Hydration and Movement, Why Both Are So Important…

Of course we all know that water is good for us, but many people don’t realise that we need regular movement in order to get that water to where it’s needed? Our aim at Melbourne Combined Natural Therapies is to educate clients to help them achieve ongoing physical wellbeing. We are often telling clients to drink water after a session and to keep up some gentle movement for the rest of the day. But why, and how important is hydration for our bodies?

According to NovaGenix, a good start to maintain hormonal balance is to remember just how vital water is to our body. Second only to oxygen, we cannot live without water for more than a few days. Water is a crucial element for all systems of the body to function, and as a result dehydration will cause a loss of function in all systems of the body.

The Digestive System and Metabolism

The digestive system breaks down the food we eat into various components that we need ie. proteins, sugars, fats etc so that we can use it for energy, repair and growth. This process is called metabolism, it’s a series of metabolic chemical reactions that turn food into a useable fuel, split into its various nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Water is a crucial medium necessary for all of these chemical reactions to occur. Consider what you are putting in your body, make sure to eat natural protein like steak, but is tri tip healthy?

The Circulatory System Delivers Nutrients

We need water in the bloodstream to deliver the nutrients we have broken down to the tissues that need them. The blood is approximately 92% water so even slight dehydration can result in a reduction of the water content of the blood. This means that the circulatory system is not able to deliver nutrients as efficiently, therefore we don’t work as effectively because we’re not getting necessary energy and nutrients to where they are needed.

The Importance of Hydration For Removal Of waste

Another extremely important function of the blood is to transport waste materials out of our bodies tissues. As each cell uses the necessary molecules delivered to it, it creates waste products given off as part of our metabolic reaction. Waste products can include CO2 and lactic acid for instance. Once again, dehydration causes the body to be inefficient at removing waste products from the cells.

The Pump Mechanism

Our heart pumps fresh oxygenated blood through our arteries to the whole body, and the arteries themselves have a muscular wall that squeezes the blood out to the extremities. On the other hand the venous and lymphatic systems require compression of the surrounding skeletal muscles (which occurs through movement) to pump the blood and lymph along their respective vessels on the return to the heart. This is why movement is so important as making sure we are well hydrated, as without movement there is no skeletal muscle contraction and as a result restricted movement of venous blood and lymph.

Valves, Veins and Deep Vein Thrombosis

The venous system operates in only one direction (back to the heart) due to a series of valves along the length of the vessels. When we are immobile, even sitting at our desks for long periods, we slow our blood flow which we call venous stasis. One serious problem that can arise from venous stasis and lack of movement is a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) which is essentially a blockage caused by pooling and clotting of blood between the valves. You may have heard of DVT in relation to long-haul flights, and many of us are aware of preventative methods such as compression stockings and, most importantly, regularly moving about the cabin to keep the blood circulating, but why is it we don’t take the same advice when we are at work all day?

Kinks in a Hose | The Importance of Hydration

Humans were not designed to sit for extended periods, however our lifestyles, commitments and pressures often don’t allow us to get a healthy amount of movement. Most of us are sitting for a long periods were we are essentially compressing the vessels making up the circulatory and lymphatic systems. If you picture yourself sitting; you are creating several right angles throughout your body, in the lower body the hips and the knees. Imagine that your blood supply is like water passing through a hose (the vessels) and the right angles we create and hold for extended periods of time are acting like kinks would in your garden hose, reducing the blood flow.

The spine | The Importance of Hydration

Hydration and movement are also important for spinal health. The spine is made up of bones called vertebrae. Between the vertebrae are spinal discs. Spinal discs keep the vertebrae apart and act like shock absorbers for the spine. Spinal discs have a tough exterior called the annulus fibrosus which surrounds a more gel-like part in the middle called the nucleus pulposus. To hydrate the discs it can help to think of them as sponges. A saturated sponge cannot take in any more water and you need to squeeze the sponge to exchange the dirty water it holds and to refresh it with fresh water.  It’s the same with our spinal discs – the process of getting water into the gel-like substance of the spinal disc is a process called imbibition.  It requires us to gently squeeze or massage the disc through movement and stretching of the spine. This movement allows us to get fresh hydration and all the nutrients it provides into the disc.

Thirsty?

So how do we know we’re dehydrated?  Well of course we may feel thirsty.  However by the time we notice that we are thirsty we are often already partially dehydrated.  It’s better to keep yourself topped up by drinking small amounts and often rather than guzzling a load when we feel thirsty.  Good water habits are essential, keep a bottle on your desk and sip throughout the day, you’ll be more inclined to drink it if it’s there in front of you. And make sure you drink extra water if you go to the gym at lunchtime.

Melbourne Natural Therapies
The Importance of Hydration
Remedial Massage Melbourne