The Power of Water

Unless your throat feels parched and sweat drips from your brow, you probably give little thought to eater, yet this clear, refreshing fluid is one of your body’s most essential nutrients.

Water is vital to health – and to life itself. While you may survive for six weeks without food, you cannot live longer than week or so without water.

In fact, losing more than 10 percent of your body weight from dehydration, or water loss causes extreme weakness and potential heat stroke. And a 20 percent loss is life-threatening.

Water is the most abundant substance in the human body as well as the most common substance on earth.

Like the oxygen you breathe you can’t live without it.

On average, body weight is 45 to 75 percent water or for many, about 10 to 12 gallons of water.

The specific percentage varies from person to person, relating to body composition, age and gender, among other factors.

Compared with body fat, lean tissues holds much more water, so the leaner you are the higher proportion of water in your body.

Males, with more muscle, carry a higher percentage of water in their bodies than females do. And younger usually have more than older than adults.

Water accounts for about 75 percent of an newborn’s weight, while the amount dwindles in the elderly to about 50 percent.

Body tissues of all types contain water – some more than others. The fact that blood contains water is certainly no surprise; your blood is about 83 percent water, lean muscle tissue is about 73 percent water; body fat about 25 percent.

Even though bones seem hard, they too, contain water, about 22 percent by weight.
The Power of Water