Top 13 Health Benefits of Drinking Water

Water is beneficial to us in many ways, and there are numerous benefits of drinking water. Our body is comprised of about 60% water, and our brain is about 75% water. The water in our body aids with creating saliva, digestion, transporting nutrients, regulating our body temperature and circulation.

How much water should I drink a day if I want to lose weight – It is recommended that we drink about half the amount of our body weight in water in ounces. Example: I am 150lbs, so I should drink about 75oz of water. 75oz of water equals about five 16oz bottles of water which is not that much.

How much water to drink a day? The average person should drink about eight 8oz glasses of water a day.

How much water should you drink a day? The amount of water you drink a day depends on if you want to lose weight or if you want to obtain a healthier lifestyle. Read the article below.

Water is the second most popular drink, with the first being non-alcoholic beverages. We lose water throughout the day from breathing, stool, urine, and skin evaporation/sweat. Drinking water is an essential part of our day because we need to replace the water we lose to receive a healthy lifestyle with less of the symptoms listed below in this article.

Your urine will flow freely, be odorless and light in color if you are drinking enough liquid. Your urine will look concentrated, not be a light color (mostly medium to dark yellow to orangish), and your urine will smell/have an odor because you are not drinking enough liquid. Your kidneys trap extra fluid to help with bodily functions when you are not drinking enough liquid increasing your risk for kidney stones.

Get an Energy Boost by Drinking Water – Drinking a moderate amount of water helps raise our energy level. Our brain is comprised mostly (about 75%) of water, so, logically, drinking lots of water will benefit our brain. Hydrated brain results in focusing/concentrating better to be alert and less fatigue, tired, sluggish, and irritable.

Our organs require water to function properly. Water will help to increase your metabolism resulting in burning calories and increase your energy.

I personally have a Whirlpool reverse osmosis filtration system, and we love it. A few of my friends have the Alkaline reverse osmosis home filtration system with 5 Stage Alkaline Mineral pH+ and Antioxidant Remineralization Filter. They love it, but I will stay with my Whirlpool.

Benefits of Drinking Water

Drinking-Water Helps Weight Loss – Water helps remove by-products of fat from our body, reduce our hunger and boost our metabolism. Drinking at least a full glass (8oz or more) of water about 30 minutes before meals can help you feel fuller faster, resulting in eating less food, resulting in fewer calories. Eating food with higher water content will contribute to keeping you full longer because your body takes longer to absorb them.

A few foods with higher water content are oatmeal, beans, vegetables, fruits (melons, oranges, etc.), broths, and soups.

Water is also a natural appetite suppressant that has zero calories and raises your metabolism. You can burn additional calories when you drink cold water because your body will have to heat the water to body temperature.

How much Water Should I Drink to Lose Weight? I would drink about 75oz of water a day. I will drink 51oz of that 75oz water half an hour before meals as suggested below, 17oz before each meal.

– Two studies show participants’ metabolism rate increased by 24% – 30% for about an hour and a half after drinking half a liter (17 ounces) of water.
– One study showed that people who drank half a liter (17oz) of water before their meals lost about 44% more weight over a 12 week period than individuals who did not drink 17oz of water before their meals.

Decrease Toxins and Treat Kidney Stones With Water

Reduce Toxins and Treat Kidney Stones – Water gets rid of toxins/waste from your body through your sweat and urine. Drinking lots of water can reduce your risk of kidney stones and urinary tract infections. Kidney stones are clumps of mineral crystals that are painful and form in the urinary system. Kidney stones are the most common type and form in the kidneys.

Drinking more than half of your body weight in water in ounces will help increase the amount of urine passing through your kidney, contributing to diluting the minerals. Diluting the minerals means that the minerals might not be able to crystallize, resulting in no clumps. It is not certain that drinking lots of water will help those who have had kidney stones already.

More studies/research is needed, but it is assumed that a lot of water intake might decrease kidney stone formation.

Water Boost Healthiness of Skin and Complexion – Water helps keep your skin moisturized, soft/smooth, sometimes glowing, and increases your skin elasticity. Water is one of the most natural anti-aging treatments because it can help you reduce wrinkles by keeping your body hydrated. Dehydration will cause those wrinkles and fine lines to show more as your skin will appear drier.

Our skin contains a large amount of water, and our skin protects us from having excess fluid loss. Please do not think if you drink an abundance of water, your wrinkles and fine lines will disappear because they will not. Water absorption will help the fine lines, wrinkles, acne, scars, and aging symptoms to decrease.

Drinking-Water May Help Relieve Constipation

Water Helps Constipation – Water helps with your digestion and is essential to help you digest your food. Constipation is more common than we think; water helps to prevent constipation. Constipation is when you have infrequent bowel movements, and it is too hard/difficult for you to pass stool which is usually too solid. Constipation occurs when our body does not have enough liquid, so our colon pulls/takes water from our stools to help maintain our body’s hydration, resulting in our stool being hard to pass.

Individuals not drinking enough water will most likely be constipated regardless of their age. It is mentioned that carbonated water helps constipation drastically, but it is uncertain why it helps. Once again, drinking more than half of your body weight in water in ounces will help constipation if you drink that amount of water every day.

Drinking-Water Helps Prevent and Treat Headaches – Water is a natural remedy to help relieve headaches, migraines, and back pains, mostly dehydration. Still, water does not relieve all types of headaches. Dehydration will make many people have headaches and other aches in their bodies.

Numerous studies indicate that water relieved headaches from many dehydrated individuals. Another study showed that water intake did not decrease headaches in 18 people, but it did reduce the intensity and duration.

Prevents Cramps – Water helps keep our joints lubricated and helps our muscles be more elastic, resulting in less joint pain, cramps, and sprains. It is important to drink enough water every day, especially when exercising and in hot weather.

Muscle fatigue occurs when our cells do not maintain their balance of fluids which causes the electrolytes to shrivel.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that people drink fluid before, during, and after physical activity and drink about 17 ounces of fluid two hours before exercise.

Helps Prevent Hangovers – Hangovers result from dehydration and drinking alcohol, but dehydration is not the main cause of hangovers. Dehydration can give you symptoms such as headaches, tiredness, thirst, and dry mouth, some of the symptoms of hangovers.

Hangovers are what some people have after drinking alcohol. Alcohol makes your body lose more water than it consumes/takes, leading to dehydration. Drink a glass of water between each alcoholic drink and drink a glass (about 8 -16oz) of water before bed to reduce/eliminate your hangover symptoms.

It helps you be Happy – Water helps relieve various pains in our body, so a hydrated body should result in a happy you. Research results show that being dehydrated by even 1 to 2% can affect your mood negatively and affect your ability to think.

The Journal of Nutrition published a study conducted on 25 women and stated that being dehydrated can affect your mood and cognitive function.

Lower Blood Pressure – Drink a glass of water before taking a shower, and it should lower your blood pressure.

Activate your Organs – Drink a glass of water as soon as you wake up to activate your organs.

Prevent a Heart Attack or Stroke – Drink a glass of water before going to bed/sleep to avoid a heart attack or stroke.

Improve your Immune System – Water helps improve your immune system, which helps fight and protect your body against cancer, asthma, diabetes, chronic pains, arthritis, heart disease, and many other illnesses.

Can you Drink Distilled Water? Yes, you can drink distilled water, but Mercola is recommended to drink distilled water only to remove poisons from your body. It is mentioned that you should stop drinking distilled water once the poison is removed from your body.

Healthline mentioned that some people drink distilled water to detoxify their bodies so that their health can improve.

Distilled water is said to be not as flavorful as bottled water.

What Happens When You Drink too much water?
It is sporadic but drinking too much water in a short range of time can cause the sodium or salt in your body to drop and be extremely dangerous. Drinking too much water is known as hypothermia and also water intoxication, which can be fatal.

Drinking several liters of water fast or in a short period of time can result in water intoxication, so space your water intake out during the day.

Many people do not like water because of the plain taste/no taste. You can always add mint leaves, diced fruits, cucumbers, sliced lemon or lemon juice to your water. It is best to add fruits to your water overnight or for a few hours for the best-flavored water taste.

The best water to drink is naturally flavored water, but you can always add liquid enhancers liquid but try to get the ones with less sugar as possible.

A little fun fact: Do fish drink water? The answer is yes, but only saltwater fish drinks water.

Source: healthline.com, mindbodygreen.com, webmd.com