The human body is composed mainly of 60% water. That’s how important water is to the body and how much the body needs water to survive. In addition, all the cells, tissues, and organs in your body need water to function correctly. Therefore, water is essential to the body to maintain body temperature, lubricate the joints, and remove wastes in the body.
If you’re looking to improve your overall health, the fastest way to accomplish this is by drinking enough water and staying hydrated. Ideally, you should drink up to 8 glass cups of water per day. However, different bodies may require varying amounts of water to maintain a good level of hydration. You can also ensure that you stay hydrated by taking water when you feel thirsty. It may be less than eight glasses per day for some and more for others. You can also go through mobile IV treatment.
Importance of hydration
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Maximizes physical performance
Staying hydrated helps to improve a person’s physical performance, especially during high heat or intense exercise. Dehydration can start to have a noticeable effect when a person loses about 2% of the body’s water content. However, athletes can lose up to 6-10% of their water content, which can reduce motivation, alter body temperature control, and increase fatigue. This will also make the exercise more challenging mentally and physically. Optimal hydration helps to prevent all of these from happening.
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It affects brain function and energy levels significantly
Your hydration status strongly influences your brain functions. For example, studies prove that mild dehydration, such as 1-3% loss of body weight, can affect some brain functions.
Research found that 1.4% fluid loss in young women after exercises impaired their concentration and mood and led to more frequent headaches. A similar study on young men showed that 1.6% fluid loss increases fatigue, anxiety, and working memory.
Several studies use people across different age groups as subjects, and the results showed that mild dehydration could affect brain performance, memory, and mood.
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It helps treat and prevent headaches.
Some individuals may experience migraines and headaches when they’re dehydrated. Dehydration has several symptoms, but headache remains one of the commonest ones. This is backed by a study involving 393 people that found that up to 40% of participants had headaches caused by dehydration.
There are also studies showing that being hydrated by drinking water helps relieve headaches for people who experience regular headaches.
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Can help with kidney stones
Kidney stones are typical examples of urinary stones, which are mineral crystals forming in the urinary system. Kidney stones form in the kidney. A high intake of fluid can increase the amount of urine that passes through the kidney. This ensures that the minerals are less concentrated and they’re unlikely to crystallize or form clumps.
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It helps prevent alcohol hangovers
Hangovers are unpleasant symptoms that people experience after consuming alcohol. Alcohol being a diuretic makes people lose a lot of water than they take in, leading to dehydration. While dehydration isn’t a significant cause of hangovers, it may lead to other symptoms such as dry mouth, headache, fatigue, and thirst. One way to prevent or reduce hangovers is to drink water between drinks and take a massive glass of water before bed.
These are only a few of the importance or benefits of hydration. There are many more, but we’ve been able to establish how important hydration is.
How to stay hydrated
Now we’ll be discussing tips to help you stay hydrated:
1. Know your hydration level baseline and adjust your water intake
Track your water intake for a short while to know how much water you take in per day. This will help you understand your hydration level baseline, and you’ll learn how to adjust your water intake.
2. Take water first thing in the morning before breakfast
Prioritize hydration first thing in the morning before you take your breakfast. Then, consume at least six glasses of water and bring water intermittently between meals and snacks. Drinking water during meals helps to slow you down during the meal and aids food digestion too. Starting your day by drinking water, taking it during and in-between meals helps keep you hydrated throughout the day.
3. Eat produce-heavy diet
Eating a produce-heavy diet such as vegetables and fruits is a good way to eat your water. It ensures that the water content in your body remains optimal. These foods have enough water content to meet the daily water quota. You can consume fruits like watermelon, strawberries, and cantaloupe. Then vegetables like cabbage, lettuce, cooked squash, spinach, and celery which are mostly water. Dairy products like cottage cheese, yogurt, and milk are good water sources too.
Conclusion
The best way to improve your health is to stay hydrated. This helps to improve your overall health.