Water is essential to life; this applies to plants as well as living creatures. Water represents 75% of the weight of human infants; more than 50% of the weight of healthy adults is attributed to the water content in our bodies. Clearly, water is crucial to our health and well-being, but let’s examine the many ways our bodies benefit from fresh clear water and shatter some H2O myths along the way.
How Water and Hydration Contributes to Our Wellness
We love baths and showers, partly because of the relaxing nature of being immersed in water. However, the interior of our body loves that H2O even more, because it often makes the difference between feeling good or being out of sorts. Here are some specific advantages our body (and mind and spirit too!) realizes through proper fluid intake…
Your Thirsty Brain
Okay, your brain isn’t thirsty like your mouth and throat when you need a drink of water, but dehydration definitely affects the brain and its performance. Fluid loss equal to 3% of your body weight can begin to impair certain brain function and performance; this equates to a 4 1/2 pound loss of weight in a 150 pound person (trust us, there are better, healthier, and more permanent ways to lose weight!).
Even mild amounts of dehydration can impact humans, particularly in children and senior citizens. One study of schoolchildren living in a hot climate (southern Italy and Sardinia) discovered a mild hydration state negatively affected short-term memory and performances in verbal analogy tasks; another study of seniors found a distinct correlation between mild states of dehydration and poorer attention/memory performance as well as slowed psychomotor processing speed.
Your Performing Body
Whether you are a top athlete or just enjoy quiet strolls in your neighborhood, your body is in a state of performance every time a physical action takes place. Avoiding high intensity tasks will help keep hydration up, but even an easy and slow walk on a hot afternoon will dry out a body, leaving it tired, shaky, and irritable.
Intense physical exercise can really drain water from the body, as much as 10%. When that occurs, fitness enthusiasts find their energy flagging, their motivation dropping, and an increase in fatigue, making exercise tougher both physically and mentally. Considering that your muscles are 80% water, it comes as no surprised that dehydration can be physically debilitating.
More Internal Physical Benefits
When your body is not running like a fine-tuned machine, you can feel it. It is amazing how regular water intake can resolve different body ailments and discomforts.
- Headaches – although it will not work for every headache, rehydrating often reduces the intensity and duration of headaches; the next time your head is throbbing, try a fresh cool glass of water instead of a painkiller
- Overweight – no, water won’t wash away excess fatty tissues, but each time you drink a glass of calorie-free water instead of a flavored soda you are avoiding littering your insides with unnatural (and unhealthy) sugars and other ingredients your body doesn’t need
- Kidney Stones – once formed, kidney stones are painful; water cannot cure or eliminate kidney stones, but greater water intake means more urinary output which tends to dilute the concentration of minerals, the cause of kidney and urinary stones
- Hangovers – if you awaken with a pounding hangover, a full glass of water will remove some of the dry mouth; however, hangovers can be eliminated or reduced by drinking plenty of water before and during alcohol consumption and ending the night with another big glass of water (alcohol is a diuretic and absorbs water, leading to dehydration)
- Constipation – water works more as a preventative practice for constipation than a cure; however, when suffering from constipation, drinking more fluids (even sparkling water) is recommended (low water consumption appears related to constipation incidents, another reason for drinking water throughout the waking hours)
If you imagine your body as a machine, picture water as the cleanest and healthiest fuel you can add to that machine for optimal performance and longevity.
Shattering Water Myths
Just as important as knowing the facts behind water and its beneficial properties, it’s time to blast apart unhelpful myths concerning water and its benefits.
Eight Glasses a Day
This myth must have started with our great-grandparents, as it has been retold for decades. Yes, you need regular fluid intake, but who came up with the magic number of 8? Does a 70-pound teenage girl and a 350-pound weightlifter each need exactly 8 glasses of water? Of course not.
Yes, hydrate regularly during your waking hours, increase your fluid intake during particularly active stages of the day, and always drink water when you feel thirsty. If it adds up to 8 glasses for the day, so be it; if not, and you feel hydrated and healthy, you’re doing the right thing.
Deep Yellow Urine
When your urine comes out a deep shade of yellow, it’s easy to assume that is because there is little water in your urine and lot of waste matter being expelled. The color of your urine is not a signal of dehydration; sometimes it is due to an excess of B-vitamins being eliminated from your system (multivitamins often contain a good proportion of B-vitamins).
Exercise Dehydrates You
So say the couch potatoes at least. Common sense may lead us to believe that heavy workouts lead to lots of sweating which in turn leads to loss of water. Close, but no cigar.
People who regularly exercise do sweat more, but that serves to keep the body cool; furthermore, excessive perspiration produces diluted sweat, meaning fewer electrolytes are lost through the process.
All Liquids Are As Good As Water
Nice try, junk food fans. Simply put, water is the purest form of hydration possible. All other drinks are diluted forms of water, but you would be hard pressed to prove that beer, wine, hard liquor, soda, coffee, or even tea is as beneficial and pure as good old H2O.
Feel free to indulge in flavored beverages and libations, but remember that your base hydration fluid is always water. Keep it pure!
Smart H2O Hydration
Based upon the above information, it should be clear that hydration is a smart and healthy practice for humans of every age and physical condition. If you have not yet formed the habit of drinking water regularly throughout the day, now is the time to start that easy and healthy habit; if you are already a regular clean water consumer, congratulations!
In this era of smart technology, get smart with your water consumption. You can now be reminded when it’s time to drink more water and track your daily fluid intake. We are excited to share a new partner product that does exactly that: The Hidrate Spark Water Bottle not only tracks your water intake and reminds you to take another drink (based upon your activity level), it also syncs with most popular fitness apps so your can tailor your fluid intake requirements to complement your exercise program. At BizVisory we love the Hidrate bottle not only for our own personal wellness but also the wellness of the planet to eliminate single-use plastic bottles. Get yours today and for a limited time through end of September 2019, use coupon BIZVISORY5 to get $5 off your purchase!