Water is vital to a healthy body and goes far beyond just quenching your thirst. It is essential to keep your body feeling well and functioning great!
How many times have you been told to "Drink Your Water"? I'm guilty of telling my clients this very thing, but I was fascinated and delighted to hear Zach Bush, MD (one of my all time favorite doctors specializing in internal medicine, endocrinology and hospice care, as well as an internationally recognized educator and thought- leader on the microbiome, as it relates to health, disease, and food systems)
speak at the Hydration Solution Summit. (check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G16VwycJSq0)
NOT ONCE did he talk about drinking 8 glasses of water/day or "half your weight in ounces of water." He does say they are finding 100% of us might be dehydrated, and most people you would know so by just looking at them.
He goes on to share his knowledge about the 3 main reasons to stay hydrated, and the three main ways to be hydrated.
I am going to summarize these points, but I encourage you to listen to his majesty (at least in my eyes HAHA) to hear some informative and interesting information about your body and its relationship to water, the universe, and even the Northern Lights, which I just recently got the blessing to see in Alaska for the first time three weekends ago!
Top 3 Reasons to Stay Hydrated:
1) ENERGY
Atoms are our fabric. Cells (of which there are 50-70 trillion) and molecules (which make cells look like a drop in the bucket) are nothing compared to the number of atoms, which are billions and billions. These atoms are 99.999% energetic space. Vacuums. So, if we are 99.99% energy, how do we give the impression of a solid? It's all in the organization of energy and that organization is managed by the interaction of water molecules with the energy field. I think thats enough reason right there to take hydration seriuosly, dont you?
2) GENETICS/GENOMIC
Basically, the double helix in our DNA we all learned about in high school needs to be coated with water for flexibility and for a nice structure. That sounds important!
3) PROTEMOIC/ PROTEIN FOLDING PHENOMENON
Protein folding is something that happens in each cell every single day. Although still a bit of a mysterious process, its also quite remarkable. It goes something like this- DNA replicates to RNA so amino acid (protein) chains are formed. Magic happens so that these chains become functional enzymes. They are going to do all the heavy lifting, everything from cell metabolization to cell repair and cell regeneration. Guess what these prtoein synthesis are desperately dependant on to happen? Yep, water!
Top 3 Ways to Stay Hydrated: ( My Favorite Part!)
1) MINDFULLNESS
Prayer, meditation, silence, and finding yourself addresss the energtic process mentioned above.
2) MICROBIOME
If your gut isnt healthy, you cant absorb the glass of water. You need a diverse microbiome to create a communication network for our cellular functions. Specifically, to help build tight junctions in the gut. Can you say leaky gut and autoimmune diseases?! He goes on to explain how microbiome health address the genetics portion.
3) MOVEMENT
My favorite of the favorites! This is what I teach and help produce through actual movement therapies and myofascial release….. and 4000 years of experience shows that if you have coherent energy flow through your fascial system, you have improved health across all systems. And get this- huge shout out to MFR (Myofascial Release) at 48:50 where he says this is the ONLY treatment he will actually spend money on. That's amazing!!! And nice to see the info my MFR teacher/founder John Barnes, PT has been talking about all along.
*Be sure to catch all the fascinating info on how memory seems to be stored and carried in water. Hear about a murder mystery solved by memory in a heart transplant...
**Miralax - this is not an M word to stay hydrated. Instead, it is very harmful to the body. Be sure to listen to this explanation and inform any one you know who is using it. Its not just the elderly. By the way, they are using this a lot in schools, apparently.
*** For more great content, check out Zach Bush, MD @ www.zackbushmd.com Here he has at least an hour and half of great, free content!
**** Bonus- this link to the hydration foundation summit also includes a talk with Dr. Gerald Pollack who identified a 4th phase of water beyond vapor, liquid & ice.