Most people think they drink enough liquids throughout the day to keep them hydrated. But if you counted all the beverages besides water that people drink you would see that they are actually dehydrating themselves. Most liquids such as coffee, tea, soda, alcohol, Gatorade, and sugary fruit drinks do not hydrate the body like pure water can. Some people are walking around actually dehydrated and they don’t know it because they don’t feel thirsty. Let’s take a look at 4 of the main reasons you should make sure you’re getting enough water.

1. Fatigue and Tiredness

The first sign of dehydration is the feeling of being tired; some people experience a headache and feel like taking a nap. When the body begins to dehydrate it means the tissues and cells are not getting enough water to make a person feel like doing anything; enzymatic activity slows down and without water the enzymes are unable to produce energy either. In fact a dehydrated person may have no enthusiasm or joy for life.   The good news is once the individual starts to drink some water their energy reserves speed back up and sometimes the headache completely goes away.

2. Constipation and Digestive Problems

If a person is not drinking enough water they do not have enough liquid to help with the elimination process and without eliminating the foods we digest we gain weight, gain toxins, and feel awful.  Being constipated is the beginning to many health problems from allergies to toxic overload syndrome to digestive disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome, gas bloating, stomach pain, nausea and loss of appetite in chronic cases.

3. Stomach Ulcers

To protect the stomach from its acidic digestive fluids that is made during the digestion of food, the stomach is coated with a lining of mucous, which are 98% water and 2% sodium bicarbonate.  Sodium bicarbonate helps in the digestive process by neutralizing the acids. When a person is dehydrated the stomach does not have enough liquid available to make the mucous, thus a poor mucous lining protecting a person from the acidic fluids the digestive process makes. This is why some people are more acidic rather than alkaline, and have digestive problems such as acid stomach and heartburn, which eventually without the alkalinity results in an ulcer of the stomach lining.

4. Weight Gain

Many times when we are thirsty we eat food rather than drink water. This can cause unnecessary weight gain, especially for a sedentary person. When your body is dehydrated, just a little bit, sometimes it won’t tell you with a dry throat or mouth, but rather with a feeling of being hungry.  Here’s the thing, if you just ate a sufficient meal not too long ago how can you really need to eat again?

When you drink enough water throughout the day you are feeding the tissues and cells in your body and that gets the enzymatic system moving, which actually releases fat toxins out of the body! Now isn’t that good news? Rehydrating the body through pure water gets your metabolism running in full balance rather than being slow and sluggish, which is a cause of weight gain.

(Source: http://draxe.com)