Water and Hydration

We can’t live without water as around 60% of our body is water and it is found in every cell of our bodies as well as fluids like our blood, saliva and sweat.

We need water for our bodies to eliminate waste through excretion, control our temperature by sweating and aid the process of digestion.

We get water into our bodies through drinking it as well as tea, coffee, fruit juice, fizzy drinks etc. Water is also found in food. Fruit and vegetables contain quite a lot of water and water can even be found in meat and bread.

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Our bodies lose water in a number of ways including excretion (urine and faeces) our sweat and even through our breath.

We can become dehydrated if we don’t replace the water that we have lost.

Dehydration means our bodies can’t work properly and can cause our blood to thicken and make it harder for our heart to pump our blood around our body. It can increase our body temperature if our bodies can’t sweat effectively and it can cause us to have slower reactions and make poor decisions as our brain needs water to function well.

Government guidelines say we should drink 2 litres of water a day, if we are hot or exercising then we need to drink more to replace the lost fluids.

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Over hydration is caused when we drink large amounts of water in a short period of time. It leads to headaches, nausea and confusion. It also dilutes the concentration of nutrients in our blood which affects our kidneys and in some cases causes death. 

This video explains why hydration is vital for our health.