It is vital to your health that you drink enough water throughout the day— It helps support healthy functioning and prevents dehydration. Over half the human body is made up of water and it is an essential part of human life. Vital organs like your brain, heart, and lungs are made up of water – even your bones are watery! Water supports so many essential functions inside the body that it’s no wonder you can get a headache or feel lightheaded when you don’t get enough fluids. Doctors also recommend daily water intake based on your age, sex, and other health statuses. Here’s everything you need to know about why staying hydrated is important.
Advantages of Staying Hydrated
Drinking water throughout your day is the best way to stay hydrated. But do you know why being hydrated is so important? So much of your healthy functioning depends on what your body does when you don’t even realize it. You don’t have to tell different parts of your body how or when to absorb water. When you drink water, your body knows what to do with it and makes sure you stay properly hydrated. It’s only when you don’t get enough to drink that you start to notice negative effects. Here are a few examples of the benefits of hydration.
Regulate Body Temperature
Staying hydrated helps to regulate your body temperature. When you engage in physical activity, you start to lose water through sweating. Hot environments can also make you sweat, which means you start to lose water. Sweating is one way the body naturally cools itself, but if you don’t replenish the water you lose, your body temperature can rise again.
Deliver Nutrients to Cells
Blood runs through your veins to keep your heart pumping and circulate important vitamins, minerals, and nutrients throughout the body. Water also helps to dissolve these important nutrients and prepare them for absorption in the body. This helps get important nutrients to cells so you can function properly. Water also carries oxygen to your body, which can have a positive impact on your overall health.
Lubricate Your Joints
Your spine and joints all support healthy movements you depend on each day like standing, walking, lifting, twisting, and grabbing. Your joints, spinal cord, and soft tissues in the body rely on water to keep everything flexible and supple. When your joints are properly lubricated, they move smoothly and do not cause you pain or discomfort. Drinking plenty of water can help lubricate joints affected by a health condition like arthritis and lessen your symptoms.
Help Organs Function
Water carries important nutrients and oxygen to your organs to support bodily functions. Everything from your heart to your stomach to your kidneys depends on a certain amount of water in the body. In addition to protecting and supporting the healthy functioning of your organs, water also helps protect your body’s tissues.
Improve Quality of Sleep
When you drink water before bed, you can help your body maintain the temperature it needs for a good night’s sleep. Water before bed can also help induce sleepiness when you incorporate a glass into your nighttime routine. Your body also depends on water throughout the night to help you stay hydrated and rid the body of toxins.
Get Rid of Wastes
Water is also essential to getting rid of waste in the body. Drink plenty of water each day to support healthy bowel movements and regular urination. Your body uses water to flush out waste from the body, including built-up toxins.
Improve Cognition & Mood
Drink plenty of water throughout your day to experience a boost in your mood and improvements in your cognition. Proper hydration helps you stay alert, focused, and retain information better. When you don’t get enough water throughout the day, you may feel more confused, anxious, or tired.
Effects of Dehydration on Your Body
When you start to lose more fluid than you take in, you can become dehydrated, which affects your body’s functionality. Mild dehydration can occur if you don’t replace lost fluids regularly throughout the day, but when you don’t get enough to drink for longer periods of time, dehydration can become moderate or severe. Here are some of the effects dehydration can have on your body.
Extreme Thirst
Thirst is the first sign that you need to drink more water. Think of it as the body’s built-in alarm bell that lets you know when to drink more fluids. If you ignore early signs of thirst, you can end up feeling extremely thirsty and like your mouth and tongue are dry.
Headaches
You may develop headaches as a sign that it’s time to rehydrate. Headache pain caused by dehydration can feel like a dull ache at first and develop into a more throbbing or pounding headache. You can typically ease the effects of a dehydration headache by drinking water at regular intervals for a few hours.
Dizziness
When your body lacks the fluids it needs to function optimally, your blood volume will go down, lowering your blood pressure. This can cause your brain to not get enough blood, leading to dizziness and lightheadedness. You may also feel more tired or drowsy than normal.
Staying Hydrated Throughout the Day
Now that you understand more about the importance of keeping hydrated, here are some tips and tricks to keep yourself hydrated throughout the day.
Choose water over other drinks
It can be easy to reach for a soda or caffeinated drink during your day, but these beverages won’t hydrate you nearly as much as water. Try to make it easier for yourself to choose water over other drinks in your home or office. Invest in an aesthetically pleasing water dispenser that matches your design style and encourages you to drink water instead of grabbing a drink with fewer nutrients.
Use fresh fruits in your water
If you prefer the flavors of other drinks, consider adding fresh fruits to your water to add some taste. Adding a lemon or lime wedge can bring a refreshing flavor to your water, making it a more attractive option.
Drink fluids at regular intervals
Drink a glass of water at milestones or break times throughout your day. Develop a habit of drinking a glass of water when you wake up, when you get to the office, and when you settle down for bed at night. You can also make an effort to drink water with your meals, which can even help you save money!
Drink water after exercise
Make sure you get plenty of fluids after you exercise to replenish all the water you sweated out. Drinking water after you exercise can also help prevent cramping and stiff, sore muscles.
Consider refillable bottles
Check out refillable water bottles or even invest in a water delivery service so you always have fresh water on hand. Lipsey Water offers an environmentally-friendly water delivery service with glass bottles that keep your water cool and fresh.