Water: 5 Ways it Improves Your Health and Wellness

Your brain is 90% water, your blood is over 80% water, and your bones are over 50% water. And that’s not even taking into account all the cells, tissues, muscles and organs.

Water really is the miracle drink. You can’t go wrong with water. It helps cleanse the body from harmful toxins. Water regulates our body temperature and plays a crucial role in every single chemical reaction inside our cells. It also lubricates our joints, promotes healthy skin, and helps keep the digestive system functioning smoothly.

One of the great benefits of drinking water regularly is that it boosts your energy levels and lifts your mood. And another important function of water drinking is that it strengthens the immune system by helping prevent heart diseases, cancer and even the cold and flu.

When the amount of water you drink daily doesn’t match the amount you excrete, then problems start occurring - starting with dehydration. Most people are chronically dehydrated, causing impairments in attention span, memory, and motor skills.

Dehydration can also cause brain tissue to shrink. When we don’t drink enough water, our brains have to put in a whole lot more effort to perform at the same level. There have been studies carried out on students during exams, and overall the ones who did better had brought in water bottles with them to the exams. Drinking allows us to think more lucidly, as well as focus and concentrate better.

When you’re dehydrated, your skin looks sullen and feels dry because your body’s top priority is to hydrate your organs, and the first place to suffer is the skin on your face. Severe dehydration results in dizziness, weakness, fatigue, headaches, and sometimes even unconsciousness.

Water For Your Health

1. Helps your Bowel Movements

When we don’t drink enough water, our large intestines, the colon, takes the hydration it needs from our stool, making it hard and prickly - a clear sign of constipation. The good news is that drinking plenty of water will help eliminate all these problems. It will aid the digestive system, prevent constipation, and help regulate your bowel movement. 

2. Works as a Detoxifier

Our kidneys have the important job of eliminating toxins from our bloodstream, especially the main one in our bodies called BUN (blood urea nitrogen), then get rid of through urination. Yet if our water intake is less than what it should be, your kidneys will have a hard time eliminating these toxins. Toxins are like the leftover junk that’s unused and needs to be removed, like urine, stool, and sweat. Drinking enough water helps your kidneys expel these toxins with ease.

3. Powers Muscles & Joints

According to Shape Fit, a mere 2% loss in water weight can cause fatigue, weakness, and can decrease your ability to think lucidly. It also has a negative effect on your athletic performance, so much, so that if our muscles don’t get enough fluids, they start to feel tired and can actually start to shrink.

On the flip side, drinking lots of water allows muscles to be more elastic, it provides our muscles with the energy they need and helps them perform at their highest level. In addition, water helps hydrate and lubricate the joints in the body, which helps reduce joint pain and prevents muscle cramps.

4. Satiate your Hunger

Any good dietician will tell you that drinking water, or eating foods that contain high water content, makes us feel less hungry. In addition, taking that a step further, water keeps us feeling full longer than other drinks because it’s such a high volume liquid.

Water also helps boost your metabolism, as well as increases your body’s ability to burn fat. Drinking 2 glasses prior to a meal will help you more pounds in less time.

5. Keeps Skin and Hair Soft

Water helps hydrate the skin and improves the flow of healthy blood throughout the body, which gives you shiny, bright complexion. It also helps rejuvenate skin cells and boost skin suppleness.

When it comes to your hair, knowing that each hair strand is comprised of almost 25% water will shine a brighter light on how much water is crucial to maintaining healthy, shiny hair. Therefore, when you’re constantly replenishing your water intake, this helps stimulate hair growth, as well as helps keep hair shaft strong, giving that shiny, glossy look.

How much is enough?

We’ve been told too many times to count that we should drink 8 glasses of water a day. However, the truth is, that’s an average guideline, and it’s not set in stone. How much you drink depends on your body and how much water will sustain it and provide it with ample nourishment. To calculate just how much water you really need, multiply your bodyweight (lb.) by 0.55. Then divide the result by 8. What comes up is the number of cups you need to drink on a daily basis.

Here are a few ways you can sneak in those recommended glasses of water in your daily routine:

1. Have a glass of water before each snack and meal.
2. Keep a bottle of water on you at all times, in your car, in your bag, or at your desk.
3. Eat more fruits and vegetables. About 20% of our daily fluid intake comes from what we eat. So let their high water content add to your hydration.