Water : Hierarchy in Hydration
The Hierarchy Of Water
One of the cornerstones of Traditional Chinese Medicine is massage. In my office, I see people weekly who could most dramatically benefit their own health by simply paying attention to hydration. In fact, if they were adequately hydrated, they would visit me less often to address the aches and pains of life. In the following paragraphs, I will attempt to explain why this simple self-care measure can mean the difference between feeling stiff, operating in a mental fugue, and sluggishly going through our day, OR feeling our body work harmoniously to maintain a healthy feeling of flow, both mentally and physically.
In undergraduate school, a portion of a hot autumn’s day’s lecture in Human Physiology was devoted to the hydro-quotient of various organs, organelles, and cells, or in the Professor’s words, “The ‘Hierarchy’ of Water.” On the screen was a graph depicting how much water each of our organs is comprised of, and he explained the reversal of which causes most of the imbalance in our bodies.
What is the most critical organ for keeping alive in our body? Instinctually, most minds jump to the heart, perhaps because we don’t feel our brains thumping rhythmically in our skulls. Still, it is a supercomputer that is our brain that requires the most maintenance and cooling, hence the most significant use of this most abundant and life-giving resource. The scales go down from almost 90% of the water that composes our neural treasury to a modest 70th percentile for most internal organs. After all, they filter toxins, fight a 24/7 chemical warfare battle, and produce the materials and medicines we need to grow and flourish as an organism. I’d be thirsty, too. Lastly, the muscles can be taken as a whole in terms of conservation. They are the first to get drained and the last to get filled when the floodgates are open. There is just one slight problem- Because the brain and internal organs are doing their critical work to keep us functioning, the muscles and surrounding tissues become the holding tank for all of the very same toxins, cellular wastes, by-products, and free radicals as they wait to be processed by the water-guzzling internal organs.
Here are some facts I gleaned from that class and a few I learned after:
Actually, the amount of water a body contains varies according to specific longitudinal contexts: The body of a newborn is composed of more water (75%)than that of an elderly person (50%). Also, the more muscular a body is, the more water it contains. Conversely, the more fat in the body, the less water the body contains – as body fat has little water. Also, all our vital organs contain different amounts of water: the brain, the lungs, the heart, the liver, and the kidneys contain a large quantity of water – between 65 to 85% depending on the organ (2), while bones contain less water (but still 31%!).
For all those reasons, water is life.
Can you see how not maintaining a healthy hydration level may lead to problems? What if we went through our day trying to do our best, but every once in a while, the oxygen levels in the atmosphere plummeted to dangerously low levels! I don’t know about you, but I think my work would suffer because I made breathing my priority. As in most crises, we must focus until the situation returns normal. This may be analogous to what our cells go through when they do not have enough of this essential material resource to do their work. If the situation continues for long enough, we must sacrifice work in other areas to pay attention to the critical ones.
In the body, we store many waste products in our cells and tissues, primarily in the lymphatic system but secondarily in our muscles and interstitial fluids (plasma, extra-cellular matrix, etc.) These toxins mostly wait patiently to be transported to our filters- the liver, kidneys, and lungs. Similar to packing our garbage neatly in bins and setting it out by the curb, there is usually a schedule for how the body eliminates this waste, but what if the garbage truck never comes? In vitro, water is the great transporter (and as a TCM practitioner- so is Qi), but when levels are low and the demand is high, a backup takes place.
In the muscles, this is akin to that garbage sitting neatly by the curb, baking in the sun, waiting for long overdue pick-up. All of the natural processes of decay begin to take place in that bin- microbes transform organic material, solids become liquids, decay takes place, bacteria thrive, and it creates a new form of odoriferous joy that begins to make us and our neighbors sick. Eventually, it can become a health hazard, and if the truck is forced to come to pick up the stinky garbage by the city manager, that means a pickup isn’t being made elsewhere in the city, your city.
As a massage therapist, my clients, especially first-time or infrequent ones, often have slightly swollen, puffy, and painful-to-touch muscles. Sometimes, it can be from the rigors of everyday life, recent intense exercise, or just the stress of the continuous cortisol drip that we place our nervous systems under to live ‘the modern life.’ But usually, it is the result of improper hydration. For most clients, paying attention to proper hydration and getting three or four sessions of good, therapeutic bodywork allows them to remember what it felt like to have fluidity in the body again, to feel an entire range of motion in a joint, and to be able to recognize the old pattern and postures that got them into my office in the first place and address those poor habits with refreshed attention and vigor.
So how much water is the RIGHT amount of water?
So many variables are associated with answering this question for anyone that it becomes a personal matter. Here are some rules of thumb and the ‘Rosetta Stone’ for proper hydration:
Article by John Porter
Published 12-23-15 © 2015 East To West Therapeutics, LLC and Zen Den Therapies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Sources:
(1) Wang et al. (1996). Am J Clin Nut 69: 833-841
(2) Mitchell et al. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1945: 625-637.
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/waterproperties.html
(3) J Hum Nutr Diet. 2003 Dec;16(6):411-20. Caffeine ingestion and fluid balance: a review. Maughan RJ1, Griffin J. School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK. [email protected]
(4) Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1997 Nov;134(2):164-73. Effects of hot tea, coffee, and water ingestion on physiological responses and mood: the role of caffeine, water and beverage type. Quinlan P, Lane J, Aspinall L.
(5) The effects of black tea and other beverages on cognition and psychomotor performance.
Hindmarch I, Quinlan PT, Moore KL, Parkin C. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1998 Oct; 139(3):230-8.
One of the cornerstones of Traditional Chinese Medicine is massage. In my office, I see people weekly who could most dramatically benefit their own health by simply paying attention to hydration. In fact, if they were adequately hydrated, they would visit me less often to address the aches and pains of life. In the following paragraphs, I will attempt to explain why this simple self-care measure can mean the difference between feeling stiff, operating in a mental fugue, and sluggishly going through our day, OR feeling our body work harmoniously to maintain a healthy feeling of flow, both mentally and physically.
In undergraduate school, a portion of a hot autumn’s day’s lecture in Human Physiology was devoted to the hydro-quotient of various organs, organelles, and cells, or in the Professor’s words, “The ‘Hierarchy’ of Water.” On the screen was a graph depicting how much water each of our organs is comprised of, and he explained the reversal of which causes most of the imbalance in our bodies.
What is the most critical organ for keeping alive in our body? Instinctually, most minds jump to the heart, perhaps because we don’t feel our brains thumping rhythmically in our skulls. Still, it is a supercomputer that is our brain that requires the most maintenance and cooling, hence the most significant use of this most abundant and life-giving resource. The scales go down from almost 90% of the water that composes our neural treasury to a modest 70th percentile for most internal organs. After all, they filter toxins, fight a 24/7 chemical warfare battle, and produce the materials and medicines we need to grow and flourish as an organism. I’d be thirsty, too. Lastly, the muscles can be taken as a whole in terms of conservation. They are the first to get drained and the last to get filled when the floodgates are open. There is just one slight problem- Because the brain and internal organs are doing their critical work to keep us functioning, the muscles and surrounding tissues become the holding tank for all of the very same toxins, cellular wastes, by-products, and free radicals as they wait to be processed by the water-guzzling internal organs.
Here are some facts I gleaned from that class and a few I learned after:
- On average, an adult human body contains 60% water. Most of the human body's water is contained inside our cells.
- Obvious fact: our billions of cells must have water to live.
- The total amount of water in our body is found in three central locations: within our cells (two-thirds of the water), in the space between our cells, and in our blood (one-third of the water between the two). For example, a 70-kg man comprises about 42L of total water.
- 28 litres is intracellular water
- 14L is found in the extracellular fluid, which
- 3L is blood plasma,
- 1L is the transcellular fluid (cerebrospinal fluid, ocular, pleural, peritoneal, and synovial fluids)
- 10L is the interstitial fluid (including lymph), an aqueous medium surrounding cells. (1)
Actually, the amount of water a body contains varies according to specific longitudinal contexts: The body of a newborn is composed of more water (75%)than that of an elderly person (50%). Also, the more muscular a body is, the more water it contains. Conversely, the more fat in the body, the less water the body contains – as body fat has little water. Also, all our vital organs contain different amounts of water: the brain, the lungs, the heart, the liver, and the kidneys contain a large quantity of water – between 65 to 85% depending on the organ (2), while bones contain less water (but still 31%!).
For all those reasons, water is life.
Can you see how not maintaining a healthy hydration level may lead to problems? What if we went through our day trying to do our best, but every once in a while, the oxygen levels in the atmosphere plummeted to dangerously low levels! I don’t know about you, but I think my work would suffer because I made breathing my priority. As in most crises, we must focus until the situation returns normal. This may be analogous to what our cells go through when they do not have enough of this essential material resource to do their work. If the situation continues for long enough, we must sacrifice work in other areas to pay attention to the critical ones.
In the body, we store many waste products in our cells and tissues, primarily in the lymphatic system but secondarily in our muscles and interstitial fluids (plasma, extra-cellular matrix, etc.) These toxins mostly wait patiently to be transported to our filters- the liver, kidneys, and lungs. Similar to packing our garbage neatly in bins and setting it out by the curb, there is usually a schedule for how the body eliminates this waste, but what if the garbage truck never comes? In vitro, water is the great transporter (and as a TCM practitioner- so is Qi), but when levels are low and the demand is high, a backup takes place.
In the muscles, this is akin to that garbage sitting neatly by the curb, baking in the sun, waiting for long overdue pick-up. All of the natural processes of decay begin to take place in that bin- microbes transform organic material, solids become liquids, decay takes place, bacteria thrive, and it creates a new form of odoriferous joy that begins to make us and our neighbors sick. Eventually, it can become a health hazard, and if the truck is forced to come to pick up the stinky garbage by the city manager, that means a pickup isn’t being made elsewhere in the city, your city.
As a massage therapist, my clients, especially first-time or infrequent ones, often have slightly swollen, puffy, and painful-to-touch muscles. Sometimes, it can be from the rigors of everyday life, recent intense exercise, or just the stress of the continuous cortisol drip that we place our nervous systems under to live ‘the modern life.’ But usually, it is the result of improper hydration. For most clients, paying attention to proper hydration and getting three or four sessions of good, therapeutic bodywork allows them to remember what it felt like to have fluidity in the body again, to feel an entire range of motion in a joint, and to be able to recognize the old pattern and postures that got them into my office in the first place and address those poor habits with refreshed attention and vigor.
So how much water is the RIGHT amount of water?
So many variables are associated with answering this question for anyone that it becomes a personal matter. Here are some rules of thumb and the ‘Rosetta Stone’ for proper hydration:
- Grab some water! As the public becomes more aware of the importance of hydration, more and more people are making it a habit to have water with them wherever they go. It is my opinion that this is an excellent habit to have! If you get into the rhythm of having water at your disposal, you will automatically react to almost subconscious cellular cues to take sips throughout the day. If you tend toward an attitude of conscious eating, this ritualistic behavior is an excellent reminder of your intent throughout the day. I recommend starting each day with approximately 20 ounces of room-temperature filtered water. You have not had any water for the last 6 to 8 hours. Hence, you are dehydrated, and clinical evidence shows that hydrating upon waking boosts your metabolism for the coming day. Think of it like priming the pumps on your cellular motors.
- Start with your age. Children have special water considerations, which are mentioned further in this article. Still, for the average adult, I recommend starting with ½ ounce per pound of body weight per day as a starting point. Seniors, like children, require less water in volume, but the needs remain the same as a function of mass. For some seniors, medications and chronic diseases may affect water needs, which should be discussed with your physician. (See below)
- It is hard to hyperhydrate. While it is indeed possible to drink too much water, it almost has to be intentional to bring your water content so high that it dilutes the sodium and potassium levels in your bloodstream and causes a series of potentially life-threatening events. Conversely, it is pretty easy to become dehydrated,
- Won’t I be peeing all the time!? Possibly! But it will only be for a while. As you find your Rosetta Stone (below), you will not go to the bathroom any more frequently than you do if you are dehydrated, but it will be a healthier process. As your body realizes that it is not going to be deprived of water shortly ( a habit you have entrained into your cells, like the oxygen being sucked from the room at regular intervals), it will begin to flush the latent toxins and cellular bi-products into your lymphatic system and bloodstream to be washed to liver, kidneys, and lungs and forever ejected from your temple Aquarius! When the backup is cleared and your systems have constant levels of hydration, the body doesn’t need to filter so much, so fast. It goes into a state of passive respiration, and the water required to dilute the toxins NOT being used keeps the kidneys and liver in top gear and simply gets shunted off to the lungs, where we breathe the water off as vapor. In addition, some of that ‘fresher and cleaner’ water gets diverted to the skin, where it evaporates as sweat. But it isn’t the kind of sweat we are used to when we are toxic - that sticky, sometimes smelly type II sebaceous sweat, but a rapidly evaporating sheen or vapor. Depending on the level of dehydration and the ‘fitness’ of your detoxifying organs, this period of frequent urination while ‘detoxing’ usually lasts a week to ten days. If you’re unsure whether you can cut back on water after about a week, use the Rosetta Stone method to gauge increasing or decreasing your intake.
- I’m on medications. Are my water needs different? Probably! Many of our medications are designed specifically to affect hydration or, by extension, function like blood pressure, kidney function, bladder function, etc. Certain heart medications require more hydration, while certain kidney medications demand lower levels. Often, people may take conflicting drugs and not even know that hydration levels directly influence their effectiveness. Indeed, you should discuss your medications and their functions and hydration with your doctor. If unsure, the ‘Rosetta Stone method below should be used daily while on medication.
- Water in Children. Children require much more water than adults compared to body mass, so ensuring children are properly hydrated is critical because an imbalance in either direction will have more immediate symptoms. This is especially true when there is an illness with fever, but it can also be brought on by more mundane things like too much sugar. For the body to uptake sugar across the membranes of the intestines, it must be .5 millimolar (1000th/mole/liter) or LESS in concentration. Any higher than this, the body has to ‘dump’ water into the intestines to dilute the sugars, which is WILL prioritize).
- The Rosetta Stone of Hydration- Urine color. So, you have been diligently consuming plenty of clean water for about a week and have decided that it is time to find your ‘baseline’ of daily needs for water. Still, use the ½ ounce per pound guidelines, but each time you go to the restroom, look to see what color your urine is. Healthy urine is pale yellow and has no particular odor to it. “It should be the color of pale lemonade,” according to Dr. Depak Chopra. If your urine is darker or pungent, increase your water intake for the next few hours. If your urine is clear, cut back a bit or get some moderate exercise to move your fluids. Remember that vitamins, especially B vitamins, and certain foods and drinks like coffee can affect urine color when assessing. For most people, mornings and evenings are the best time to check.
- Coffee and the Myth of Dehydration. Good news, coffee fans- Coffee does not dehydrate you! Coffee counts as hydration ounces, unlike drinks containing high concentrations of sugars, which ‘draw’ water out of the body, as explained earlier. The caffeine in coffee stimulates the urinary bladder into frequent contraction, which we perceive as dehydrating. Still, the kidneys do not release any additional water from drinking coffee. Bad news: coffee is unsuitable for our metabolism, but I won't admonish my readers here.
- Water Temperature May Matter. Without going into the principles of Ayurvedic and Chinese Medicine, just remember that the water temperature inside your body matters. Just as in nature, the colder something is, the slower the molecules affected by it. In the stomach and intestines, cold water can slow digestion and assimilation of nutrients, and the organs responsible for secreting all of the wonderful enzymes and amylases have to work harder to produce these wonders if they are cold. Generally, you should try to consume room temperature or hot drinks, even in summer. The body does not have to warm your food before gaining nutrients. In hot water, the metabolism is again sped up by cooling the liquids in your alimentary canal, and the organs react better to this pre-warmed package of nutrients. In addition, the consumption of hot beverages, especially caffeinated ones, improves mood and reduces anxiety. (4)(5)
Article by John Porter
Published 12-23-15 © 2015 East To West Therapeutics, LLC and Zen Den Therapies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Sources:
(1) Wang et al. (1996). Am J Clin Nut 69: 833-841
(2) Mitchell et al. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1945: 625-637.
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/waterproperties.html
(3) J Hum Nutr Diet. 2003 Dec;16(6):411-20. Caffeine ingestion and fluid balance: a review. Maughan RJ1, Griffin J. School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK. [email protected]
(4) Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1997 Nov;134(2):164-73. Effects of hot tea, coffee, and water ingestion on physiological responses and mood: the role of caffeine, water and beverage type. Quinlan P, Lane J, Aspinall L.
(5) The effects of black tea and other beverages on cognition and psychomotor performance.
Hindmarch I, Quinlan PT, Moore KL, Parkin C. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1998 Oct; 139(3):230-8.
Medical Disclaimer: Information provided in this email is for informational purposes only. The information is a result of years of practice and experience by John Porter, D.PSc. D.Ac, LMT. However, this information is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional, or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging.
Do not use the information provided in this email for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing medication or other treatment. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking professional advice because of something you have read in this email.
Information provided in this email and the use of any products or services related to this email by you DOES NOT create a doctor-patient relationship between you and John Porter, D.PSc. D.Ac, LMT. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Do not use the information provided in this email for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing medication or other treatment. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking professional advice because of something you have read in this email.
Information provided in this email and the use of any products or services related to this email by you DOES NOT create a doctor-patient relationship between you and John Porter, D.PSc. D.Ac, LMT. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.