Ask any health professional for their top wellbeing tip and they are likely
to say – drink more water. Maintaining proper hydration is important
for everyone, and for all your bodily functions. Here’s why it’s
important to pay attention to your hydration levels, and what you need
to drink to be properly hydrated.
Importance of hydration for your body
Most of your body is made up of water so it is no surprise that you need
to constantly replenish your water supplies in order to keep your body
working. Every cell relies on water. When you are properly hydrated you
benefit from lubricated joints, efficient waste removal, your temperature
maintained at the correct level, higher levels of energy, and much more.
Why you need to drink water every day
Surely if the body needs water so much, it stores it so you don’t
have to drink lots? This is not true – you need to keep drinking
water because you are losing it all the time. You lose water to your bodily
processes, you lose it when you go to the bathroom, when you sweat, and
you even lose water when you breathe. You lose more water in certain conditions
such as hot weather, when you sweat more, when you exercise, and when
you are sick, so it is important you continue to replenish your supplies.
Drink between six and eight glasses of water each day and you will probably
need more than this on many days – try to make drinking water a
healthy habit.
The importance of water over other drinks
Drinking water is the best way to get fluid into your body. There are other
ways to stay hydrated but they come with “side effects” –
for example fruit juices and sodas are full of sugar, leading to weight
gain if you try to get all of your fluid needs from these sources. Sports
drinks also have calories but they can be useful for replacing lost salts
after a heavy workout session – you need to replace salts as well
as water to avoid suffering from potentially dangerous health problems.
Caffeinated drinks can actually lead you to become dehydrated if you are
not careful – they are diuretics which mean they make you lose water
faster. Have a balance of drinks but make sure that your main hydration
fluid is simply water.
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