9/15/2010
Water And Your Body Needs
http://loseweightdirectory.blogspot.com
by F. Terrence Markle
Your body contains approximately 50 to 70 percent water. The amount of fat and muscle in your body and your age are the major factors of how much water is in the body. The male body has more water than the female body due to proportionally more muscle in the male body. In a similar manner, there is more water in a young body versus an older body because of the muscle content.
The average person will die without water for a period of days. However, you can live without food for weeks. During this time, the body will digest its own fat and muscle, which provides nutrients at subsistence levels.
Water will dissolve substances that are consumed by the body. It will carry blood cells and nutrients throughout the body to every organ. The primary reasons your body needs water includes:
* To dissolve nutrients in the ingested foods which are then passed through the cell walls of the intestines and into the bloodstream. The water will also enable food to move through the intestinal tract.
* To control your body temperature
* To enable metabolism to occur which is the digestion of food consumed, energy production, and the important process of building tissue.
* To enable electrical signals to be sent between cells so your brain can work, eyes can see, muscles can move, etc.
* To enable your waste products to be carried out of the body.
* To lubricate the moving parts in your body.
The water inside your body cells is called intracellular fluid. Approximately 75 percent of your body water is intracellular fluid. Extracellular fluid is the remaining 25 percent or so of your body fluid and consists of:
* Blood plasma that is the blood's clear liquid
* Secretions from the body including seminal fluid, sweat, and vaginal fluids
* Interstitial fluid or the fluid existing between cells
* Lymph fluid that exists in your lymph nodes and then flows into the blood vessels
* Urine
The healthy body must have a balance between the fluid outside and inside all your body cells. This balancing act is essential to maintain life. A cell will die if there is not enough fluid inside it and a cell will explode if there is too much fluid inside.
In order to maintain the fluid balance inside your body, the body uses electrolytes. Electrolytes are mineral compounds that become electrically charged particles when dissolved in water. These charged particles are called ions.
There are many minerals that form compounds and dissolve into charged particles. Some of these minerals are magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus. Table salt (sodium chloride) is a familiar electrolyte that dissolves in water into sodium and chloride ions.
The fluid inside your body cells generally has potassium ions in excess of sodium and chloride ions. It's just the opposite outside your body cells. The cell wall is considered a semipermeable membrane that allows water molecules and small mineral molecules to freely flow through the wall. However, larger molecules like proteins are not allowed to flow through the cell walls.
The body's sodium pump is the process where potassium flows out of and sodium flows into a cell to keep everything working right. Sodium will build up inside cells if the sodium pump stops working correctly which would allow more water to flow into the cell. The cell would eventually burst and die if this situation continued. The sodium pump process will prevent this imbalance as a result of the electric ions inside your body.
About the Author: Terry has been writing articles online for over 5 years. Not only does this author specialize in diet, nutrition, vitamins, fitness and weight loss, you can also check out his latest website on TPX Baseball Gloves Unit which reviews Rawlings Baseball Gloves Review for the best baseball equipment and supplies.
