According to the U.S. Geological Survey, your body’s weight is about 60% water. This is unsurprising because your body uses water to maintain its every function across all cells, organs, and tissues that make up the body. However, your body also loses water through sweating, breathing, and digestion. Therefore, it is essential to always stay hydrated.
Experts state that the amount of water you nee depends on several factors, such as the climate you live in, your level of physical activity, illness, and other pertinent factors. This article, therefore, will highlight several reasons why there are many benefits to constantly staying hydrated.
Why is it Important to Stay Hydrated?
Staying Hydrated Increases Physical Performance
First, staying hydrated optimizes your physical performance, especially during intense exercises. Being dehydrated can have pronounced effects, even when your dehydration level is 2%. However, it is common for athletes to lose about 6-10% of their water weight through sweat.
Dehydration can lead to several adverse effects, such as little to no motivation, increased fatigue, and an altered body temperature. In addition, dehydration further causes the body to perceive physical activities as challenging to keep up with. Thus, proper hydration prevents these adverse effects and further reduces oxidative stress during high-intensity exercises.
Staying Hydrated Affects Your Energy Levels and Brain Function
Your level of hydration significantly affects your brain’s functionality. Research has revealed that mild hydration can impair your brain’s optimal performance. In light of a study conducted on young women, studies have shown that a fluid loss of 1.4% —especially after high-intensity exercises— can impair one’s mood and concentration. In contrast, in men, a fluid loss of about 1.7% can be detrimental to the brain’s performance and lead to a higher frequency of headaches.
Staying Hydrated Prevents and Treats Headaches
As mentioned earlier, keeping your body hydrated lessens the risk of headaches and migraine that dehydration usually triggers. Headache, as research has shown, can be triggered by dehydration. However, a study involving about 102 men revealed that drinking an additional 1.5 liters of water daily significantly improved the Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Scale —a scoring system for signs of migraine.
Staying Hydrated Relieves Constipation
Finally, infrequent bowel movement is another sign of dehydration. Whether you are an old or young adult, low water consumption appears to cause constipation.
Conclusion
Above all, staying hydrated ensures your body’s optimal performance. Therefore, whenever you want to reach for that bottle of soda, substitute it for a healthier and body-enriching bottle of water.