Dehydration is far more common and detrimental than most people think. Although many have heard of the extremes – the conditions that result in hospital visits – dehydration occurs on a gradient scale. Any departure from the ideal affects your general health and, therefore, the condition of your skin. Along with using a good shielding lotion to protect against environmental toxins and lock in your natural moisture, achieving and maintaining adequate hydration is vital to preventing or healing eczema.

How does hydration work? The body overall is about 75 percent water, but the percentage in some parts of the body is higher – for example, the brain is 80 percent, and the blood is 92 percent. These percentages are the levels required for optimal functionality, and decreasing the percentages even in small increments causes symptoms.

One study found that we begin to feel thirst when we are dehydrated by just one percent. At two percent we have trouble working, and at four percent lethargy sets in and we start to lose mental clarity. Even in the early stages, dehydration slows down the metabolism and causes problems with the digestive and circulatory systems, body and muscle aches and pains, weight gain, food cravings, and dry, itchy skin or eczema.

Although the necessity of hydration is generally recognized in the medical community, some doctors tell patients that eight glasses per day of any type of liquid will suffice. Not true. Some fluids, such as alcohol, tea and coffee, are known to dehydrate – so drinking eight cups of coffee every day leaves you in a worse condition than if you had had nothing to drink at all.

Another problem not well recognized or understood is how to get the water to the cells instead of simply being absorbed by the blood or eliminated. According to the latest research, this is a function of the cells themselves - they need to be able to absorb or ‘pull in’ the water. To do that, they need to have adequate amounts of organic minerals.

Food is your best source of these minerals – specifically raw food, like the ingredients one would include in a salad. Fresh, organically grown food is best, since it is higher in nutrient content and is grown without pesticides and other harmful substances.

So, if you’re suffering from eczema, here are your marching orders: drink eight glasses of water every day, eat plenty of raw vegetables, some raw fruit, and take an organic mineral supplement. That will hydrate your cells. Next, use a shielding lotion to keep the moisture locked in and the environmental toxins out, allowing your eczema to heal.