The short version? Most of your body is made of water, so you should drink as much as you can every day. Something you’ve been told since you were 5 and forgot over and over again. That is, until your friend, partner, youtube video, or favorite blog reminded you to drink some water.
You really can’t stress how important this is to do since statistically, most people don’t drink nearly as much as they should.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 43 percent of adults drink less than four cups of water a day, including 7 percent of American adults that don’t drink any water at all. That means you if all you’ve been drinking is coffee, fruit juices, or Redbull.
So why is everyone telling you to drink water all the time? Aside from the very strong hint that you should be in the form of the fact that you’re a being made up mostly of water on a planet made up mostly of water, there are a number of reasons and benefits for it.
On any given day, whether you’re just sitting around at work or commuting to and from said work, you’re losing about 64 ounces of water from passive perspiration.
That’s right, whether or not you think you’ve done a lot of sweating or not today, if you’re breathing, you’re shedding water pretty quickly.
Your body is regulating your temperature through sweat, so the only reason you’re feeling relatively comfortable all day is that you’re sweating the whole time. This isn’t even taking into consideration all those trips to the bathroom.
Your Brain Will Work Better
All of those curious energy drinks that proport to somehow promote brain health through various vitamins and minerals infused into the liquid may be doing something, but mostly it’s staying hydrated that will do the trick.
Your brain is made up of 73 percent water, so the more water you consume, the more you’re helping to replenish what you’re losing up there.
Drinking a bunch of water helps you focus, concentrate, and keeps you on task. Being even slightly dehydrated impairs your ability to do a variety of tasks well, impairing your memory, retention, and coordination instantly.
This is one of the reasons you get a little fuzzy when you have a little alcohol or too much coffee.
More Water Will Help Regulate Your Weight
Water is flushing throughout your body through every corner of its functions all day long. This includes ridding your body of fatty by-products and filling up your stomach as whatever you’ve consumed absorbs some of it.
You’ll find that drinking more water will naturally suppress your appetite and even help increase your metabolism. Drink some water with every meal and you’ll find the effects pretty noticeable.
While we’re on the subject, I should mention that it also helps with your digestion. Water helps break down the food you’re eating, so your body can absorb the nutrients in the food more gradually. This also prevents any harrowing trips to the bathroom.
You’ll Feel Better All The Time
In short, drink water so your brain won’t shrink.
Are you prone to getting headaches? Do you catch colds easily? Perhaps your joints cramp up or get sprained more often than you’d like. All of this can be improved by drinking more water.
Water strengthens your immune system by carrying oxygen to the cells throughout your body, which helps everything function more smoothly. And like I mentioned earlier, it also flushes undesirable stuff from your body, like extra fat and toxins.
When those sudden headaches creep up out of nowhere, there’s a strong likelihood it’s just because your body is terribly low on fluids. This probably means you’ve had way more coffee than water today. When your body, or in this case your brain, is low on water, your brain shrinks ever so slightly to retain what moisture it has. This pulls it away from the skull, causing the aforementioned headache. In short, drink water so your brain won’t shrink.
There is a multitude of benefits to drinking as much water as you can. You should be having at least 12 cups of water a day, maybe, even more, depending on your body mass. Get yourself a fancy water bottle or whatever it is you have to do to make sure you drink more. Your body will thank you.
