Water |
| Our bodies are mainly
made up of water. When you’re a young child, your body is seventy-three
percent water, but this decreases significantly to forty-five percent
in old age. If you feel thirsty, chances are that you’ve already
started to dehydrate. It’s startling to realise that your performance
can suffer so dramatically due to dehydration. You can lose ten percent
of your functioning powers if you dehydrate by one percent, and twenty
percent if you dehydrate by two percent. It’s crucial to stay
well hydrated, you can only survive for a few days without water,
but you can survive several without food.
Typically, a sedentary person needs between one and a half to two litres of fluid each day. If you exercise, or are in a hot climate, you need more as you lose water through sweating (your body’s reaction to over heating). It’s best to drink water at room temperature, sipping it throughout the day taking in twenty millilitres at a time.
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