Water makes up more than 70 percent of solid body tissue (muscles) and 75 percent of brains and helps regulate body temperature, carrying nutrients and oxygen to cells, removes waste, cushions joints and protects organs and tissues.

The more calories you burn, the more fluids you need.  The popular rule of thumb is to drink eight 8 ounce glasses of "water" per day and is appropriate for the person who expends about 2,000 calories per day.  People who exercise need more fluids.  Determine your sweat rate and guide your fluid intake by weighing yourself before and after you exercise.  Weight changes reflect sweat loss.  Given that one pound of lost sweat equals two cups of fluid, you should plan to replace the losses accordingly.  For example, if you drop two pounds of sweat during an hour of exercise, you should target drinking two pounds (32 oz.) of fluids per hour in future exercise sessions.  This comes to 8 ounces every fifteen minutes.  The International Sports Medicine Institute, in Los Angeles, suggests you drink 2/3 ounces per pound of body weight each day if you're active and ½ ounce per pounds if you're not.  Another general rule of thumb is to drink a quart of water for every 1.000 calories you burn.  If you keep your weight fairly constant, the number of calories you eat is about the same as what you burn.

Carl V. Gisolfi, M.D., an exercise physiologist at the Department of Exercise Science at the University of Iowa suggests that every athlete is a potential candidate for heat related injuries. "Such thermal injuries can occur regardless of the athlete's physical condition or ability to adapt to hot weather." He says in a report entitled Preparing Your Athletes for Competition in Hot Weather.

Read what the 1923 New York City Commissioner of Health wrote about MIDAS SPRING WATER J