Reverse Osmosis Water FilterOne of the simplest things you can do to improve longevity is to stay hydrated. Water is, by far, the best beverage for managing dehydration. Beverages such as sodas, ice teas and coffee are dehydrating agents. The consensus is that we should drink about eight 8 oz. glasses of water a day to prevent dehydration. However, for longevity purposes, this should be the cleanest water that you can find. The easier and more convenient it is for you to get pure water, the more likely you will consume it. Give serious consideration to installing an under-sink reverse osmosis water filtration system in your home or office.
Drinking unfiltered tap water or water from plastic bottles poses significant risks to longevity. The United States NIH (National Institutes of Health) has published research on the presence endocrine disruptors in drinking water and risks to human health. Harmful chemical levels in ground water will probably continue to increase from manmade sources like pesticides, automotive brake dust runoff, coal fired power plants and hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Another tap water concern is fluoride. Ingestion of fluoride has been linked to numerous health risks. The United States is only one of eight countries in the entire developed world that fluoridate more than 50 percent of their water supply. A safer, more targeted, way to receive fluoride is with tooth paste. Most under-sink reverse osmosis water filtration systems remove over 90% of harmful chemicals including endocrine disruptors.
Drinking water from plastic bottles poses its own set of longevity or long-term health risks. The NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) conducted a four-year study of the bottled water industry and concluded that approximately 22 percent of the plastic bottled water tested contained contaminant levels that exceeded state health limits. One study found that hormone-disrupting phthalates had leached into bottled water that had been stored for 10 weeks. There are growing concerns that harmful chemicals in plastic bottles may leach into the water.
The benefits continue because proper hydration can help you loose weight. Some of the symptoms of dehydration make you feel hungry. If you are hungry, drink a large glass of water, wait ten minutes and see if the hunger subsides.
We will end by pointing out that there is another big downside to plastic water bottles. According to National Geographic, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills, or they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate. If you do drink bottled water, please recycle. Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours. Stated another way, imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.
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