The New Years Health Resolution You Need

There are so many habits that we can work on to improve our health, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to start!

One of the very best moves you can make for your health and well-being is something you already do every day, but there is always room for improvement!

Everyone knows that drinking water is crucial, but what are the actual health benefits of drinking more water, and how much should you be drinking?

Water is arguably the most important substance you will ever put into your body.

Some of the many health benefits of proper hydration are lower blood pressure, keeping your liver and kidneys healthy, reducing the risk of stroke and heart attack, lowering cholesterol, maintaining electrolyte balance, moisturizing your skin and keeping it clear, keeping your joints supple, and much more.

One huge benefit of drinking more water is that in doing so, you will also decrease your overall daily calorie intake, along with consuming less salt, sugar, and cholesterol.

One study found that people who increased their daily water intake by 1-3 cups daily decreased their calorie intake by 68-205.

They also decreased their sodium intake by 78-235 milligrams daily.

The participants consumed 5-18 grams less sugar per day, along with 7-21 milligrams less cholesterol.

What a simple and easy way to improve your health!

The same study noted above found that most participants only consumed 4.2 cups of plain water daily, on average.

To put that into perspective, The Institute of Medicine recommends at least 9 cups of water for women, 13 for men, and even more if you are active.

Dehydration can have noticeable effects on you when you lose as little as 2% of your body’s water content.

It is not uncommon for an athlete to lose as much as 6-10% through sweat in a single workout.

This is exactly why proper rehydration is so important!

Some effects of dehydration in the short term are:

Hindered body temperature regulation
Increased fatigue
Reduced motivation

Staying properly hydrated throughout a workout can help to keep you focused, and performing at your best!

In a study of young women, they found that losing as little as 1.36% of the body’s fluids after exercise is linked to increased frequency of headaches, and impaired concentration and mood.

A similar study in young men made connections between losing 1.59% of body fluids increased feelings of anxiety and fatigue, and also had detrimental effects on working memory.

Dehydration is linked to headaches and migraines for many people.

Several studies showed promising effects on reducing the intensity and duration of such headaches when increasing water intake.

Dehydration is also linked to constipation problems, and there is a lot of evidence showing that increasing water intake can help reduce or relieve these symptoms.

Higher fluid intake is also recommended to help prevent kidney stones in individuals who have previously suffered from this condition.

Another study done by exercise physiologists at the Georgia Institute of Technology studied athletes to learn more about the effects of dehydration.

They studied volunteers who were made to sweat a lot without hydration.

They found that the participants made more mistakes on simple tasks after losing some of their fluids without replenishing, and also discovered some measurable changes within the brain using fMRI scans.

These researchers found that when the participants were made to get hot and sweat, and then hydrate, ventricles in their brains contracted.

In contrast, when the participants were made to get hot and sweat, but not hydrate, the ventricles did the opposite and actually swelled.

They also found changes in neural signaling in those who were dehydrated when compared to those who were properly hydrated.

The fMRI scan showed that areas of the brain that were associated with doing a task appeared to activate more intensely when dehydrated, and additional areas that were not associated with the task were recruited and activated as well.

This shows that when dehydrated, the brain has to work much harder to achieve simple tasks.

Conclusion:

While entirely possible to over hydrate, it is highly unusual to do so.

When in doubt, measure it out!

Keeping track of your daily water intake even for a short period of time can help shed some light on your typical hydration status, and help you to be more aware of your hydration in the future!

Here’s to your health!

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