Water is important not only for human but also for all the living organism. The body of composed of between 55 to 78 percent of water, depending on body size. Regular consumption of water has many health benefits. It has no calories, fat, sugar and carbohydrate. The amount of water you consume every day plays and important role in the maintaining healthy body. Experts recommend that people should drink about 8 to 10 glass of water each day to maintain good health. According to the institute of Medicine has determined that adequate intake of total beverage per day be about three liter or 13 cups for men and about 2.2 liters or nine cups for women. Water helps to keep the body hydrated, which is essential because almost every cell in the body needs water to function properly. Here is the list of benefits of drinking water.
Benefits of Drinking Water
1.) Maximize Physical Performance
It is one of the main benefits of drinking water, it helps to maximize your physical performance. If you will not stay hydrated, so your physical performance will suffer. This is particularly important when you are doing intense exercise or high heat.
- Dehydration can have a noticeable effect on you will lose as little as 2% of your body water content. It is uncommon for athletes to lose up to 6 to 10% of their water. This thing can lead to altered body temperature control, increase fatigue, reduce motivation, increased fatigue and make exercise feel much more difficult, both mentally and physically.
- Optimal hydration has been shown to prevent this from happening and can even reduce the oxidative stress that occurs during high-intensity exercise. This is not surprising when you consider that muscle is about 80% of water.
- So if you exercise intensely can do sweat, then staying hydrated will help you to perform at your absolute best.
2.) Hydration
Your brain is influenced by hydration status. Studies have shown that even mild dehydration can affect many aspects of brain function. It is one of the main benefits of drinking water.
- In a study of young women, a fluid loss of about 1.36% after exercise impair both mood and concentration and increase the frequency of headaches.
- Another similar in young men showed that the fluid loss of 1.59% was detrimental to working memory and increase the feeling of fatigue and anxiety.
- A 1-3% fluid loss is equal to about 1.5 to 4.5 lbs of body weight loss for a 150 lbs person. This can easily occur through normal daily activities, let alone during exercise or high heat.
- Many other studies, from children to the elderly have shown that mild dehydration can impair mood, memory and brain performance.
3.) Treat Headache
Dehydration can trigger migraines and headache in some individuals. It is one of the main benefits of drinking water, it helps to treat headache.
- Studies have shown that water can help to relieve headaches in those who are dehydrated. however, this appears to depend on the type of a headache.
- According to one study conducted on 18 people found that water has no effect on the frequency of headaches, by it did reduce the intensity and duration somewhat.
4.) Relieve Constipation
Constipation is a common type of problem, characterized by the infrequent bowel movement and difficulty in passing stool. Drinking water helps to relieve constipation, it is considered as one of the main benefits of drinking water.
- Increasing fluid intake is often recommended as a part of the treatment protocol and there is also some evidence to back up this.
- Lower consumption of water appears to be risk factors for constipation in both young and elderly individual.
- Carbonated water shows the promising result for the constipation relief, although the reason is not entirely understood.
5.) Treat Kidney Stones
Urinary stones are painful clumps of mineral crystal that form in the urinary system. the most common form of urinary stones is kidney stones, which form in the kidneys.
- But there is limited evidence that water intake can help to prevent reoccurrence in people who have previously gotten kidney stones.
- Higher fluid intake increases the volume of urine passing through the kidneys, thus dilutes the concentration of minerals, so they are less likely to crystallize and form clumps.
- Water may help to prevent the initial formation of stones but still, studies are required to confirm this.
6.) Prevent hangover
A hangover refers to the unpleasant symptom you experience after drinking alcohol. it helps to hangover which is one of the main benefits of drinking water.
- Alcohol is diuretic, so it makes you lose more water than you take in which can lead to dehydration.
- Although dehydration is not the main cause of hangover it can also cause symptoms like fatigue, thirst, headache and dry mouth.
- A good way to reduce hangover is to drink a glass of water between drinks and take at least one big glass of water before going to bed.
7.) Weight Loss
Drinking plenty of water can help you to lose weight as water can increase satiety and boost your metabolic rate. one of the main benefits of drinking water is weight loss.
- In two studies found that drinking half as a liter of water was shown to increase the metabolism by 24 to 30% for up to 1.5 hours.
- That means drinking 2 liters of water everyday can increase your total energy expenditure by up to 96 calories per day.
- The timing is also important, drinking water half an hour before the meals are most effective. It can make you feel more full so that you will eat fewer calories.
- According to one study dieters who drank half a liter of water before meals lost about 44% more weight over a period of 12 weeks.
- Drinking cold water is actually best because the body will use additional energy to heat the water to body temperature.
8.) Flush out Toxins
Water is an excellent detoxifier as it helps to flush out toxins from the body and get rid of water through sweat and urine. It is considered as one of the main benefits of drinking water.
- Drinking water promotes kidney function and reduces the kidney stones by diluting the salts and minerals in the urine that cause kidney stones.
- You need to drink an adequate amount of water throughout the day, experts also warm that drinking too much of water may reduce your kidney’s ability to filter out waste.
- It is recommended to drink the amount of water your body need. As the amount of water require by the body tends to differ from one person to another, it is suggested to drink when your feel thirst, and also include other foods and fluids with high water content in your diet.
9.) Regulate body temperature
Drinking an enough amount of water in the body also helps to regulate the temperature of the body. The thermal properties of water and its ability to release heat from the body when you are sweat evaporated from the surface of the skin greatly and helps to maintain an even body temperature.
- A well-regulated body temperature will also help you to feel more energetic when exercise. Water also helps to keep your joints and muscles lubricated and prevent cramps and sprains.
10.) Promotes healthy skin
Water helps to keep your body well hydrated and improve capillary blood flow, younger which promotes healthier younger looking skin. water also helps to replenish skin tissues and moisturize skin and increase the elasticity in your skin. It is considered as one of the main benefits of drinking water.
- When your body get enough water, your skin will feel moisturized and it will look fresh, soft, smooth and glowing. Water also helps to prevent and treat soft lines, acne, scars, wrinkles and other aging symptoms.
11.) Beats bad breath
Bad breath is a clear sign that you need to drink sufficient water. It keeps your mouth moist and washes away bacteria and food particles. It also dilutes the smelly compound that oral bacteria create.
- Drinking sufficient water also rinse your mouth with water, especially after having a meal or snack to control odor and remove bacteria and food debris stuck between your gum line and teeth.
- It is essential to make necessary efforts to drink enough amount of water daily. To take the various heath benefits of drinking water, make sure to drink filtered water. Along with water, also take more fluids and eat more fruits and vegetables that are high in water content.
12.) Relieve Fatigue
If you often feel tired, there is a chances that it is due to inadequate consumption of water which can make the body function less efficiently. Fatigue is one of the first signs of dehydration.
- If there is less water in the body, there is a drop of blood volume which causes the heart to work harder to pump oxygenated blood out of the bloodstream, and other major organs also work less efficiently. Drinking adequate amount of water can help your body to function better and reduce fatigue.