Drinking
Enough Water Is Important For Your Health
Water
is one of the most important things you need for your body. In an
emergency situation, there are always three things you will hear that
you need: food, water, and shelter. Water makes up about seventy
percent of our bodies, and even mild dehydration can lead to lots of
complications.
So
how can you stay properly hydrated? How do you know you are drinking
enough water? A great way to keep track of how much water you need is
to take your weigh in pounds, and drink half of that in ounces of
water. For example, if you weigh one hundred pounds, you should be
drinking at least fifty ounces of water a day. You would need more if
you are exerting yourself a lot throughout the day. Another way to
see ice you are hydrated is the color of your urine. It seems gross,
but this can actually tell you a lot of things about your health.
Hydrated urine is clear, or just has a faint yellow hue. Dark yellow,
brown, or bloody urine are all progressively worse signs of
dehydration.
Why
do you need to be hydrated, though? Is it really that important? The
answer is a huge YES! Below are just a few of the ways drinking
enough water is important for your health:
Helps
Detox
Staying
hydrated helps your bodily systems flush out chemicals, toxins, and
other waste. Drinking plenty of water aids digestion, and increases
the efficiency of your liver, kidneys, digestive tract, and lymphatic
system. It can prevent constipation, kidney stones, urinary tract
infections, indigestion, heartburn, and more.
Contributes
To Oral Health
Proper
hydration helps you with saliva production. This may seem like a
small thing, but dry mouth can contribute to all kinds of oral health
issues. Without saliva, (and the act itself of drinking water,) you
cannot wash away debris and tiny food particles throughout the day
between brushings. These little pieces of food begin to rot inside
your mouth; creating bad breath, cavities, and even periodontal
disease. Having enough saliva through hydration can help prevent all
of this when combined with good oral hygiene.
Helps
The Circulatory System
Dehydration
slows your blood flow, and makes it difficult for your circulatory
system to get the oxygen and nutrients it needs. When this happens,
your heart has to work much harder to pump your thickened blood,
which could potentially lead to palpitations or even a heart attack.
Drinking enough water improves your blood flow, nutrient
distribution, and allows for sufficient oxygenation of the blood.
Improves
Brain Function
Without
water, the neurons in your brain can misfire, fire slowly, or simply
not fire at all. This can make it very frustrating to get through the
day… You will lose your train of thought, be unable to focus, and
you may also find it difficult to communicate properly. When the body
is dehydrated, it begins to slowly shut down. Cognitive function
decline is the most obvious example of this happening. Staying
hydrated helps to keep your brain at peak performance.
Keeps
Skin Clear
Since
water is so important to the flushing out of toxins throughout the
body, it can be easy to develop acne and other skin conditions
without it. Dehydration leads to dry, cracked skin; as well as
allowing toxins to settle beneath the surface of the skin so even
washing your face and showering won’t help clear your skin. Believe
it or not, hydration is the true key to any skin care regimen. All
the masks, scrubs, and washes in the world are useless if you aren’t
drinking enough water.
These
are only a few of the innumerable ways drinking enough water improves
your overall health. Start properly hydrating today, and see just how
amazing something so simple can impact your life in tons of positive
ways!
