It could be the perfect storm. No, I’m not referring to Tropical Storm Isaac that passed over us here in Florida a couple of days ago, and has unfortunately ravaged the Gulf Coast. I’m referring to the seldom-mentioned link between dehydration and stress that can hurt your health and your bones.
Surprising Study Results
A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that dehydration or hypohydration by -2.5% and -5.0% of body mass “…strongly increased cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, the primary stress hormones.”1
Bear in mind that the loss of less than 5% from body fluids is considered mild dehydration, and up to 10% is considered moderate dehydration.2 Interestingly, study researchers found that the elevated cortisol levels observed in the mildly dehydrated study subjects occurred both before and after intense resistance exercise. Which means that the exercises were not causing the increase of cortisol levels.
You see, every single organ in the body needs water to function properly. After all, we’re made of 70% water! So as the study proved, even minimal dehydration triggers damaging biochemical changes that are the same as the body’s response to stress.
And how does the body react to stress? By producing, among other things, the hormone cortisol, also known as the “fight or flight” response which, as I write in the Osteoporosis Reversal Program, accelerates bone loss.
The Dehydration ‘Hand Test'
Dehydration often reduces skin elasticity, so doctors often use this skin test to quickly check for dehydration. The best part is, you can do it yourself:
Pinch the skin on the back of your hand and pull it upwards. Your skin should snap back rapidly. If your skin maintains it's pinched shape for a few seconds and drops slowly, you may be dehydrated.
More Signs You're Dehydrated
- Headache
- Dry mouth
- Constipation
- Feeling lightheaded or dizzy
- Thirst
- Fatigue
- Muscle cramps or spasms
- Heart palpitations
- Very dark urine
- Decreased urine output
Benefits of Good Hydration
Besides helping maintain cortisol levels at bay, there are many other the benefits from staying fully hydrated. Here are some of them:
- Oxygenation: Adequate hydration ensures that oxygen is carried throughout the body.
- Prevention: Water deficiency can cause kidney stones, constipation, migraines, ulcers, and more.
- Digestion: Fluids are needed for nutrients to pass through the membrane of the intestines. Sufficient hydration allows nutrients to be efficiently distributed throughout the body.
- Joint Pain: Proper hydration helps lubricate the joints. Dehydration, which doesn’t allow the body to efficiently cleanse toxins, can actually lead to an accumulation of toxins, which can cause pain and inflammation in joints.
- Youthful Appearance: Hydration keeps your skin cells plump so your skin appears smoother, giving you a more youthful appearance.
- Weight Loss: Staying hydrated can help weight loss efforts by acting as a natural appetite suppressant. It also removes the threat of misinterpreting thirst as hunger.
What Should You Drink?
It’s a vicious cycle: dehydration causes stress and stress often leads to dehydration. Since it’s impossible to completely avoid stress, the best way to break this cycle is to stay well hydrated by making sure you’re drinking enough water.
Don’t wait until you’re thirsty, since thirst is a sign of dehydration. Instead, I recommend sipping distilled water throughout the day. Sipping, as opposed to gulping, helps your body retain water and won’t overload your kidneys.
Distilled water is the best choice. Why? Because not all water is created equal. Only distilled water is pure, made only of Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms. In a perfect world, rain water would be identical to distilled water: just plain H2O.
If you can’t get distilled water, your second best choice is water purified by reverse osmosis. And with either water, try adding a few drops of lemon juice to add a little flavor and help alkalize the body,
How Much Should You Drink?
A general rule of thumb is to try to drink half of your body weight in ounces per day. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, drink 80 ounces of water per day – which is about 10 glasses of water. But it is just that, a general rule. Feel free to vary your water intake by 20 percent in either direction, depending on your activity level. If you are extremely active, by all means drink more.
To your health!
P.S. I'm excited to announce that next week is Save Our Bones ‘Water Week'! So stay tuned, and look in your inbox for some fascinating information about water and how important it is for your bone health and overall wellness.
References
1 Judelson AD. et al. “Effect of hydration state on resistance exercise-induced endocrine markers of anabolism, catabolism, and metabolism.” Journal of Applied Physiology September 2008 vol. 105 no. 3 816-824.
2 https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Hypohydration
Also with regard to salt try Himalayan pink salt or sea salt as it contains many benificial minerals, or Dulse (seaweed) very high in Iodine.
Do not use table salt…(my opinion not everyone’s but I am Intitled to mine) table salt is heat treated and can be bleached, the salt is often mixed with sand as it comes from the sea, what happens when you heat sand? It turns to glass, so salt is a mix of salt, sand and glass, the fine glass scratches the inside walls of your veins, your body try’s to heal the scratches by producing cholesterol a sticky substance to try to stick over the lesions. Hence Use natural non heated or bleached salt.
If you want to purify your water from harmful things without stripping minerals put a shungite stone in your water bottle (glass water bottle) if you want to see how well this miracle stone works, get a glass bowl, fill with water and put some tarnished silver in the bowl, within the hour the silver is sparkly clean.
Google shungite, it is 98% carbon 2% Unknown, however it is now used in commercial water filters.
It is only found in Russia, can be bought online or speciality crystal stores.
Dear Vivian,
I really enjoy reading your newsletters in which I found a lot of good advices for my friend who has osteoporosis. Thanks a lot for your generous help. However, I would appreciate receiving them in French because my friend cannot read English ( if this is possible)
Greatings
Nicole
.
Without adequate salt , water will not be retained and will be expelled , dehydrating and thickening the blood and making BP rise .
When water is balanced with salt the blood and tissue will be hydrated and the blood will thin lowering blood pressure eventually once the veins expand .
If you work out you will need to salt to taste and not cut back since there is no salt in unprocessed food .
Balance the salt with potassium eg in vegetables or fruits – but we need 6 grams plus
of salt depending on work outs and climate – I take about 8 – 10 grams of salt
The sheer quantity of the daily requirement for salt and potassium is the only way of alkalising the body and making enough sodium bicarbonate in the pancreas .
The medical knowledge on salt is a disaster but thats why there is so much high BP
around – lack of salt will dehydrate and raise BP and sell more statins .
Good point. But it needs to be high-quality salt, such as Celtic sea salt.
This is extremely interesting information.it has helped me in my naivety in this subject ,and thank you
I have been drinking “Berkey” water through a filtering system which is filled with minerals the body needs for proper nutrition. A friend of mine, an RN advised me to use this system, and all the naturopath specialists I’ve met agreed with this system. I also have RO in my home, as my roommate likes that instead. https://www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/?gclid=CPGZqP__08gCFQdsfgodNbcLWw Not selling this system, but I didn’t know about it until someone introduced me, so I’m paying it forward.
I’m 72 1/2 and have been diagnosed with full blown osteoporosis, and a collapsed cortisol level (1.9) and on hydrocortisone 10 mg. 2 x p/d for the rest of my life as I was told. Talk about stress! OMG. My friends thought I was heading for the looney farm prior to diagnosis by an endocrinologist a year ago. No One, not even my OBGYN thought of the cortisol level being so depleted, even after I couldn’t stop crying – they all thought I needed an anti-depressant, anti-anxiety pill AND a therapist………finally, I became my own doctor.
Again about water intake. Another friend’s son is a kidney doctor who saw me drinking water and said to me “you’re flushing your sodium levels down the toilet with too much water”. I’m confused! Darned if you do, and darned if you don’t. So, what does one do? Thanks Vivian!
I found your comments about how no one could figure out what was wrong with you until u saw the endocrinologist. Can u tell me more about what symptoms and health problems you were experiencing prior to discovering the problem.I am trying to research my own health issues presently. I’ve been told as much as I am delusional. Even been threatened to be put into a psych ward for evaluation if I kept insisting that their diagnosis was incorrect. I lost direction of where to turn because of how I am not taken seriosly by the doctors. But Its my body and im intelligent, level headed and well educated in the medical field due to my life career. I am still treated with disdain when I challenge their answer. I am my beat advocate. And I know when something is not right. I did find one answer on my own. Yet I am searching for another. Will you please share a little more.
PATRIOT POWER GREENS, go get them,, patriot health alliance
by these messages I’m confused, I’ve had osteopenia well found in 1996 could have been longer. and I’m only 55, rampant on my mothers side of the family. So you’re saying that calcium is no good for bones, or only certain calciums with a set kind of water, please explain as I said all these messages are confusing…
Kal, you’ve come to the right place! I encourage your to read all the free information on this site that will help clarify things for you. There are many posts on calcium and water, and you can use the Search feature to search any topics of interest. I hope you’ll stick around and keep learning!
“If your skin maintains it’s pinched shape for a few seconds and drops slowly, you may be dehydrated.” Or you may be over 50. 🙂
I’m over 50 and my skin snaps right back so …. try again!
I knew I was dehydrated… when I pinch the skin on the back of my hand? It stays and stays and stays and stays. It’s weird.
I’m actually in the hospital right now with an IV. I have had numerous tests done. CT scan, ultrasound, hydra scan, blood work. Anytime I eat or drink or even when I don’t I am sick. In the upper abdominal middle area. This has been going on for 3 weeks. My stools are black watery and tarey. They can not figure out what’s going on with me. I’ve lost 20 pounds. I’m 33 and before all of this I only weighed 145. I would much rather die right now than to be in this pain that I’m in. When I pinch my hand it snaps back but my white count was 29,000 and I was extremely dehydrated.
Have you been checked for Diverticulitis?
Hi Vivian,
There’s obviously a LOT of controversy and confusion out there about water. It seems to me that’d be a great topic for you to do some of the thorough research you do so well, and get back to us with a comprehensive comparison of pros and cons for each type of water.
Thanks
Ruth
Ruth, you are so right! You’ll find a comprehensive comparison (and more) on the various types of water, backed by research, in The Missing Link, a supplemental report that comes with the Osteoporosis Reversal Program. In addition, this site has a great deal of free information on water – in fact, the community spent an entire week – Water Week – discussing the research! 🙂 You can read the posts from Water Week here:
https://saveourbones.com/?s=%22water+week%22
I am chronically dehydrated, despite the fact that I drink either distilled or reverse osmosis water all day long (with lemon, as you suggest). I am 65, weigh 115, and drink about 6-8 (12oz) glasses of water throughout the day. I have a been diagnosed with osteoporosis, which is pretty much genetic on my maternal side, so I am following your diet guidelines to reduce acidity. I take no medications, but have dry mouth all the time and fail the “skin-drop test”, despite my best efforts at consuming water. I have no other symptoms of adrenal disorder, such as fatigue, joint pain, sleep deprivation, high or low blood pressure, but do have slightly elevated cholesterol levels. My doctor does not seem concerned, but this is bothersome.
Hi! Vivian,
I Know I Should Drink More Water; And I Have Been Trying To Drink More. Think I’m Going To Try To Make My Own Distilled Water.
Can I Make Distilled Water By Boiling Water, Then Pouring It Through A Strainer Into An Orange Juice Container That’s Been Thoroughly Washed And Sterilized?
Thank You Very Much, In Advance, For Any Pointers You Can Give Me On This. And Thank You For All You Do!
LOVE, LESLIE (MS. L. CARMEL)
OMG!!!!!! I am stressed only reading all the comments about water!!!!! Don’t know who to follow. My cortison levels are high now. 🙂 Very controversial. I’ll keep drinking my Brita water with lemom and good luck to all of you!!!!
Goodness I am lucky if I consume at least one glass of water daily as I just am not a water drinker. However that is going to change because I did the skin test and my skin slowly dropped on my hand. Plus my skin on my arms/neck is getting wrinkled such as it never had before. Yes I have been diagnosed with osteoporosis and the docs never mentioned dehydration to me, so I’ll bring it before them. 🙂
I believe some people dehydrate faster then others even if they drink enough, exercise less, or hardly stay in the sun. Is this correct?
Shula
Sorry Vivian!
I disagree about drinking distilled water, or reverse osmosis.
This waters once stripped of minerals become very acidic, not beneficial
for your bones.
Since you’re advocating alkaline water and food, that’s a bit confusing.
I would advice drinking distilled water no more then a week to detox,
for health,… purified water is your best bet!
I agree with you. Your water needs to be alkaline. However it is hard to find a good way to purify your water. You need a BLOCK carbon filter and most are not. Muli Pure makes a good block filter. They are hard to find but well worth it. Do not get a loose carbon filter, they are worthless as soon as the water makes pathways in the loose carbon. We ionize our water also. Stick with what you know is right…Kathy
Hi, Vivian,
I noticed a response you gave to someone here that taking a calcium supplement would not work to alkalize an acid drink because the drink would reach the stomach first – but if we take our maximum calcium dosage throughout the day as we do, doesn’t our body maintain a level of calcium that would offset the alkalinity of an acid drink during the day? We surely wouldn’t have to take the alkaline fix at the same time as the acid food???
And on the subject of which water to drink, I have two natural doctors who both have installed Alkalizing water machines in their office and they will fill up your bottles for a small fee. I was doing this when one day the machine was needing a new filter and they were not selling water that day & I later went to the other doctor’s office on an appointment and told them I’d picked up some Distilled water from the grocery store and they were quite emphatic that Distilled water had no minerals and was not nearly as good as Alkaline water. SO, I went to my health food store and bought Alkaline drops and started putting so many drops into each glass of water I drank and I felt I was doing well for myself until I read the same article many others apparently read, about Distilled water leaching minerals from the bones. I think we all need to know a definite answer – is this going to be adequate to give us the missing minerals and will it prevent toxicity and prevent removing minerals from our bones? Or are the alkaline water machines better because that water contains the missing minerals?
I still have my 3 bottles of distilled water sitting here and don’t know what to do. I hope you can reply to this because being in a quandary can make one dehydrated : )
Thanks, Vivian.
To answer your question there is a fact that the industry knows : it is that pipes in which distilled water runs through decays much quicker than pipes running ordinary water. Distilled water does leach minerals and is not natural.