There is nothing more important to the human body as water. It is vital in order for organ systems to function well – without which, we’d all collapse and die. Therefore, it cannot be denied how essential water is to anyone’s health. But not all people understand the guidelines as to how much water should someone drink in order to maintain the level of health that would let us live in excellent health condition.

The question of how much water intake should you have each day may seem very simple but it is not easy to answer it. Your body’s needs for water depend on a variety of factors which also include the activities you do, the weather conditions and even the place where you live.

There may be no single answer that would fit everyone in general but a good start would be to have yourself weighed, get your weight in pounds and divide it by two. The result would give you the number of ounces of water that you need to drink on a daily basis. It is important that you remain hydrated – dehydration can cause a cascade of health events that may result to kidney failure.

To convince you further as to the necessity of drinking lots of water each day, here are 10 solid reasons that you can constantly review to serve as your reminder:

1. Water is an important component of the human system. Water makes up approximately 60 to 70 percent of the body and major organs such as the brain, lungs and muscles all contain water.  Blood, which is responsible for transporting oxygen and nutrients all over the body, is also composed of water. It is said that you can survive without food for up to eight weeks but without water, you can die in just about as short as ten days.
   
   
2. Water serves as ideal nourishment. Water, as a component of blood, carries nutrients to cells thereby promoting better cellular function. It also serves as a solvent agent for numerous salts and nutrients for the body to absorb. It helps in the flushing out of metabolic wastes that comes out through sweat and urine. As a detoxifying agent, water plays a very important role in your body.
   
   
3. Water can lessen the risk of the presence of stones in your kidneys. The kidneys are is responsible for filtering out all the waste products of your body through the formation of urine. As some salts in your urine can lead to stone formation, enough water can help in diluting your urine, flushing these salts out. What the experts recommend is for adults to drink about eight 12-ounce glasses of water each day to steer away from having kidney stones.
   
   
4. Water can lessen your chances of having a sun stroke. Another important role that water plays in the body is the proper regulation of your body temperature. Especially during very hot days where we sweat a lot, our body loses a lot of water. Once dehydration occurs, the regulation of the body temperature goes down and the actual heat of the body increases which can possibly lead to sunstroke anytime. According to a lot of studies, the worse types of sunstroke can bring in a lot of damage to your most essential organs.
   
   
5. Water can help lower your blood pressure. When you happen to go through a lot of exhausting activities and conditions, your body loses a lot of water in effect which can then cause your blood vessels to constrict. This is one major cause of high blood pressure. To prevent this from occurring, drinking enough amounts of water can help the blood vessels relax, bringing blood pressure down.
   
   
6. Water can lessen the risk of heart disease. This is connected to the reason stated in number five. When there is an increase in your blood pressure, this means that your heart is working doubly hard than it should normally be doing. It would begin to pump a greater amount of blood so as to compensate for the volume that was reduced. This can lead to a heart failure.  However, drinking enough water would make sure this will not happen by relaxing the blood vessels.
   
   
7. Water can give you healthy and good looking skin. When you drink lots of water, you get well hydrated skin.  The skin tends to become smoother and more supple. Sagging and wrinkling of the skin are prevented. Hence, if you want to have healthy and young looking skin all the time, drink up!
   
   
8. Water has no calories and can suppress your appetite.  Surveys show that Americans alone consume about 13 billion gallons of drinks that are full of calories each year – and this is alarming because these beverages are heaping with sugar.  So do not hesitate to replace your flavored and colored beverages with pure and fresh water. This is because water does not contain calories and it will not let you gain weight. Researchers from the Children’s Hospital and Oakland Research Institute in California discovered that drinking water can help in weight loss and can slightly replace a few calories too. Imagine the positive effects that you can get if you replace your soda with water. Make it a habit to drink water instead of soda.
   
   
9. Water can normalize your bowel movement. Sufficient water intake can encourage gastrointestinal tract health by promoting peristalsis which can steer you away from constipation. Match it up with sufficient fiber intake and then you’ll be rewarded with normal bowel movement. When you lack water, your colon takes out water from your stools so as to maintain the needed hydration and hence the result is constipation.
   
   
10. Water comes at no price. Yes, it is true that the best things in life are free and water is one of the best examples for this. When you decide to drink commercial beverages, you can’t help it but shed a few dollars.  But water is free. In some places, water is so pure and so fresh that people drink it right from the tap.  However, in places where water has been known to be contaminated, it would greatly help to have a purifier.  This way, you are ensured that the water that you are drinking is safe.

Sources
thetaoofgoodhealth.com
mayoclinic.com
usatoday.com
ehow.com
nutrition.about.com