Water, water everywhere

Did you know that the human body is made up of up to 50-75% water? Your body does not produce water on its own and actually loses water by breathing, peeing, sweating and bowel movements. 

How does our body use water?

Every cell in our being uses water to function by getting rid of or excreting wastes through urinating, bowel movements, sweating, and breathing as mentioned above; it helps to regulate our temperature; water helps to lubricate, keep organs functioning, and provide a cushion for our joints.

How much water should you be drinking?

You should drink about half of an ounce of water per pound you weigh. So to figure it out, divide your weight by half and that is how many ounces of water you should be aiming to get each day. For example: if you weigh 150lbs., you would need 75oz. of water each day; if you weigh 200lbs., you would need 100oz. of water each day; if you weigh 120lbs., you would need 60oz. of water each day. These are the minimum requirements. If you are exercising, or experiencing fever and/or diarrhea then you should be increasing those minimum for sure! You can drink more than the recommended amount but you do not need to be excessive about it. 

How can you tell if you’re drinking enough water?

Your kidneys will tell you. Look at your urine after you pee - nice, clear to slightly cloudy or a yellow tint to your urine tells you that you are well hydrated and your kidneys are functioning great. If your urine is yellow-dark yellow that can mean you are not drinking enough water. And you will notice that after you take your vitamins your first and maybe second pee will be bright yellow, sometimes looking biohazard-ish, this is because your body is getting rid of what it cannot use through your urine (this is a whole different topic on vitamins and why you actually don’t need to take every single vitamin known to man for an optimal functioning body, please see footnote below if you are interested in a mini-rant on this otherwise skip that bit at the end). If your pee is almost reddish looking or brown, you are definitely not getting water for your body to stay hydrated! The great thing is that this can be remedied (usually) very quickly if caught early with drinking water. Also, you will notice that after a night of sleeping, which is let’s say a minimum of 6 hours, your urine will be yellow-dark yellow and this is because in that 6+ hours you have not consumed any water. You will notice it returns to a light color relatively quickly if you rehydrate yourself upon waking. It is recommended to have at LEAST one glass of water when you wake up, it’s debatable on whether hot or cold or with a lemon or plain - whatever will get you to drink it, do that! You should drink water immediately upon waking to help restore your water balance, clean and essentially rinse your stomach lining, and you also get in 8-16oz. right at the start of your day. BEAUTY TIP: You will notice that if you wake up with a “swollen” or full looking face, it will begin to look better once you immediately start replenishing your water balance. 

What’s a diuretic?

A diuretic is any substance that promotes diuresis or the increased production of urine. There are medications that are considered diuretics aka water pills, that are used to remove water build-up in the body to help lower blood pressure or to help drain excessive edema or swelling in cases of heart failure, kidney failure. Black tea, coffee, alcohol, and soda are common, every day  diuretics we consume as they dehydrate us. If you are having tea, coffee, soda, and/or alcohol it is important to remember to drink your recommended amount of water (see above) and more to make up for the loss. Less commonly there are other fruits and such that pack a lot of potassium and these will push out the sodium your body has, such as pineapple, banana, beets, oranges, etc. and others such as watermelon and celery that have a higher water content which may result in increased urination and thereby be confused with the function of what a diuretic is doing but you really need to eat too large of an amount of these for them to be considered functioning as a diuretic but they can be a great way to get some extra H20 into your body. 

Water is at the foundation and base of every human life. Drink it all day, every day! Jazz it up with some fruit infused in there - hold the sugar, get a cute water bottle. 

How does water relate to electrolysis?

Water is going to keep your cells lubricated and hydrated and happy and functioning. The biggest organ of the body is the skin, well hydrated happy cells means the same of the skin. Hair follicles are located in the skin layers. Water is a good conductor of electricity and thus it will provide the foundation for a more effective treatment and due to its lubrication it will also provide you with a relatively comfortable treatment. Inadequately hydrated skin will result in your electrologist having difficulty inserting the probe, less conduction = less energy into the follicle. So, limit your caffeine intake (coffee, tea, alcohol, and soda) and increase your water consumption. If you don’t or are unable to adequately hydrate you may experience more pain during your treatment. If you are thinking you can just skip the water and have your 2+ cups of coffee, slather on your moisturizer and your electrologist won’t notice, you’re wrong! Putting moisturizer on the surface is not affecting the cells below (which is where the treatment is actually happening) and inside out hydration is extremely different than a temporary band-aid on the problem; think of it as the age old adage of “putting lipstick on a pig”. 

Let us know if you learned anything here, if you drink enough water and tips you have for doing so, or if you now will increase your water intake.

*Quick bit on vitamins (I hope): In short, there are fat soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, &K) which our body stores in our fat and builds up for when we need them. Then there are water soluble (everything else) vitamins which are removed through water/urination and bowel movements. Every vitamin has a range of what your body requires of each vitamin, we fulfill the majority of these through a balanced, healthy diet. If your diet is lacking in anything (such as vegetarian, keto, pescatarian, etc.) then you may need to supplement with those missing nutrients to maintain an adequate amount in your blood/body. If you are taking too much of something, your body is going to remove it so you don’t put yourself into an imbalance. Every single vitamin has a hypovitaminosis and hypervitaminosis disease state, so it is important to not take excess. Vitamin C is an antioxidant and produces collagen, and assists in iron absorption, sounds great, right? And it is, but if you have too much you may experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, heartburn, headache. Vitamin C is not a great example because we actually have a pretty good high range for it but it is commonly known as well as its benefits. And when something sounds good, we want more of the goodness so we may double up to get more of that good thing but in the case of vitamins it may be doing more harm than good. This can be an extremely lengthy blog post on its known and this is extremely basic and even though its long, its relatively short.