We’ve all seen that meme about staying hydrated. You know, “if you drink two litres of water every day you’ll be too busy peeing to worry about other people’s drama.” Well, sure, technically that is true… but there are also a host of other reasons to stay hydrated too. And they go way beyond just simple “water is good for you.”
Getting your proper water intake daily is imperative for a whole bunch of reasons, and they range from things as simple as blood pressure to things as complicated as your mood and anxiety levels.
How much water should you drink?
Your recommended daily intake of water depends on whether you’re male or female and on how active you are. For the average sedentary woman, it’s 2.2 litres per day, and 2.7 litres for the average sedentary man.
Around 75% of your daily intake of water should come from fluid intake, and the remaining 25% will tend to come from your food. However, something worth noting is that as intermittent fasters, we tend to consume less water from our food, so it’s important for us to add extra fluids to ensure we get enough water.
8 Reasons To Drink More Water
1. It’s good for your skin
Water improves your blood circulation flushing out toxins and impurities. It also increases water in your skin cells which helps to get rid of wrinkles and helps you look younger. Drinking water is essentially the only way to hydrate the deepest layers of your skin (i.e. the stratum corneum). Research has shown that increased water intake decreases skin dryness, can assist with flushing toxins from the system and may even help the skin appear more youthful.
2. It helps keep you feeling energetic and stops fatigue
Strangely enough, even though of the most commonly prescribed treatments for fatigue is increased fluid intake, this is one of the least recognised and least well-known symptoms of dehydration. Essentially, water is critical in the flow of oxygen to your brain – when you’re dehydrated, your blood is thicker and can’t carry as much oxygen, so you tend to feel tired and foggy headed. Studies have shown that correct fluid intake helps to decrease feelings of fatigue and increase feelings of energy.
3. It assists with brain function
Have you ever had that foggy-headed feeling, where you can’t think straight and you’re not sure why? This can be due to decreased oxygen flow to the brain and dehydration is one of the biggest causes of this. In one study on soldiers who were dehydrated, researchers found that their vigilance, reaction time, attention, memory, and reasoning were all impaired when fluid intake was decreased. Another study found major decreases in things like visual memory and cognition, and huge increases in self-reported fatigue when subjects were deliberately given less fluid than required. Basically, you’re less alert, less motivated, slower and you can’t think straight when you’re dehydrated.
4. It improves your mood and reduces anxiety
This might sound crazy, but your water intake actually has a huge effect on your mood and anxiety levels, as well as on simple physiological things like blood pressure. Researchers studied several groups of people and found that those who characteristically drank less water, tended to have fewer positive emotions. When these subjects water intake was increased, their positive emotions like calmness, contentedness and desire for activity increased remarkably. Just as interestingly, those subjects who normally drank larger amounts of water reported normally having higher levels of positive emotions, and when their water intake was decreased, they reported similar reductions in positive emotions and desire for activity. What does this tell us? The amount of water you drink has a huge impact on your mood!
Another study even found significant decreases in levels of anxiety in those who were given more water and increases in anxiety and poor cognition in those whose water intake was decreased. Studies have found even mild dehydration can significantly impair your cognitive function.
5. It decreases headaches and migraines
Dehydration is one of the major causes of headache and migraines. The first course of treatment for headaches is generally increased fluid consumption. One study on subjects with debilitating migraines found that their symptoms were significantly improved and self-rated quality of life improved also, simply by increasing fluid intake. In the ER, intravenous fluids are still the first line of treatment for headaches and migraines.
6. It helps with sugar cravings
Ever had a sugar craving or a need for salty food that you just couldn’t shake? Believe it or not, water might help. Several studies on sugar and carbohydrate cravings have found that they are significantly reduced when fluid intake is increased or water is given first. One study even recommended increased fluid intake as a treatment for obesity and metabolic syndrome, after finding that fluid intake recommendations were often missing in most country’s food pyramids.
7. It can reduce your blood pressure
Given that your body is 60% water, it makes sense that your physiological health can be impacted so significantly by your fluid intake. One of the biggest (and one of the first) things that tends to happen due to dehydration is an increase in blood pressure. Because your body needs fluids for your blood to circulate, the less fluids there are, the slower it circulates and the thicker it is. One of the first lines of defence for blood pressure interventions is to increase fluid intake.
8. It speeds up your metabolism
People who drink water instead of other types of fluids are more successful at losing weight, water can help reduce your appetite and drinking water can actually speed up your metabolism too, thanks to something known as water-induced thermogenesis – which is basically where an increase in water consumption leads to an increase in the rate in which people burn calories as opposed to storing them as fat. Even small increases in water intake can have a big impact on weight loss. One study found that those who drank 500ml of water before each meal lost 44% more weight than those who didn’t!
See? Even mild dehydration can cause a whole boatload of symptoms including dry skin, fatigue, decreased brain function, anxiety, headaches and migraines, sugar cravings and high blood pressure! So there you have it, drinking water isn’t just good for your health, it’s good for your weight, your brain, your energy levels and your mood.
Now… who needs a glass of water?! Me!