What Are the Benefits of Drinking Water?

It’s common knowledge that drinking water is good for you and there is a recommended amount of water you should be drinking every day. If you’re curious to know exactly why staying hydrated is good for our bodily and psychological functions, read this article on the benefits of drinking water.

Why You Should Drink Water

Improves Your Focus & Overall Mood

Mild dehydration can cause you to feel tired, lethargic and unfocused. This is because your brain needs hydration; some studies have suggested that lack of hydration can cause brain cells to shrink slightly.

If you have difficulty concentrating, irritability and fatigue, this could be why. It can also lead you to experience headaches and migraines. All it takes is regular water intake to improve your mood, sharpen your focus and energise yourself.

Aids Joint Movement

As well as helping your brain, another one of the benefits of drinking water is that it can also help keep your joints moving. Cartilage that surrounds your bones is made up of 85% water so, when you’re dehydrated, your body can draw moisture from these areas.

Consequently, this spongy texture that protects your joints is compromised leading to friction and feeling stiff or achy. By keeping on top of your hydration, you can replenish your cartilage and continue to move freely.

Enhance Exercise Performance

Following on from your joints, staying hydrated does wonders for your muscles too. Mild hydration prevents your muscles from contracting properly and repairing themselves after a workout. This means your performance will be hindered and so will your recovery.

Also, you lose sweat during a workout, so you need to rehydrate regularly so your temperature is regulated, your blood is circulating, you maintain focus and your muscles continue working efficiently.

Helps Blood Circulation

As mentioned above, staying hydrated helps your blood circulation which is extremely helpful during exercise but also day-to-day life. Plasma, the substance that carries blood cells around your body, is around 90% water.

Therefore, if you are dehydrated, your blood will become more concentrated so your heart has to work harder to pump it round your body. This will impact your blood pressure and your body temperature. Regular water intake will help control and maintain this.

Supports Your Digestive System

Just like your cartilage has to compromise its water when you’re dehydrated, so does your digestive system. Water helps to smooth the digestion journey and enables regular bowel movements so, without it, you are more likely to experience constipation.

Protects Against Diseases

Another bodily function that water helps with is flushing out toxins. Poor hydration leads to your kidneys not having enough fluid to flush out toxins which could consequently lead to kidney stones.

Some studies have found that not drinking enough water also leads to other problems such as bladder infections and urinary tract infections. By staying hydrated, you can keep those toxins out of your body along with other health issues.

Signs of Dehydration

If you’re not sure whether you’re hydrated or dehydrated, here are some common signs you should look out for to know you need a glass of water:

• Thirsty
• Dark coloured urine
• Regular headaches or migraines
• Lacking energy
• Lacking focus
• Tiredness and fatigue
• Achy joints
• Constipation
• Irregular bowel movements

However, if you are drinking enough water and still experiencing these symptoms, ask your GP for further assistance.

How to Stay Hydrated

Drinking water should become a habit, that way you can always make sure you stay hydrated. It might be hard at first but, after 30 days, your daily task of drinking a healthy amount of water will become instinct for you.

Take your own water bottle places, just in case there isn’t any water available where you’re going and you can stay hydrated on your journey. Remember other drinks, such a tea, coffee, squash and juice, will all keep you hydrated too. However, water is best option as it is sugar-free and performs other functions in our body to keep us healthy. This includes:

• Protecting body organs
• Producing saliva
• Carrying nutrients and oxygen to our cells
• Dissolving nutrients and minerals so they are more accessible

Wondering how you can stay hydrated in the office? By installing an office water cooler or hot water boiler, you can have fresh, filtered water right at your fingertips. We have a wide range of coolers to suit your specific office requirement so get in touch with us today to find out more.