Is drinking alot of water as healthy as it is touted to be? Or will it kill you???

When a person drinks too much water in a short period of time, the kidneys cannot flush it out fast enough and the blood becomes waterlogged. Drawn to regions where the concentration of salt and other dissolved substances is higher, excess water leaves the blood and ultimately enters the cells, which swell like balloons to accommodate it.

Most cells have room to stretch because they are embedded in flexible tissues such as fat and muscle, but this is not the case for neurons. Brain cells are tightly packaged inside a rigid boney cage, the skull, and they have to share this space with blood and cerebrospinal fluid, explains Wolfgang Liedtke, a clinical neuroscientist at Duke University Medical Center. "Inside the skull there is almost zero room to expand and swell," he says.

Where did people get the idea that guzzling enormous quantities of water is healthful? A few years ago Heinz Valtin, a kidney specialist from Dartmouth Medical School, decided to determine if the common advice to drink eight, eight-ounce glasses of water per day could hold up to scientific scrutiny. After scouring the peer-reviewed literature, Valtin concluded that no scientific studies support the "eight x eight" dictum (for healthy adults living in temperate climates and doing mild exercise). In fact, drinking this much or more "could be harmful, both in precipitating potentially dangerous hyponatremia and exposure to pollutants, and also in making many people feel guilty for not drinking enough.

Most cases of water poisoning do not result from simply drinking too much water. It is usually a combination of excessive fluid intake and increased secretion of vasopression (also called antidiuretic hormone). Produced by the hypothalamus and secreted into the bloodstream by the posterior pituitary gland, vasopressin instructs the kidneys to conserve water. Its secretion increases in periods of physical stress—during a marathon, for example—and may cause the body to conserve water even if a person is drinking excessive quantities.

Every hour, a healthy kidney at rest can excrete 800 to 1,000 milliliters, or 0.21 to 0.26 gallon, of water and therefore a person can drink water at a rate of 800 to 1,000 milliliters per hour without experiencing a net gain in water, Verbalis explains. If that same person is running a marathon, however, the stress of the situation will increase vasopressin levels, reducing the kidney's excretion capacity to as low as 100 milliliters per hour. Drinking 800 to 1,000 milliliters of water per hour under these conditions can potentially lead a net gain in water, even with considerable sweating.

But measuring sweat output is not easy. How can a marathon runner, or any person, determine how much water to consume? As long as you are healthy and equipped with a thirst barometer unimpaired by old age or mind-altering drugs, follow Verbalis's advice, "drink to your thirst. It's the best indicator."

Healthiest snacking options

• Sunflower Seeds
• Air popped popcorn
• Soy chips
• Tuna
• Pickles
• Olives
• Sugar-free Jello
• Protein Bars
• Frozen Grapes
• Frozen Mango
• Frozen Yogurt
• Peanut Butter
• Almonds
• Apple Slices
• Cherry Tomatoes

The role of antioxidants in fitness!

Most people when they think fitness, think physical activity, but, fitness extends beyond the physical activity and works hand in hand with a healthy lifestyle. One of the ways in which we can keep our bodies in tip top shape from the inside is to simply stay on top of our vitamin intake, particularly antioxidants. 

Antioxidants are like the soldiers for the body's defense system. They are the first line of defense when the body comes under any type of attack. They are a staple for people that have a workout regime, because they drastically reduce the free radical damage caused by strenuous exercise. 

There are many different types of vitamins all good for separate reasons. Here are a couple great ones that you should consider investing in below. 

Antioxidants, such as vitamins C and vitamin E, selenium, green tea, reduced glutathione and N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) can play an important role in reducing inflammation and fatigue, decreasing tissue damage, and in both preventing and treating injuries.

Various antioxidants, such as vitamin E, have been found to be useful in the treatment of some forms of arthritis and in dealing with the oxidative stress of exercise. 

A recent study found that a combination of  antioxidants, selenomethionine and epigallocatechin-gallate (the main antioxidant in green tea extract), had beneficial effects on catabolic and anabolic gene expression of articular chondrocytes.

Also, fun fact, a good amount of anioxidants in the diet has also been proven to keep a person looking at the very least ten times younger in age.

Top way in which fitness can reduce and even eliminate stress

This couldn't be more true if it were written in the Bible itself. Exercise is the number one way to reduce an even eliminate stress all together. Particularly cardio, yup.....the one type of exercise that most people stray away from. Personally we think cardio is the easiest of the lot to incorporate into the daily routine and trick the body into perfect health and shape. As simple as skipping the car ride to work and instead leaving earlier and taking a cool walk (depending on how far away it is). Or perhaps walking to go get lunch instead of ordering. Getting friends together after work and going for a run around the city or park, instead of going to the bar. All these things will introduce cardio into your life in a fun and effortless way without it becoming a regimented dreadful workout that you don't look forward to doing. And after a week of moving more you will realize your body feels a lot lighter and things that would usually stress you out no longer do so.