Lack of Water is Dangerous for Your Blood

If we consume less than 8 glasses, then our body will create a balance by taking water resources from one element of the body, including the blood. Lack of water is harmful for our blood. Because, the blood will be thick. As a result, the journey of blood as a means of transport of oxygen and nutrients is disturbed. Blood which is thicker will also pass through the kidney that functions as a filter or tool to filter toxins from the blood.

If you a kidney have to filter thick blood, it must work extra hard. It is not impossible that the kidney could be damaged and will later have hemodialysis. what about the brain?

The thick blood travel will also be hampered as it passes through the brain. In fact, brain cells are most wasteful, consuming food and oxygen carried by blood. Thus the function of brain cells is not running optimally and may even die quickly. These conditions will increasingly lead to stroke.

Brain and blood are two important organs that have moisture content over 80 percent. The brain has a component of water by 90 percent, while the blood component has 95 percent water. At least, we normally need two liters a day or 8 glasses a day. Here are nine benefits of water (mineral) for the body.

1. Streamlining the digestive system. Consuming adequate amounts of water every day will expedite the digestive system so that we will be avoided from digestive problems such as ulcers or constipation. Burning calories will also run efficiently.

2. Slow the growth of cancer-causing substances, prevent kidney stones and heart disease.Drinking water will give the body more energy.

3. If we lack of water, our body will absorb the water content in the skin so the skin becomes dry and wrinkled. Therefore, consuming plain water can protect the skin from the outside, as well as moisturize and heal the skin. To maintain the beauty (especially for woman), we should drink 8-10 glasses of water daily.

4. For fertility, water increases production of testosterone hormones in men and estrogen hormones in women. According to the findings of a thrombosis research institute in London, England, if someone always showers with cold water then their blood circulation will be more smoothly and their body feels fresh and fit. Bathing with cold water will increase production of white blood cells in the body and increase a person’s ability to attack viruses. Even a cold shower in the morning can increase testosterone production in men and estrogen in women. Which meansfertility and sexual excitement will increase. Also improves skin tissue, healthier and stronger nails.

5. Water is also believed to be able to cure heart disease, rheumatism, skin damage, respiratory diseases, bowel, and female diseases, and much more. There are also pretty much alternative medications which uses water.

6. Hot water is not only used to treat various skin diseases, but also effective for treating paralysis such as stroke. Therefore, water can help strengthen back muscles, circulatory system and respiratory system. Effect of heat causes dilation of blood vessels, improving blood circulation and oxygen network, thereby preventing muscle stiffness, relieve pain. The content of ions, especially chlorine, magnesium, hydrogen and sulfate carbohydrates in hot water, helps dilation of blood vessels thus increasing blood circulation. Besides that, the water PH, can sterilize the skin.

7. Water gives relaxation effects. Try standing in the shower and feel the effects in the body. Shower water that falls into the body feels like a massage and is able to eliminate fatigue because it feels like a massage. A number of alternative medical experts say, that having contact with shower, a walk in the surrounding waterfalls, or rivers and parks with lots of fountains, will acquire the properties of ions negative. Negative ions which arise due to water droplets collide can relieve pain, neutralize toxins, combat disease and help to absorb and utilize oxygen. Negative ions in the blood stream will accelerate the delivery of oxygen to the cells and tissues.

8. For those who want to loose weight, drinking hot water before eating is one way to reduce the amount of food intake. Moreover water contains no calories, sugar, or fat. However it is best to drink water at medium temperature, not too hot, nor too cold.

9. The decreased amount of water in the body, will also decrease the organs function and will be more easily disturbed by bacteria, viruses, and others. However, the human body has a mechanism in maintaining the balance of water intake in the body. Water our bodies require approximately 2  – 2.5 liter (8-10 cups) per day. Total water demand is already including the water intake from food (such as soup, soto), syrup and others. In addition, water intake also obtained from the metabolism of food consumed and tissue metabolism in the body. www.medicmagic.net

Cardiovascular Fitness - Cardio Workouts

There is so much talk about the need to have good cardiovascular fitness to maintain good health these days.

But for somebody with no knowledge on the subject, there might be some confusion on exactly what cardiovascular fitness means and how to raise the level of their cardiovascular fitness.

This article aims to clarify exactly what cardiovascular fitness is, the benefits of cardio workouts, and the basic principles to increase ones cardiovascular fitness.

Cardiovascular fitness, also known as cardiorespiratory endurance, is a term that is used to describe a unique form of muscular endurance. In essence, it describes the efficiency in which the lungs, heart, and vascular system work in order to provide oxygen to the working muscles of the body so that the exertion of the muscle is able to be maintained. Of course there are many factors that can affect cardiovascular fitness including heart rate, stroke volume, and the ability of the muscle cells to take up oxygen out of the blood. When we exercise our bodies in the aerobic threshold, which I will explain later, we cause several changes in our body to occur. Our general metabolism starts to rise, our muscles increase their metabolism, the efficiency of delivering blood back to our heart is increase, and in turn the efficiency by which our heart operates is increased in delivering blood to our working tissues.

The benefits of cardiovascular fitness are numerous.

The first benefit would be that it strengthens both the heart muscle and the muscles involved in breathing such as the lungs. Not only can we carry out sustained periods of exertion with minimal discomfort there are also physiological benefits such as reducing ones blood pressure, increased resting metabolism to burn fat, and the release of endorphins to the brain which gives us a general feeling of well being decreasing the chance or warding off depression and anxiety. The list can go on and on. What you need to know is that the health benefits of getting into a good cardiovascular state are numerous.

Before we begin looking at different activities to increase your cardiovascular fitness some basic principles need to be shared. In order to illicit a change in the body one needs to stress their body to a state where the heart is beating at a rate equivalent to at least 75% of the age predicted maximum heart rate with an aim to getting to 85%. For the beginners out there it is important that you do not try to overdue it. It takes time for the body to make changes and by overdoing it you put your body at risk, never mind not enjoying the exercise.

Choose an activity that you will enjoy doing. It doesn't have to be getting on to an elliptical machine or treadmill unless you enjoy doing that type of activity. Depending on your current level fitness, a power walk outside may be all you need to get the heart going. You could also go for a run outside, ride a bike, climb stairs, go swimming, inline skating, go for a hike, play tennis, or even play with the kids outside. I'm sure you can think of some other activities from here that can get your heart rate up and keep it up.

The time requirement will vary depending on the intensity that you are working out but in general you will want to strive for 30-90 minutes on most days with the bare minimum being 30 minutes 3 times a week. If you find it too difficult to go for all 30 minutes all at once, break it up. Do 15 at one time and do 15 minutes another. This should only be for the beginners though. You should try to get to a point where 30 minutes of continuous exercise can be easily maintained.

The Intensity with which you exercise is going to very widely depending on your starting fitness level. We have already discussed heart rate, but there are easier ways to determine if you are exercising hard enough without overdoing it. You could work off the scale of 10, where 1 is basically doing nothing and 10 is going all out. You will want to try to get to a 6-8. Beginners might only be able to go at these levels for short periods of time. That is alright as long as you try to work up over time to do more. If you have a workout partner, the easiest way to determine your intensity is to talk with your workout partner. If you are working out so hard that you can't keep a conversation going because you are too out of breath then you are working to hard. You should be exerting yourself but not killing yourself.

I hope this information provides some clarity and gives some encouragement to increase your cardiovascular fitness level.

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Definition of Cardiovascular Endurance

The definition of cardiovascular endurance simply put is the body’s ability to continue exertion while getting energy from the aerobic system used to supply the body with energy. This is the system that kicks in third after the phosphogen and the glycogen lactic acid system, and so the one that supplies energy to the human circulatory system and the muscles over extended periods.

Cardiovascular endurance is most useful for long distance sports; for marathon training, long distance running, jogging and swimming, however it will also be useful for everyone else and a lack of it will lead to individuals becoming quickly tired and out of breath. In a marathon, the person who comes first (while allowing for injury or general poor technique) will generally be the person with the best cardiovascular fitness. To fully understand the definition of cardiovascular endurance, it’s important to understand how the body utilises energy to power its muscles.

Essentially, all energy in the body of every living organisms comes from a substance called ‘ATP’, the ‘energy currency’ of life on Earth. ATP stands for ‘Andenosine Triphosphate’, a name that describes the chemical composition of the substance. ATP you see is an adenine nucleotide made up of three phosphates attached by powerful high-energy bonds. When these bonds are broken they release energy, which the body then utilises to power the muscles etc and which forms the basis of the posphogen system, powering the body for 3 seconds using the ATP stored in the muscles.

As well as giving off energy however, the phosphogen system also has two other by-products, ADP and AMP, which stands for Andenosine Diphosphate and Andenosine Monophosphate respectively. These are similar to ATP, except in that they describe adenine nucleotides with just two or one posphates respectively. In other words, they are the two parts of the ATP once the bonds are broken. Fortunately however the body also stores and produces another substance called Creatine in the Kidneys. Creatine is meanwhile used by the body to recombine ADP and AMP to make new ATP that can be once again used by the body. This then supplies an additional 8-10 seconds of energy on top of the initial 3 seconds and can be used by the body for extended explosive exercise. Using these methods combined then the body can utilise the phosphogen system for energy for a full 13.5 seconds, making it the best type of energy for explosive movements, such as weight lifting, 100 metre sprinting or jumping. Some athletes take a creatine supplement with the belief that it will increase that 8-10 seconds. The definition of cardiovascular endurance does not encompass this system of energy release, as the ATP and creatine is readily accessible by the body, thus cardiovascular endurance is not necessary for sprinting.

Once the body has used up its supply of ATP and creatine, it will move on to a secondary method for energy – the glycogen lactic acid system. Here the body falls back on another substance found in the muscles, namely glycogen. As a form of carbohydrate this too can be broken down into ATP and so used for energy supplying an addition 1.5 minutes, though this system is slower than the phosphogen system and also results in another by-product named ‘lactic acid’ which can cause the muscles to feel stiff and uncomfortable. It’s lactic acid that creates the feeling of the ‘burn’ sought after by bodybuilders and runners while training, but which can also make it difficult to continue performing when it builds up. This is why the glycogen lactic acid system is the secondary system used.

It is only after these two systems however that the aerobic system kicks in. The definition of cardiovascular endurance then is the ability to continue exertion following the initial 1.43.5 minutes. At this point the muscle must find its energy from other areas around the body and then transport it to the areas it is needed and this is done via the bloodstream. Here the body uses oxygen to break down energy stored in the mitochondria around the body in the form of foods – either fat or protein. In this way the body begins to ‘burn’ its own fuel supplies, stored as fat and muscle, in order to find energy to continue exertion. This energy, in the form of ATP of course, is transported via the blood to the muscles resulting in the feeling of being ‘pumped’. This system can supply the body with up to two hours of additional performance, though precisely how long will depend on the fitness of the individual (that being the definition of cardiovascular endurance). While this system is fairly slow, and can eventually begin to damage muscle tissue, at the same time it produces no by products other than harmless carbon dioxide and water. It is the aerobic system that the body relies on for long distance running such as that needed for a marathon.

The aerobic system relies on many other organs and systems being in place then, and in fact another definition of cardiovascular fitness could be to have a strong heart, high VO2 max, lung capacity, breath control and a healthy circulatory system. It is through these bodily systems that we are able to extract the oxygen from the air and transport it through the blood to the relevant areas. The term VO2 max refers most specifically to the body’s maximum rate at which it can draw oxygen from the air, and can be trained through cardiovascular exercise and more specifically by training where the air is thinner – in the cold or at high altitudes.

Obviously a strong heart is crucial for cardiovascular fitness as it’s what will pump the blood round the muscles to the mitochondria and the muscles. This will be transported through the veins and arteries that make up the ‘human circulatory system’. A healthy circulatory system can be maintained through consumption of fibre, which travels through the veins and arteries to unclog arterial plaque, and by eating a diet low in carbohydrates and saturated fats.

Between these elements then is found an in-depth definition of cardiovascular endurance. Through understanding the exact process that goes into cardiovascular fitness you can train each aspect separately to improve every aspect of your performance.

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