All about water
Water is important to all living beings, and humans are no exception. This article highlights the importance that water intake and hydration has on your overall health.
Essential needs
Water is a necessary resource that your body needs to function and thrive. Some key uses of water in the body include:
Main component of most body parts (e.g. 73% of brain and heart, 83% of blood and lungs, 75% of muscles, 31% of bones)
Removes bodily waste
Regulates body temperature
Lubricates joints and cushions vital organs
Aids digestion by forming saliva and converts food into essential components
Moistens oxygen for breathing
Helps convert food to energy
Carry nutrients and oxygen to cells
Helps absorb nutrients
Weight loss
As mentioned above, water helps with every process in the human body. This becomes very important when looking at the effect of water intake and weight loss. Water happens to be a natural appetite suppressant by taking up space in the stomach, which signals to the brain that you are full. If you want to reduce snacking, try a glass of water instead. It is very easy to accumulate calories in your diet through various drinks (e.g. coffee, tea, juice, soda, alcohol). Replacing a few high-calorie drinks each day with water can lead to long term weight loss benefits. A 2012 study found that replacing caloric beverages with noncaloric beverages lead to a 2-2.5% weight loss over 6 months. Drinking water can help reduce liquid calorie intake. Another way that water can assist with weight loss is by drinking cold or room temperature water. This is because your body has to burn extra calories in order to heat the water for digestion. In a 2014 study, people who drank 500 mL of cold and room temperature water burned between 2 and 3 percent more calories within 90 minutes of drinking the water.
Water is very important to metabolize fat. Lipolysis is the process of metabolizing fat, and the first step is hydrolysis. Hydrolysis occurs when water molecules interact with fats (triglycerides), and create fatty acids and glycerol. Without water, your body could not properly metabolize stored fat or carbohydrates. A 2016 review found that increased water intake lead to more fat loss and greater amounts of lipolysis. Lastly, water is crucial to remove waste from your body. Water helps your kidneys filter waste and toxins, ensuring that nutrients get retained for your body to use. Dehydration may cause your kidneys to retain fluid, which may lead to bloating, tiredness, and an upset stomach. Drinking plenty of water is the best way to make sure that your body rids itself of all waste, and this could shave off a few unwanted pounds.
Memory and productivity
Your water intake has a huge effect on your brain’s ability to function efficiently. A recent study found that dehydration had negative effects on vigor, esteem-related affect, short-term memory, and attention. When participants were rehydrated with water, fatigue, total mood disturbance, short-term memory, attention, and reaction were improved. Dehydration has been shown to negatively affect your memory. A 2010 study found that declarative memory and working memory were negatively impacted by poor hydration. Memory recall in children has also been found to be significantly better when hydrated.
Dehydration also reduces your cognitive and motor skills. A 2015 study found that driving while dehydrated caused a greater number of in errors such as lane drifting and late braking. Participants performed just as poorly as people who are at the legal limit for blood alcohol content, due to reduced concentration and reaction time.
Mental Health
It is important to think of water as a nutrient that your brain needs for wellbeing. Dehydration has been linked to depression and anxiety, since mental health is greatly influenced by brain activity. When your body is dehydrated, so is your brain. Brain cells require a delicate balance of water and other elements to operate properly, and losing too much water disrupts that balance. Dehydration causes your brain cells to lose efficiency, and brain functioning slows down. A 2012 study on healthy young women found that dehydration resulted in a noticeable increase in total mood disturbance. Sufficient water is also needed to produce serotonin in the brain, which is a critical neurotransmitter that heavily affects your mood. Dehydration depletes serotonin and energy from your brain, which can result in mood disorders such as depression.
So how much water do you need to drink?
There is no standard recommendation for how much water to drink. You may have heard of the classic ‘8 cups per day’, but some people require more or less water, depending on a variety of factors. These can include activity level, age, body size, temperature, humidity, sun exposure, or health conditions. A common recommendation is to drink 6 to 8 250 mL glasses of water every day.
