It doesn’t take a genius to understand the necessity of drinking water. Intentionally drinking greater amounts of water on a daily basis shows major health benefits. Additionally, hydration contributes positively to good preventative health practices, like taking up regular exercise.
Roughly 60 percent of our body is made up of water (varying in size, age, weight) and it’s essential to every cell. Making the extra effort to consciously stay hydrated every day will help develop health advantages like:
Cardiovascular Endurance
The cardiovascular system helps the heart, lungs and blood vessels deliver oxygen to body tissues. The more efficiently the body delivers oxygen to its tissues, the lower the breathing rate, and in turn, extends endurance. Dehydration lowers your blood volume, so your heart must work harder to pump the reduced amount of blood and get enough oxygen to your cells, which makes everyday activities and general exercise more difficult.
Preventing Restlessness
A common symptom from dehydration is restlessness, like restless leg syndrome, a symptom that worsens with age causing an uncomfortable pain when sitting or lying down along with an impulsiveness to constantly move about. This is due to muscle fatigue. When hydrated, the water inside and outside the cells of contracting muscles provide adequate nutrients, and lubricates joint attachments.
Maintain the Balance of Body Fluids
With the body being about 60 percent water, the functions of these bodily fluids include digestion, absorption, circulation, producing saliva, transferring nutrients, and maintaining a safe body temperature.
When dehydration occurs, the brain will send signals throughout your body as a warning that you need to drink something that isn’t alcohol, coffee, or any other dehydrant.
Healthy Skin
The skin contains most of the body’s water, acting as a protective barrier to prevent a loss of excess fluid. This doesn’t mean that hydration will help straighten out wrinkles or cure a skin rash faster. Once the body is adequately hydrated, the kidney take over and flush out any excess fluid.
Potential Weight Loss
It is not uncommon to hear about those that go on strict diets turning to water as a weight loss strategy. This is because water doesn’t contain calories, but unfortunately doesn’t exactly contribute to weight loss either. Water intake is most noticed in weight loss when replacing a previously high caloric beverage. Choosing water or a non-caloric beverages over caloric beverages and eating water-rich foods are healthier, more filling, and can help you trim-down calorie intake.
Food with high water content tends to look larger, its higher volume requires more chewing, and it is absorbed more slowly by the body, which helps you feel full. Water-rich foods include fruits, vegetables, broth-based soups, oatmeal, and beans.
Staying hydrated is one, if not the most important, way to sustain a healthier lifestyle. Get in the habit of stocking a cooler full of water, our friends over at Health Listed made a list of the best wheeled coolers.
