We are Mostly Water

We are Mostly Water
Because our bodies are almost 75% water, just like the planet we live on, water is integrated into our physiological processes and constitutes an important part of each cell. Think about the process of water on a global scale: the polar ice caps, the vast saltwater oceans and freshwater lakes and rivers, the transition of water from ice to liquid to vapor and back again, the cycle of water evaporating from the surface of the Earth, condensing, raining, running down to the sea, where it again evaporates into the air. It's an amazing system, isn't it? At the cellular level, the process is no less amazing.

Water is necessary for every cell to function. It carries the tiny electrical charge that initiates cellular processes, such as converting sodium into potassium. It provides the medium for nutrients to go into the cell and for wastes to come out. It aids in digestion. It also transports toxic waste away
from the cells toward our organs of elimination. Water cleanses our internal system and flushes waste through the liver, kidneys, colon, lungs, and sweat glands so that toxins can be eliminated. Water is also necessary to regulate body temperature, and to lubricate our joints.
If there is an insufficient supply of water in the body, the system shunts water to the areas that need it the most for basic functions. These areas include the brain, the heart, lungs, and internal organs. This means that some remote parts of the body, such as the extremities, may not receive the vital elements provided by water. It's like trying to put out a fire with a squirt gun — there just isn't enough water available for the task at hand.
As an example, someone can be so dehydrated and consequently nutritionally deficient for many years, that the bones in the body are not able to maintain adequate strength, causing brittle bones and susceptibility to fractures later in life. These conditions have been observed among professional jockeys, who for decade resorted to desperate measure to rid their body of “water weight” in order to be at the lowest riding weight racehorse owners and trainers demanded. In addition to drinking diuretics, jockeys would spend considerable time in the “sweat box” or sauna, attempting to remove as much water as possible from their bodies before a race to reduce their riding weight.
This chronic dehydration took a terrible toll on them physically and mentally. In addition to the stress of having to reduce to, and maintain, an average of 20 lbs below their normal body weight, the extreme dehydration weakened them such that it was a continual act of will to then control a 1200 lb animal at a full-out gallop in dangerous racing conditions. Jockeys who fell often shattered bones in their legs, making recovery to riding condition almost impossible. Where most athletes, properly hydrated, might experience a break in one or two places in the leg, depending on the severity of the accident, jockeys could find their bones broken in a dozen places at once. Many jockeys eventually suffered problems such as kidney failure later in life, due to the prolonged effects of chronic dehydration, as well as the nutritional deficiencies from the desperate measures they took to reduce body weight. The body is a complex system, so a change in any one part of it is going to have an effect on other parts. We don't need to understand all the complexities of how the body functions. However, it is useful to see the role water plays in healing and cell repair processes so that we can identify our own symptoms of dehydration.