I swear that as Both a Firefighter and an Athlete, I have heard every colloquialism about hydration you can think of.
”Hydrate today so you are good tomorrow”
”Drink Before you are Thirsty”
”1 Quart Gatorade to 2 Quarts Water for the Best hydration”
If it has to do with drinking for Performance, there is no myth I have not heard. But I have always wondered about the real Science behind liquid absorption. And with a little digging, I found that there is some really interesting Research on it that you should know about. So how fast do you think you absorb water?
Our bodies are made up of 60% water so it is no surprise that our digestive system is fine tuned to absorb every drop of liquid out of our beverages as well as the food that we eat. Starting with the moment these things touch our lips, the body switches into work mode, delivering the blood and physiological process to take in all it can.
Before I get to the science, lets have a quick refresher on our digestive system since it is the system that is in charge of digestion and absorption.
The work begins in the Mouth (obviously);
-The Mouth is as much a digestive tool as any other part of the body. Being that its proximity to your brain is so close, it activates the digestive process by sending blood and electrical currents to all parts of the body. Some liquid is absorbed with SECONDS of hitting your tongue, helping the mastication process of food.
The Stomach is the Washing Machine;
-So much of our conscious understanding of the GUT has traditionally been focused on the stomach. The Reality is that our stomachs are a very important pit stop for our food, being boiled in the acid of our stomachs. But water…. not so much. Water and liquid is quickly passed through the stomach and onto the most important organ of the body.
Small Intestine, Big Job:
-The GUT really relies on the Small intestine to do most of the Heavy lifting when it comes to digestion and abosorbtion of both food and drink. The Liquid that you drink is taken into the blood stream and moved to the organs through the barrier in the Small Instestine. Small VILLI, which look like little fingers, capture and process all things that pass through it. It is a good time to remind you that having as little inflammation as possible in the GUT is essential to optimal absorption of water as well as nutrients from food. So eat and drink CLEAN y’all!!
Large intestine is the Dump Site;
-Where Liquid may be absorbed upstream, it is dispensed for exit downstream. As Ill get to in a moment, water has a lifespan in your body and when its time to go, its pushed back through the membrane in the Large intestine and helps to pass digested food and dead GUT bacteria out of the body.
So now before we get to the expelling of water from the body, Lets introduce the science of Just How Long it takes for water to be absorbed. A study Published but the University of Montreal got to the bottom of how long it takes for a glass of water (with a tracking agent) to pass through the body. And this is what they found;
-Water enters the blood stream within 5 Minutes of ingestion
-Water is half way digested by 11 minutes
-Water is fully digested in 75 minutes
Within 10 Minutes of drinking a glass of water, a hydrated body will have the urge to pee. But that pee is not at all what you just drank! In fact, what the study found is that the life cycle of the liquid in your body has a full turn over every 50 days!. That means that for those of you who are trying to cleanse the body through a 48 detox, really need to be look at 2 months at least to fully have the system cleaned out!
Now there are many factors which can contribute to the speed and absorption rate of water. These include;
-How quickly your body produces ATP (energy).
-How Healthy your GUT is.
-How dehydrated you are?
-How quickly your stomach empties water into he small intestine.
-How healthy your liver and kidneys are.
-If you use drugs, alcohol or BULLSHIT SUPPLEMENTS.
This information might send your head into a million different directions so lets send you off with some very clear and simple thinking.
1. Drink at least 3-4 Liters per day of water ( thats 2 Hydro-flasks)
2. If you are an athlete, ensure you are taking in more than just water, you need salts !
3. Eat clean so as to decrease inflammation and aid absorption of water.
4. Avoid excessive alcohol.
5. Drink Water 10 minutes BEFORE you eat or exercise to ensure optimal hydration.
Good luck water babies! Let love and light flow through your body like Water does. And ill be her to support you the entire time!
Love,
Eric
280519 "How Quick do you Absorb Water?"
