Why Do You Need Water?

Every day your body loses water through urine and sweat, and this fluid needs to be replenished. Fortunately, your body is already equipped with a virtually foolproof mechanism that tells you when you need to replenish your water supply -- it’s called thirst!

You can actually survive without food for months, but without water you’d die after a few days, so needless to say, water is absolutely essential to life.

Your body is made up mostly of water, which:

• Is essential for digestion, nutrient absorption and elimination
• Aids your circulation
• Helps control your body's temperature
• Lubricates and cushions your joints
• Keeps your skin healthy
• Helps remove toxins from your body

But do you need to drink at least eight eight-ounce glasses of water a day?

That’s the recommendation we’ve all been traditionally told. The article above is actually not offering proof that this recommendation is wrong, per se. It’s simply a review of the available research on water’s ability to improve your health when ingested in larger amounts, such as 8 glasses a day or more.

Its conclusion that increased water intake has no discernible health benefits might be a bit misleading, however.

For example, the research on water intake and reduction in migraine headaches showed that 15 patients with migraines, who were assigned to increase their water intake for two weeks, had 21 hours less migraines compared to the control group. However, the difference was not considered to be statistically significant. If you suffer from migraines, you might disagree…