Understanding Hydration: Why It Matters

We live on a watery globe, and we are watery creatures. About 60% of the human body is made up of water, and if we don’t keep taking in a steady stream of H2O, then we aren’t long for this physical world. Water effects change, and keeps all of the body’s systems running as they should, somewhat akin to the role oil plays in an internal combustion engine, though the union of water and flesh is far more intimate than that between oil and engine. Water is involved in nearly every stage of cellular growth and development, forming a basic medium for the construction of new cells, flushing out toxins and impurities, and balancing the body’s various systems. Water keeps our bodies running, and while just about everyone can recognize signs of serious dehydration, many people go through the day subtly dehydrated, with their body wanting and needing a bit more than it is receiving. It is possible, of course, to drink too much water, but in general, people tend to have the opposite problem, not drinking enough water continuously throughout the day.

Benefits of Staying Hydrated

By drinking enough water throughout the day, you give your body what it needs to run smoothly–you will generally feel more alert, capable, and high-functioning when adequately hydrated, and drinking a lot of water throughout the day can help you to stay feeling more full between meals, cutting down on snacking and helping you to lose or maintain weight. Dehydration can lead to headaches, nausea, anxiety, cramps, and general feelings of malaise, while ensuring a steady stream of high-quality water to your body keeps things running as they ought.

Signs of Dehydration: How to Recognize Them

The most obvious sign of potential dehydration is simply thirst. As obvious as it sounds, if you’re thirsty, drink water. Guzzling soda, energy drinks, or sports drinks will get you some of the water you need, but the sugar in sweet drinks is not doing you many favors, and the salt and electrolytes present in sports drinks can be overkill if you aren’t actively exercising. Most of the time, your body needs clean water, rather than a substitute. Other signs of dehydration can include urinating less, dark-colored urine, sunken eyes, yellow skin, headache, muscle cramps, anxiety, and eventually delirium and unconsciousness. Hopefully most of us never find ourselves in so severe a dehydrated state, but it’s good to remember that such a state will be reached in only a day or two of not drinking water.

How to Incorporate Hydration into Your Daily Routine

The Mayo Clinic recommends that grown men drink roughly 15.5 cups of water a day, and women around 11.5 cups per day. Having a tall glass of water first thing in the morning, and right before bed can be a good way to bookend your day with hydration, and using a water bottle is an easy way to be reminded regularly to have a few sips. It is good to drink water slowly throughout the day, as well, as a way of constantly replenishing the body’s water, which is so essential for its ongoing functioning. Try to cut out excessive soda and other sweetened beverages, as they do more harm than good.

Setting a Hydration Goal

If it helps, find an app that allows you to track your daily water intake, and note how you feel throughout a given week, tailoring your water needs to your own body. Trust what your body tells you, and be responsive to its needs rather than general claims about the ideal amount of water to drink. Even noting in a notebook each time you take a drink of water can be efficacious in helping you to set new hydration habits.

Tracking Water Intake

As you come to know your body better, you may be surprised to find that you feel the need for more daily water than the average, or perhaps you clock in at a bit less. Human bodies are all unique, and while general truths hold across the board, your body is typically pretty good at letting you know what it needs, and when.

Incorporating Hydration into Daily Activities

If you have kids, get them involved in making hydration part of your daily health goals. Children love things that they have a hand in creating, so allow them to personalize a water bottle and they will likely take to the activity, and be more willing to regularly drink water than they otherwise would be. Ownership is a powerful thing, and when kids are given the chance to make healthy choices, that desire will often start to become sufficient motivating grounds in itself.

Choosing the Right Water: The Role of Quality in Hydration

As should be clear by now, it’s not just getting water that is important, but getting good quality water. Water that is laden with dangerous contaminants can do far more harm than good, which is why most peoples throughout humanity’s long history have refused to rely too heavily on water for survival, often turning to low alcohol-content wine and beer as a safer, treated alternative for hydration.

Importance of Water Filters

Water filtration is an ancient art, as is the making of various forms of alcohol, and both of these trades aimed to improve the safety and availability of hydrating fluids. Thankfully today we have a wide variety of very robust filtration options, meaning that we are able to effectively treat water at a larger scale than ever before in human history. A typical home setup for an undersink drinking water filtration system in 2024 will typically contain sediment filters, carbon filtration, and possible a form of membrane filtration such as nanofiltration or reverse osmosis. Depending on what is in your specific water, a wide range of setups are available–talk to a plumber or water specialist in your area about known contaminant problems, and then you can designed a system geared towards the specific issues your water has.

Tap Water vs. Bottled Water

Tap water in the United States is typically quite safe to drink, though in some areas–especially large metropolitan areas like Manhattan–water quality can be very poor indeed. The higher the concentration of people in a given area, the more the water will be strained. Bottled water can be a good alternative, though recent studies are finding microplastic particles inside bottled water, which is concerning.

Additional Hydration Tips for Daily Wellness

Maintaining a good, balanced diet is also important for keeping the right hydration levels, as the food we eat will impact how much water our body retains or rejects as waste, particularly the amount of salt that we consume. Many people eat too much sodium, and it can lead to a variety of health effects, so if you have heart problems, or high blood pressure, you may consider cutting down on the processed foods and high salt content in many snacks.

Conclusion

Keeping sufficiently hydrated isn’t rocket science; it’s water chemistry. Find a way to remind yourself to take a few extra sips throughout the day–you may just find your energy levels rising, and a slight drop in your weight. Most people could stand to drink a bit more water every day–just make sure that it is from a clean, reliable, source.