Think water is a lackluster clear concoction? Next time you reach for a sugary or caffeinated drink, we challenge you to rethink water. God created water for us (Genesis 1:2; Exodus 7:24) so it’s efficacious to consider the many God-given, scientific benefits of water.¹ ² ³
Water appears 722 times in the Bible, more than the word faith. Water has the power to; heal, purify, sustain and destroy (e.g. the flood, Genesis 6:17).⁴ Water is also vital to survival and overall good health.⁵ ⁶ ⁷ Up to 60% of our body weight is comprised of water.⁸ So, before you think of water as a way to lose weight, consider where the water is located in this intelligently designed body; brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, muscles, liver, skin, and bones to name a few. In addition, we humans can only survive for 3 or 4 days without water.⁹
WATER FOR VITALITY
- Bones are made of 25% Water.
- Brain, kidneys, heart, lungs are 80% water.
- Muscles, liver, and skin are 70% or more water.
- Watery portion of our blood, plasma, is composed mostly of water.
When it comes to personal health and fitness, the physiological benefits of water are endless!¹⁰ ¹¹ Water carries nutrients to our body, oxygen to the heart and brain, helps regulate body temperature and helps the body absorb important vitamins and minerals. Along with the many listed benefits water also provides structure for cells and tissue (think wrinkles in skin) and even aids in brain function.¹² ¹³ Next time you feel tired, lack energy, or have brain fog, consider that studies have suggested it may not be a lack of sleep but signs of dehydration and a need for water for better bodily function.¹⁴ ¹⁵
WATER FOR HEALTH
- Flushes waste from body
- Regulates body temperature
- Helps transport and absorb nutrients
- Lubricates joints and internal organs
- Aids in breaking down food for softer stool
Select PROGRAMMING as the type of ‘Professional Help’ Information you want.
Try rethinking how you drink water during exercise. American College or Sports Medicine (ACSM)¹⁸ advocates hydration and fluid replacement of various amounts before, during and after exercise based on environmental conditions, intensity, and body size. They also state room temperature water replenishes dehydration quicker than cold water.¹⁹ However, one study on endurance athletes indicated cold water during endurance exercise has shown to allow the body core temperature to maintain at lower levels allowing slight increased stamina for endurance athletes over room-temperature water.²⁰ While there is no set standard on amount of water intake, it is best to follow the type of exercise and personal characteristics of your body when it comes to hydration and exercise.
TAKE HYDRATION HIGHER
Adequate hydration habits are essential for optimal health and exercise/sport performance. To test for hydration, check your skin and urine. Aside from previously mentioned dehydration indicators like lack of clarity, fatigue, try the skin Turgor and urine test. These two tests are quick ways to test your hydration levels. Turgor is the degree of elasticity of skin to test the body’s extent of dehydration or fluid loss.²¹ Urine is a mix of water, kidney waste from filtering blood and electrolytes.²² Normal is transparent yellow however, other colors can say volumes.
We’ve brought together this research, Christian faith connections and tips so that you can prayerfully consider how you can rethink water. Water is a vital element of life, both in the physical and spiritual sense. We are stewards of our bodies, temples of the Spirit who lives in us. Christians are called to be good stewards of what they have been given – that includes the body. Be responsible and take care of your body. Rethinking how, when and why you consume water is important to physical and spiritual well-being.
Endnote: This is the first in a series on Biblical Sports Nutrition articles written by the authors. Our goal as followers of Christ and as Sport and Exercise Professionals is to share with our readers how God created us to flourish both physically, spiritually and mentally through caring for others and ourselves by following good nutrition and health practices. Dr.’s Monica O’Rourke and Scott Roberts encourage you to review our biblical and science resources for further study on the benefits of water to help you live your best life.
References
- Sarfati, J. (1997). The wonders of water. Creation, 20 (1), 44-47. https://creation.com/the-wonders-of-water
- Shiklomanov, I. (1993). World fresh water resources. In Gleick, P. (Ed), Water in Crisis: A guide to the world’s fresh water resources. Oxford Press.
- United States Geological Survey. (2020, December 22). Fundamentals of the water cycle. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/fundamentals-water-cycle?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects
- Bible Gateway. (2020, December). https://www.biblegateway.com/
- Roland, J. (2019). What is the average (and ideal) percentage of water in your body? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/body-water-percentage
- Menton, D. (2019). Water in your lungs: What a relief. Answers Magazine.
- Song, Y., Yang, B., Matthay, M., Ma, T., & Verkman, A.S. (2000). Role of aquaporin water channels in pleural fluid dynamics. American Journal of Physiology Cell Physiology, 279, C1744-C1750.
- Roland, J. (2019). What is the average (and ideal) percentage of water in your body? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/body-water-percentage
- Popkin, B, D’Anci, K. & Rosenberg, I. (2010). Water, hydration, and health. Nutrition reviews, 68(8), 439-458.
- Sissons, C. (2020). What is the average percentage of water in the human body? Healthline. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-percentage-of-the-human-body-is-water
- Foley, A. (2018). Water: An underappreciated gift of the Creator. Answers in Genesis.
- Roy, B. (2013). Exercise and fluid replacement: Brought to you by the American College of Sports Medicine. American College of Sports Medicine Health and Fitness Journal, 12(4), 3. doi: 10.1249/FIT.0b013e318296bc4b
28 Responses
I really enjoyed reading this article! I believe that it made numerous excellent points regarding keeping in mind the importance of water intake, especially while exercising in hot temperatures. This is an important habit to make part of your exercise routine. This practice is preventive to so many problems that can arise if one becomes badly dehydrated. My compliments to the authors for raising awareness of such a crucial issue to people’s well-being.
Dr. Joe Malone
Thank you Dr. Malone. We too hope it raises awareness for God’s natural hydration source…water. ~ Monica
Great article Scott and Monica.
Thank you Brad.
This article is awesome and I will be passing on to my clients on our private forum.
Thank you Karla. We hope it can help your clients in their health and fitness journey. ~Monica
Great article! Thanks, Monica for sharing. I reposted on LinkedIn because I think it is great to be able to share the academic and faith integration whenever we can. And I drank some water right afterwards. I swear it tasted better!
An extremely informative and well written article! The authors take their readers through a very well presented case for taking water/hydration seriously!
An informative and well written article! The authors present a well supported case for taking water/hydration seriously.
I found it interesting that the word “water” appears more timers than the word “faith.” Also, it was great to see how our body uses water! It was refreshing to see how everything was tied into the Word. I definitely feel inspired to rethink water for fitness!
Water is so key for both athletes and non-athletes because as mentioned it is literally over half of our body. It blows my mind how often water is written into the Bible and often times it is compared to life and a vital source. So clearly water, whether used as a metaphor or in the literal sense is so important
I found this article to be very informative in both water and the Christian faith. I thought it was interesting that different water temperatures have a different affect on the human body.
I have always known of the significance of water in the bible, but I loved learning that water is used more often than faith in the bible. A story I thought of, however, is when Jesus turns water into wine. Water may be used more frequently than faith, but faith is required for God to transform the everyday into the ordinary. I think that’s an important concept to consider in our faith journey and daily life. Life can be as mundane as water, but with faith, God can give us eyes that see beyond the commonplace.
This article was so informative and answered questions that I had that I thought were too silly to ask. I am a personal trainer and love incorporating faith into working out and the connections that were presented really hit home. Thank you for introducing this point of view it was very engaging!
I found this article very informative in terms of how important hydration is. It has given me new insight and will change my habits of regularly drinking water. I did not realize the difference it makes to ingests cold or room temperature water also. Thanks for this good read.
It is interesting that if someone is feeling groggy, that it may not be that they slept badly, but that they are beginning to become dehydrated. The article makes me think of times where I have felt groggy and accredited it to not sleeping well, when in actuality I was just dehydrated. If I’m having a brain fog moment, maybe I’ll first try some water.
Excellent reminder of the value of water! Often overlooked yet vital for nearly every physiologic function!
The biblical connections combined with the research supported statements demonstrate the intelligence of design seen in the human body.
This article gives great Christian insight! I remember learning that one of the first signs of dehydration is crankiness, which can also negatively affect how we portray ourselves as followers of Christ. I also didn’t know that the temperature of water matters when trying to stay hydrated. I will definitely take this information into consideration for myself and my future students during physical activity.
Great article! I loved the emphasis on the importance of water not only in a physical sense but also in a spiritual sense. Through this article, I also learned about the Turgor test, which is a way to check for dehydration. This was new to me.
Amazing article. What caught my attention more was hydration, maybe becasue my throat was very dry while typing this. If I were to calculate myself what hydration level I am, then I would be close to level 1 because I drink alot of water. It is very good to remind people how important it is to stay hydrated. I will definitely take this info seiously since it relates to a person’s health in general.
Dear Dr. O”Rourke
I found this article very pleasing and took interest that the article’s word for “water” repeats itself repeatedly more often than the word “faith.” Serving several months in Afghanistan, I leaned the importance of staying hydrated and the importance of water. Little did I take this article to teach me how I should hydrated in faith. Overall, I enjoyed reading this article.
Thank you,
Danny Garcia
This article was very insightful and opened my eyes to new perspectives of water and how to nourish my body. It is amazing that God created such a simple substance that can be used in various ways of healing, I was intrigued to find out that when you may feel sluggish or have brain fog you should grab water. When I feel this way I usually go for caffeine first (now I think I’m dehydrating myself more) before water. With this knowledge, I will try and for water before I grab caffeine.
I only saw water as something that keeps you hydrated and never something with psychological benefits. What I read that was interesting is that I never saw was how often water was introduced in the bible, and it is something that people should drink more often because it helps cleanse the body and it allows to aid brain function.
This was a really good article!! I am now going to be more conscious when it comes to my hydration!!
Dr. O’Rourke,
Great article to read through and looking at God’s abundant gift for us. The water facts and the health facts are what stood out to me the most. Having water appear that many times in the Bible is astonishing! I actually prefer water now to most other beverages: this article just solidified my thinking so thank you!
Hi Dr. O’Rourke,
This was such a great article! Personally, this is very helpful because I am truly the worst at staying hydrated. I tend to always drink Gatorade or even sparkling water. When I was younger, I used to drink soda too, and I always thought that was going to hydrate me, but it actually dehydrated me. One intriguing fact on this article was reading that the word “water” appears 722 more times than the word “faith.” That is pretty amazing and now when I am reading the Bible, I am going to look out for the word “water.” Thank you for sharing this!
This article is simple and amazing, it reminded me of simple things as when you drink cold water during endurance exercise, cold water can help you to lower body core temperature. Coldwater increases stamina for endurance athletes over room-temperature water.
I learned from this article that room temperature water replenishes dehydration quicker than cold water.
When you feel tired, lack energy, or have brain fog, it may not be a lack of sleep but signs of dehydration and a need for water for better bodily function.
Also, I liked how this article involved biblical words, it is amazing that Water appears 722 times in the Bible, more than the word faith.
Thanks for this article to the authors Monica O’Rourke and Scott Roberts.
Dear Dr. O’Rourke.
I found the article very informative and interesting. I love how the article made me realize how important water is in a biblical perspective, something I’ve never really considered before. Another interesting fact that I learned was how cold water could be more beneficial for endurance, as a golfer this is very helpful knowledge to me so that I can increase my stamina during long days on the course. Overall a great article and definitely worth the read.