate and your memory. When I feel my brain getting a little fuzzy, I drink some water and it helps. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. A study shows that 75% of Americans don't drink enough water every day, which leaves their bodies in a constant state of stress. This constant stress from lack of water hurts your immune system and your body's ability to defend itself from disease.

  As a survival response to stress your adrenal glands produce cortisol. Chronic dehydration can create chronic stress, which can wear out your adrenal glands by making them continuously produce cortisol, which can lower your immune system and make you more susceptible to inflammation and disease. Stress also lowers your white blood cells, which your body needs to fight viruses like the COVID-19 virus.

  Let's take a look at three different types of stress. Baseline stress, daily stress, and dehydration stress. Baseline stress is stress from the past that you haven't let go of which could be from days, months, or even years ago. The amount of baseline stress will be different from person to person.

  Daily stress are things that happen during your day like your car not starting, having somebody be rude to you or getting into an argument. Baseline stress and daily stress can add up. The more bad things that happen, the more upset you can become.

  When we get really upset, it is often not just about what just happened, but everything that happened before it as well. For baseline stress there are psychological skills you can learn to help you go through your past to remove things you no longer want to be angry about.

It is kind of like moving and deciding what you want to take with you moving forward with your life and what you want to leave behind. Sometimes there are things you have kept through past moves, that you're finally ready to get rid of. Getting rid of anger from your past can feel really good.

  For daily stress there are also skills you can learn to help you deal with things during your day as they happen to help keep your stress level lower. Two of the best skills are learning how to let things go and looking for things to be thankful for.

  Dehydration stress happens when your body becomes dehydrated and all the fluids in your body are too low, which stresses your body and every organ in it. When you are dehydrated it stresses your heart, your lungs, your digestive system, your kidneys and liver and your brain.

  This physical stress on your body creates emotional stress which can lead to depression and anxiety as well as making you feel lethargic and low energy. Not drinking enough water adds dehydration stress to your baseline and daily stress. While your baseline and daily stress takes skills to handle, drinking water is an easy solution to dehydration stress.

  Drinking Water three times a day to replace water your body loses during the day is a great way to fight dehydration stress. With increased exercise activity or heat, you may be sweating more, so you may need to add some more water for that as well.

  Paying attention to your body's fluid levels and staying well hydrated will help keep your stress levels down and help you feel happier, more relaxed and confident. Drinking a glass of water in the morning, at noon, and in the late afternoon or evening will help hydrate your body and help keep your brain healthy and happy.

Your Body Needs Water to Create Blood

  How drinking water helps your heart and helps fight COVID-19. Even if you are healthy otherwise, dehydration can cause low blood volume, which can cause high blood pressure. Your blood plasma is 90% water.

  When you are dehydrated, your body doesn't have enough water to create enough blood which lowers the amount of blood in your body. When the amount of blood in your body is lower your heart has to pump harder.

  As a survival response to your body not having blood your brain tells your pituitary gland to produce vasopressin, which tells your blood vessels to reduce in size. Pumping blood through smaller blood vessels increases your blood pressure to help get your blood sent throughout your whole body. It's kind of like when you're watering your lawn. If you put your thumb over the end of the hose, it creates a smaller opening to make the water go further.

   Making your heart pump blood through smaller blood vessels to create higher blood pressure increases the stress on your heart. Here you can see two red pipes representing a normal size and a smaller sized blood vessel with red clay balls representing blood clots.

  You can see how a larger blood clot that would pass through a normal sized blood vessel would get stuck in a blood vessel that had been reduced in size. Smaller blood vessels can increase the risk of blood clots getting stuck in them and blocking the blood that your organs in different areas of your body need to survive.

  Low blood volume also creates thicker blood which can contribute to blood clots becoming larger. The larger the blood clot, the more chance of a blood vessel being blocked and shutting off the flow of blood, oxygen and nutrients to that organ or part of the body. Thicker blood can also contribute to the creation of more blood clots.

  When you are dehydrated, your body doesn't have enough water to make enough blood, so your blood level goes down and your blood becomes thicker.
To demonstrate this, you can see ketchup representing thick blood in a canister at a lower level than it should be. Thick blood is harder for the heart to pump and clots easier, raising the risk of blood clots.

  You can see how thick it is when we stir it. If we add water to it, you can see it becoming thinner and easier to stir, which will also make it easier for your heart to pump, less chance of blood clots, and raising the level of the blood to where it needs to be.

  Drinking water helps your body have the water that it needs to make enough blood. High blood pressure is also called hypertension and is one of the main underlying conditions for the COVID-19 virus. With the COVID-19 virus some doctors are having to fight blood clots that are appearing in the heart, lungs, brain and other areas of the body in their patients.

  Dehydration causes thicker blood which clots easier and smaller blood vessels which are blocked more easily. Some doctors are giving patients blood thinner to thin their blood and pharmaceuticals to increase the size of their blood vessels to help fight these blood clots, which are happening with the COVID-19 virus. When blood clots block a blood vessel, they prevent blood, oxygen and nutrients from reaching that organ or area of the body.

  Blood clots in the heart can trigger a heart attack. Blood clots in the brain can cause a stroke. Blood clots in the lungs can cause breathing problems. Blood clots in other organs in areas of the body cause problems as well. You can be healthy and still have problems with blood clots if you're dehydrated, as it creates thicker blood, which clots more easily, and smaller blood vessels which clog more easily.

  Drinking water is a natural way to help prevent blood clots that you can do at home. Early intervention is important when fighting the COVID-19 virus and drinking enough water at home can help you fight the COVID-19 virus in its early stages.

  Drinking water helps you fight the COVID-19 virus and helps you fight heart disease. This is important because heart disease is a leading cause of death in the world. Heart disease kills five times more people every year than respiratory diseases. Drinking water helps reduce the risk of heart disease by over 45%.

  Overworking your heart because you're not drinking enough water so your blood level is low, causing it to work too hard, can damage your heart and wear it out over time. When you're dehydrated, your heart has to work even harder. Your heart already works very hard. It pumps 2000 gallons of blood a day while beating over 100,000 times a day.

  The COVID-19 virus kills people quickly so it gets a lot of attention and press. Heart disease kills people over a longer period of time, usually years, so it doesn't get as much press, but it's just as deadly and kills many more people.

  The great thing about drinking water is that it helps you fight both COVID-19 and heart disease. There are certain heart conditions and underlying illnesses where you shouldn't be drinking as much water. Sometimes the body is retaining water and there are other reasons.

  So talking with your doctor about how much water you should be drinking, especially if you're dealing with heart issues is really important.