Everyone knows that they need to drink water, but most people don’t realize the importance of drinking water. Water makes up 60% of your body. It assists hundreds of your bodily functions every single day. The human body can only go without water for about 3 days, while it can go without food for almost a month. This is a wild concept to think about but it really makes you think, how much water should I be consuming to help my body function at its best?
What Does Water Do For Your Body?
Water is a vital part of your body functioning properly. Water makes up 80-85% of your brain and kidneys, 75-80% of your heart and lungs, 70-75% of your muscles, skin, and liver, 50% of your blood, and 20-25% of your bones. These are some staggering statistics, which can go to show how much is at stake when you’re dehydrated. Water helps your brain cells communicate efficiently with each other. It clears out the toxins and waste that can cloud your thinking and helps bring nutrients to your brain. It can improve your decision making and improve your memory. Water helps protect your spinal cord, joints, and other sensitive tissues. It helps lubricate and cushion these sensitive areas. Imagine your joints functioning on a daily basis. If you drink enough water, your joints will have a cushion between them when you move around. Water helps regulate your body temperature. It has the ability to absorb and move heat throughout our body. The water in your muscle cells exchange heat with the water in your blood, which takes it away. Your brain will recognize an increase of heat in your blood and send a signal to activate your sweat glands. The sweat you produce during a hot day or exercise cools down your body. All the sweat that you produce means that you have to resupply that water back to your cells so it can keep regulating your temperature. This is why people always say that you have to hydrate on hot days. There are a bunch of other ways that water affects your body at a cellular level, but now that you have an overall understanding you might realize how much water truly does for your body.
What Happens When Your Body Doesn’t Have Enough Water
Not consuming water can lead to a variety of problems. Water helps move toxins out and clear your mind, so if you are not drinking enough water your brain can be severely affected. Only a 1% decrease in brain hydration results in a 5% decrease in cognitive function. A 2% decrease in brain hydration can result in short term memory loss. Having more of a prolonged decrease in your water supply can lead to your brain cells actually shrinking in size and can result in brain fog. It’s common to drink more water when you are younger, but as you get older it’s often found that people only drink water when they’re thirsty. You should be drinking water before your body gives you a cue that it’s thirsty. When you feel this urge to drink water because you’re thirsty, your body is already mildly dehydrated. The symptoms of being mildly dehydrated are fatigue, dizziness, and headaches. You might be going about your regular work day not feeling your best, and not realize it is because you’re dehydrated! When your body is dehydrated you can’t think clearly and you’ll feel like you’re hitting a wall. Instead of blaming it on the after lunch crash, think about how much water you drank today and go get another glass! Water affects your spinal cord and joints as I mentioned above. If you aren’t drinking enough water, the cushion that should be between joints and your spinal discs is lessened. This can cause joint pain because there’s not enough of this cushion between the cartilage, bones, and muscle that make up your joints. Water keeps your spinal discs hydrated, so if you don’t get enough water, especially for an extended period of time, it can cause back pain because there’s barely any cushion between each disc. Water regulates your body temperature, but when you don’t have enough water it can’t properly regulate. When your body helps regulate your body’s heat with sweat, but if you don’t replace what you’ve lost your kidneys retain water. This also means that your blood will become thicker and more concentrated because it doesn’t have water to make it thinner. This makes it really difficult for your cardiovascular system to function at its best. This increases the likelihood of fainting and hyperthermia. These are just a few examples of what can happen when your body doesn’t get enough water, but there are so many other things that can occur. Stay hydrated!
How Much Water Do You Need Daily?
The amount of water that you need daily is based on your age, weight, and activity level. A child will not need as much water as a full grown adult. Someone who is sedentary most days will also not need as much water as someone who exercises everyday. Water is especially important for athletes so they don’t get muscle fatigue and can perform at their best. Use this water calculator below to find out how much water you should drink everyday. You might be surprised at how much water you need to drink!
https://bit.ly/101watercalculator
How Much Water Do You Need Daily?
Once you find out how much water you need to drink, you might be wondering how to even reach that goal. It can feel like a challenge everyday to chug down this amount of water, but if you are mindful each day of how much you are drinking, it becomes much easier. If you want to track your water but don’t know how, get this $1 template that I created to simplify tracking your water goals. You can print it out and write on it or you can digitally type in the date, your daily goal, and in each water drop how much you drink in a day to keep track. It can be used on any computer, phone, or tablet.
My first tip is to get a water bottle that makes you happy. Don’t get a boring water bottle that you hate bringing around everywhere. Get something that you love seeing everyday. My second tip is to get a water bottle with a straw. You usually drink more water in one sip with a straw than with other types and it makes it so much more accessible. I have my straw open and ready to go when I am working. When it’s sitting right next to me and all I have to do is pick it up and drink. Most people don’t want to stop whatever they’re doing to pick up their bottle, twist off the lid, tilt their head back, and potentially spill on themselves (I am speaking from experience because it happens too much when I’m in a hurry). My third tip is to drink a whole glass of water before you have any other drink. If you’re craving a pop or coffee, fill up a glass of water and finish it before you ever take a sip of that drink. My fourth tip is to refill your bottle right as it’s empty. It’s really easy to forget to fill up your bottle when it’s empty because you are busy. Right as you feel it is empty, run off to wherever you fill up water and get it done. The longer you wait, the longer you start getting dehydrated. Try to utilize these tips above and if you don’t have the water bottle of your dreams I’ll have some linked below that I love!
