The Various Benefits of Staying Hydrated: From Healthier Skin to Improved Performance & Energy

The human body is highly dependent on a steady supply of fresh water. It constitutes approximately 75% of a person’s body weight and should hold a selection of minerals and nutrients that fuel a range of essential functions and systems within us.

Here, the team at zazen Water explores the benefits of drinking water and adequate hydration, as well as tips on how to stay hydrated.

The Importance of Hydration 

Water is essential for every cell, tissue, and organ in your body to function as needed. Even mild dehydration can impact the most critical internal systems necessary for everyday life, leading to a range of symptoms, including headaches, a slowed metabolism, decreased energy levels, impaired brain function, and dry skin.

Maintaining hydration is especially important when you are susceptible to losing far more fluids than you are consuming, such as during strenuous exercise in athletic performance, when operating in hotter climates, or when you are ill and experiencing vomiting and diarrhea.

How does proper hydration help the body?

Brain Function

 Our brains are made up of 80% water, and this fluid is frequently flowing back and forth between the brain and the rest of the body as we go through our everyday activities and processes. When we are dehydrated, there is naturally a lesser amount of fluids available for utilisation, decreasing the wider brain volume and impairing brain function. This can also negatively impact mood and concentration.

What’s more, dehydration has been linked to triggering headaches and even migraines. In fact, a recent study found that simply drinking an extra 1.5 litres of water each day helped to reduce the significance of migraine symptoms.

Energy Levels

Dehydration is a known cause of fatigue and tiredness – creating an ongoing feeling that all vitality has been sapped from your body. This is mainly due to important electrolytes like magnesium, sodium, and potassium also being in short supply and unable to use in normal functions. Fluids with these electrolytes are necessary for proper muscle movement, transmitting signals throughout our neural pathways, and even maintaining the appropriate blood fluid volume.

As the more essential areas of your body consume the available minerals and nutrients available, your brain struggles to send neurological messages as rapidly and efficiently as normal, resulting in slowed body processes, a sluggish sensation, and overall exhaustion.  

One of the key benefits of drinking a steady supply of water filled with these electrolytes and minerals can therefore be a noticeable boost in your wider energy levels. Hydration can help you to improve your performance, whether in the world of athletics and sports, or even at the office.

Skin

Our skin consists of three layers – the epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous tissue – each needing a healthy water supply to retain elasticity and overall health. While there is limited evidence to suggest that drinking water alone will provide the necessary fluids for hydration, it does provide the necessary cellular hydration that can assist nutrients in reaching all areas of the skin with sufficient blood flow and remove the nasties from our system.

Kidney Function

The kidney needs fresh water to continue flushing waste and toxins from the body. Another of the key benefits to drinking an adequate supply of water is that it will also help to keep painful kidney stones from developing.

Kidney stones are known to form when a combination of oxalate, calcium and other compounds come together and create crystals within the urine, before clumping into minuscule ‘stones’. A constant supply of fresh water can assist in flushing out these compounds with other toxins, preventing the build-up from occurring and saving a great deal of discomfort.

Heart

Our blood plasma consists of over 90% water, meaning our hydration level plays an integral role in determining its viscosity and how easily it passes through our body. Recent studies suggest a link between dehydration and cardiac fibrosis (hardening of heart muscles). By drinking enough water on an ongoing basis, you can potentially improve your heart function and reduce your risk of future complications.

What are the wider benefits of drinking water?

• Joint lubrication: Water is the primary makeup of cartilage, which is located around joints and spinal disks to help keep them lubricated and functioning smoothly.
• Contributes to saliva & mucus production: Saliva helps to keep your mouth moist and protects your teeth from decay, while mucus helps to trap dust and other particles and prevent them from entering your lungs.
• Oxygen delivery: Oxygen is carried throughout your body by red blood cells. Without enough water, the blood flow is more laboured, and these cells can't function properly.
• Provides cushioning to sensitive tissue: Water is essential for the proper functioning of your nervous system and brain, in particular developing hormones and neurotransmitters, so it could be argued, our very moods and thoughts are linked to adequate hydration.
• Regulates body temperature: The water held within the skin rises to the surface when internal heat rises, turning into sweat and evaporating as a means to cool down. One of the benefits of proper hydration, especially in sports, is to prevent internal temperatures from rising.
• Aids in the digestive system: Water aids in the digestion of food and the absorption of nutrients. It also helps to prevent constipation.
• Moistens airways: Water keeps your airways moist, making it easier to breathe.

How to stay hydrated?

Hydration doesn’t simply refer to consuming an adequate amount of water, but also the fluids that hold the required selection of nutrients and electrolytes needed for our internal functions, such as sodium, magnesium and potassium.

With the zazen Alkaline Water System, not only will you benefit from removing the potential contaminants and pollutants that made their way into your drinking water, but also the remineralisation process that replicates Mother Nature’s water cycle..

How to tell if you’re dehydrated?

Dehydration refers to when the body loses more fluid than it takes in. This imbalance of fluids can manifest in a selection of different dehydration signs and symptoms, ranging from those that are milder, like body aches, confusion, and dry mouth, to those more severe, including fainting, constipation and organ failure. It is especially important to watch out for these symptoms in children, as well as babies, newborns and infants.

What is the recommended water intake?

Naturally, everyone’s needs will differ, especially given the climate of their environment, the amount of exercise they are undertaking, and whether they are experiencing any form of illness resulting in water loss. On average, to receive the full benefits of drinking water described above, the recommendations for total daily fluid intake are 2.2 litres for women and 3 litres for men. Before attempting any form of detox, cleansing fasts or new hydration regime for sports and athletic performance, it is always recommended to first speak with a medical practitioner.