Head On

I have suffered from migraines for the better part of my adult life. While there isn’t usually a specific trigger for them, I have noticed that they seem to occur more frequently when I am not properly hydrated. The rule of thumb is for people to drink 8 8-oz glasses of water a day-that is 64 oz of water. That applies to the average 5’4”, 120 lb woman. If you are bigger, you actually need more water. The actual rule is half your body weight in fluid daily. So, if you are 200 lbs, you need to drink 100 oz of water (not soda or coffee, mind you) daily to maintain proper hydration.

From www.dehydration.net, some of the signs and symptoms of chronic dehydration:

Exhaustion, lack of energy. Dehydration reduces tissue enzymatic activity.

Constipation. Normally the food getting to the intestinal tract contains much water. The intestine walls absorb the water and also absorb the nutrients dissolved in the water to supply the body with the both. The rest of the food that was not absorbed turns into the stool. If you don’t drink water enough the intestine takes too much water from the stool that leads to constipation.

Eating disorders. Chronic dehydration reduces the digestive juices secretion as digestive juiced contain water.

Low or high blood pressure. The blood volume is insufficient to fill all the arteries, veins and capillaries of the body. It results in low pressure or if the body reacts by constricting the arteries than in high pressure.

Gastritis, gastric ulcer. To protect the stomach wall from injury by gastric acid, the stomach is lined with mucous membrane which contains 98% of water. Its structure is deteriorated in the case of dehydration leading to poor protective action.

Problems with the respiratory system. Mucous membranes of respiratory system should be slightly humidified in order to protect the respiratory system from harmful substances contained in the inhaled air.

Improper acid-alkaline balance. Dehydration slows down excretion of water with the unnecessary substances away from the body.

Extra weight and obesity. We often overeat because we need water contained in food. Thirst is often confused with hunger.

Eczema. Your body requires minimum one liter of water daily to dilute the toxins, skin irritants.

Cholesterol. When the cells are losing water, the body tries to stop this loss by producing more cholesterol.

Cystitis, infections of the urinary canal. If toxins in the urine are not sufficiently diluted with water, they destroy the mucous membrane of urinary channel.

Rheumatism. Because dehydration increases the concentration of toxins in the blood and cellular fluid, the more toxins, the stronger the pain.

While preventing headaches is not listed as a benefit, I find the less properly hydrated I am, the more likely I am to have a headache