When you take a look at the human body, you should know that it is made out of around 60 percent water. You might think that this is the reason why doctors always recommend that you drink at least 8 glasses of water every single day. This is not actually the truth.
In reality, according to Fix It Right Plumbing, there is no formula about how much water you should consume daily. This amount varies from individual to individual. Also, there are many reasons why you should increase water intake. Let’s highlight the most important ones below.
Increased Physical Performance
We do not think about water as giving us an enhanced physical boost but when we stay hydrated, our physical performance stays at a maximum level. When we are dehydrated, we start to suffer from reduced physical performance. This is even more important when you are faced with high heat or intense exercise.
Dehydration will lead to an effect you can notice when you lose even 2% of the water content of your body. For a professional athlete though, he/she can lose up to 10 percent of the water weight during sweating.
Dehydration will lead to reduced motivation, increased fatigue, and altered control of body temperature. Also, exercising will become more difficult. This is true both mentally and physically.
When your body is optimally hydrated, you are much better equipped to go through an intense workout session. Always stay hydrated to perform at the best possible level. Learn more about the Waterdrop water filter.
Water Affects Brain Function And Energy Levels
How hydrated you are directly impacts the brain. Studies showed us that mild dehydration (this is up to 3 percent of body weight) can easily lead to impaired brain function. A study done on younger women showed that concentration and mood were negatively impaired after losing just 1.4% fluids during working out.
The problem is that we do not realize it when we lose even 3% of the body’s water. 3% fluid loss is under 2 kilograms of overall weight when the person weighs 68 kilograms. You just do not feel this, especially when you work out since you are more focused on the actual exercise.
Water Might Help Treat And Prevent Headaches
Dehydration will often trigger intense migraines and headaches. This is not the case with some people but it is a possibility. In fact, the headache is the most common of all dehydration symptoms. A study that was conducted on almost 400 people showed that 40% of them ended up with a headache because of dehydration.
Another thing we should know is that there are studies that showed us that when we drink water, it can help relieve the headaches people often experience. While not all of the studies agree on percentages, this is believed to be due to the fact that not enough research was conducted until know. However, the results we saw show us that drinking water can often help when we suffer from headaches.
Water Can Relieve Constipation
People that are constipated have a difficulty passing stools and need to deal with infrequent bowel movements. If you are in this situation, make sure that you increase fluid intake. This is recommended as a treatment and there is official evidence that backs it up.
With low water consumption, it is a risk factor associated with constipation. This is the case with both older and younger individuals. You may help decrease the constipation you feel when you increase hydration.
Out of all the possible water sources, the one that was shown to be particularly effective was mineral water. Choose one that has a higher content of sodium and magnesium since it improves bowel movement consistency and frequency when faced with constipation.
Water Can Help You Treat Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are practically very painful mineral crystal clumps that appear in your urinary system. Limited evidence showed that increasing water intake can help prevent kidney stone recurrence. This was shown in people that had kidney stones in the past.
A higher fluid intake works in this case because urine volume passed through your kidneys is increased. Mineral concentration is diluted so there is a lower possibility that clumps will appear. Also, water may help you to prevent stone formation, although no studies proved that this is true.
Water Helps You To Prevent Hangovers
Hangovers are never pleasant and if there are ways to prevent the unpleasant symptoms caused by it, you will take them into account, right? One of them is to increase how much water you drink.
What many do not know is that alcohol is diuretic. This means that when you drink alcohol, you will lose more than what you take in. As a result, you can end up faced with dehydration.
The main hangover cause is not dehydration. However, it can lead to symptoms like fatigue, dry mouth, headache, and thirst. Reduce hangovers by drinking one glass of water between your drinks. Also, before you go to bed, it helps to drink one large glass filled with water.
Water Helps With Weight Loss
When you drink plenty of water, you help your body to lose weight. This is because satiety is increased and the metabolic rate is boosted. There is evidence that shows us that when we increase water intake, weight loss is promoted because the metabolism is increased. We thus end up burning more calories every single day, which clearly leads to losing more weight.
Conclusions
We need to understand the fact that mild dehydration will affect us physically and mentally. Due to this, we have to make sure that we consume as much water as the body needs. This might be more in some cases and less in others. However, remember the fact that when you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated. It is even a good idea to write down how much water you drink every day so that you can figure out when you should increase intake based on how your body feels. Listen to your body and you will know if you are dehydrated or not.
Kim Marks