If you need a cheap and straightforward way to change your life for the better, almost without wasting time – it is: start drinking more water. We know it’s too easy to be true.
Jennifer Ashton, author of “The Year of Self-Care, “is an MD. She regularly advises patients to drink more water because she knows how useful it is. But even that did not prevent her from getting to the hospital because of… Dehydration.
If the doctor fell for this bait, then each of us, most likely, does not drink enough. In this article – a charge of motivation and 10 ways to start drinking more.
You can also read: 9 Steps to Healthy Eating: Tips from a Nutritionist
Water can relieve headaches.
Our bodies are made up of water by an average of 60%, but it is 73% in the brain, and therefore the fluids it needs more. If we lack fluid, the brain can cringe – in the physical sense of the word – slightly moving away from the skull. This causes headaches of varying degrees of intensity, from mild to full migraines. And dehydration leads to narrowing of blood vessels, which increases any pain.
You don’t have to be clinically dehydrated to get a headache – even mild dehydration can cause discomfort. When you feel real pain, it will be too late to prevent it – you will only have to fight. But if you suffer from frequent headaches, try drinking more during the week. Most likely, you will be affected by the result.
Water helps to lose weight.
What you drink affects your waistline. Lemonade, juice, fancy coffee drinks, cocktails, and even smoothies contain vast amounts of sugar and calories and very little healthy protein, fat and dietary fiber. As a result, the level of insulin in the blood increases, and the body accumulates fat.
But what you don’t drink can also hurt your waistline. Insufficient water intake increases appetite and can affect metabolism, hormone levels, physical activity ability, and food craving control. Part of the problem is that the area of the brain responsible for appetite also controls thirst. When dehydrated, this area experiences overload and begins to send signals. They can be misinterpreted as needing a bun while you need a bottle of water.
Water helps fill the stomach, increasing the feeling of satiety. Try it yourself: when it sucks under the spoon, drink two glasses of water in a volley.
Dehydration disrupts a healthy metabolism. According to some reports, even mild dehydration slows down the body’s ability to burn calories. Increasing the amount of water you drink, regardless of the degree of dehydration, can temporarily spur metabolism by 30%. Consumption of ice water speeds up metabolism even more, as the liquid must be warmed to body temperature to be absorbed. This is an additional waste of energy – the basis of thermodynamics!
Water helps the heart.
We hear a lot about the fact that poor nutrition, overweight, family history, and pollution increase the risk of heart disease, but few talk about another common cause: dehydration. Chronic dehydration reduces blood volume, which constricted blood vessels, and the heart works harder to drive blood through the body.
Then blood pressure and pulse increase, the risk of blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, and stroke increases. Almost half of the stroke survivors suffer from dehydration, and heart attacks are the reason most often occur in the morning. There is evidence that mild dehydration can disrupt the heart almost as much as a cigarette. Thus, complete dehydration prevention can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by 59% in women and by 46% in men.
Water keeps you young.
If you suffer from dry and irritated skin, rashes, pale complexion, water can help in this case. The water content in the cells, both in the deep and superficial layers of the epidermis, increases. The skin elasticity is improved. Water helps to prevent and even reverse the appearance of fine wrinkles and age spots.
A glass of water is perhaps the cheapest rejuvenating agent.
Lack of water limits the body’s ability to remove toxins that accumulate in skin cells, increasing the manifestation of premature aging, as well as eczema, psoriasis, and discoloration
Water makes us energetic.
By drinking more water, you may notice another effect: increased energy and patience. It is documented that even mild dehydration leads to lethargy, irritability, and fatigue, makes one perceive the current tasks as more complex. Dehydration can be challenging to concentrate. There are even increased excitability and mood swings.
Water makes us smarter.
Since the brain is 73% water-free, it’s not surprising that dehydration prevention helps improve cognitive function. Even 1% dehydration can negatively affect the ability to think, and 8 to 10 cups of water increase the brain’s ability to think and work by 30%. Proper dehydration prevention increases the brain’s ability to concentrate and retain information – which is why even mild dehydration can cause short-term memory loss.
Water allows you to visit the dentist less often.
Dehydration produces less saliva, contributing to bacterial reproduction and plaque formation on teeth, cheeks, and tongue. There is bad breath and increases the risk of tooth decay, inflammation of the gums, and other problems. Insufficient drinking can make it difficult to swallow food and complicate the life of those who wear dentures.
How to drink more: 10 tips
In theory, drinking is no longer problematic: it does not require either physical or mental effort. However, this task is not simple: only a few fully satisfy the body’s daily need for water. Here are ten ways to start drinking more.
1. Make your formula.
IoM recommends that women consume 2.7 liters and men 3.7 liters of water a day through food and drink. What does this mean? Food brings only 20% of the amount of water we need on average. Most of its volume should come from liquids – or rather, in the form of clean water, which hydrates the body better than drinks containing sugar, caffeine, artificial sweeteners, or other additives.
Decide what you will drink from – from glasses, disposable or reusable bottles. Then calculate how much you need to drink (the volume of containers is known) to get for the day about 2.7 or 3.7 liters of water depending on your gender. You can slightly reduce the norm by eating, but not less than 2.2 liters for women and 3.2 liters.
2. Make a plan.
Write down your daily routine and think about the time you can interrupt with a sip of water. It may be easier for you to find two 250-milliliter glasses and keep one at home and the other in the office, filling and drinking them every hour. For convenience, you can install a reminder timer on your phone.
Another option: take a bottle of water from home, and then fill it as you go into the house – in the office, on the road, not forgetting how many times you have done it. You might prefer to track your water consumption using mobile apps. Most of these programs will ask you to enter the amount or amount of what you drink and eat and remind you when you find yourself close to dehydration.
In order not to forget about the water, we made a checklist. You can find it below.
3. Identify your preferences.
You will be surprised, but the water is something like wine – it has many different tastes and options. If you take the time to find what you like, the habit will become more stable and pleasant.
Experiment with different temperatures – icy, cold, warm, and even hot, with varying types of water – from the tap, filtered, fizzy, or bottled. Try flavoring the water with lemon, lime, grapefruit, cucumber, mint – fruits, vegetables, herbs. On the Internet, there are original recipes that use everything from strawberries, ginger, and rose petals to tomatoes, fennel, and lavender.
4. Drink water with each meal.
Whether you’re bringing a bottle of water to a friendly dinner or drinking glass at lunch in the office, be sure to remember the water during each meal. So you will not only increase your water intake during the day and ensure proper digestion, slow down the rate of food intake, increase the feeling of satiety and satisfaction.
5. Learn your urine.
Don’t be afraid to look at the liquid that comes out of you – this is one of the best ways to assess your health. If you drink enough water and are healthy, urine color should be straw-like a stain of sweat on a white T-shirt. If it is darker, has a rich yellow, brown, or even burgundy color – you drink little. If you regularly consume the norm recommended by IoM, but the urine is still dark, you may have liver, kidney, or bladder disease and should make an appointment immediately.
6. Don’t worry about going to the toilet.
You may have to go there a little more often than usual, but it is easy to get used to. Constant trips to the bathroom are a myth when it comes to preventing dehydration. Your body has a fantastic way of controlling.
7. Buy a filter.
To drink more, you do not need to spend money on buying bottled water. If you’re concerned about the quality of tap water or don’t like its taste, buy a filter that can give hard or overly mineralized water the same taste as bottled water from the supermarket. The water from the filter is even better than the purchase – it does not spend a lot of time in plastic containers, reducing your interaction with toxins that can be released from it. Try to find the filter that best suits you on the budget and design of the sink, and does not forget to change it by the manufacturer’s recommendations. Otherwise, toxic substances may accumulate in the filter, which will eventually get into drinking water.
8. Customize your bottle to understand how much water you need to drink.
If you choose to bring a reusable bottle, it may be easier for you to set hourly goals. Prepare labels or print the appropriate labels, and then fasten them with tape on the bottle at different levels. If you usually get up at 8 am, attach a tag that says “10 am” at 0.5 liters (counting down) and try to drink the specified amount of water by that time.
9. Drink while you wait.
In any case, try to drink a glass of water in the morning to fill the water lost during the night immediately. If drinking water simultaneously is something you do every morning – brewing coffee, taking a shower, or doing makeup, you will not forget to do it. You will turn the habit into the same integral part of your morning ritual as everything else.
10. Constantly remind yourself how helpful water is for your body, brain, heart, skin.
Preventing dehydration is a tiny investment that brings enormous health benefits. If you feel that you haven’t taken a sip for a long time, remind yourself what water gives your body: nourishes the brain, cleans the veins and heart, washes your kidneys, softens your skin, tightens muscles, fills the stomach, speeds up metabolism and supports all other organs and physical functions in the body at an optimal level.
You can also read our other guides in our Healthy Eating category.
And one last thing, have a glass of water right now.
