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It may seem obvious, but drinking water is incredibly beneficial to your health and can improve your overall well-being. Of course, despite the various benefits of water, most people aren’t drinking enough throughout the day. To be fair, when you’re slammed with kids, work, and deadlines, even the little things are easy to forget — including staying well-hydrated.
However, making a point to consume more water could be the thing your body and overall health really needs. It also doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Water is a great, cheap resource that we need to take advantage of more often.
Whether you’re trying to lose weight, sleep better, or feel more energized, water offers a ton of benefits, so it’s time to stop missing out and start feeling better.
What’s So Impressive About Water Anyways?
You’ve probably heard a million times — drink more water. But why, exactly? What makes water so special and important to our diet? Well, there are a ton of reasons, actually. In fact, those over on WebMD do a great job of listing several reasons why you should drink more water:
- Drinking water helps maintain the balance of body fluids: Your body’s fluids help with digestion, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintaining your body temperature.
- Water can help control calories: Water is a much better option than drinks with a high sugar and calorie count. Foods with high water content also take slower for the body to absorb and can help you feel fuller sooner.
- Water helps energize muscles: When cells can’t properly maintain their balance of fluids, the electrolytes in your body can shrivel, which can result in muscle fatigue. This can slow you down during workouts or even daily tasks, so it’s important to keep them hydrated.
- Water helps keep skin looking good: As explained by WebMD, “Dehydration makes your skin look more dry and wrinkled, which can be improved with proper hydration … But once you are adequately hydrated, the kidneys take over and excrete excess fluids.”
- Water decreases the negative effects of dry eye syndrome: Millions of people suffer from chronic dry eye syndrome, resulting in severe eye irritation. If you find yourself in this group, stay hydrated. Drinking water can help your body keep your eyes moist, alleviating symptoms.
- Water helps your kidneys: Speaking of kidneys, consider them your body’s janitor. When you drink enough water, your kidneys have an easier time flushing out toxins via urine. This also means it’s especially important to rehydrate after a night of drinking, as too much alcohol on a regular basis can lead to kidney stones.
- Water helps maintain normal bowel function: Not the most romantic of reasons to chug more water, but it’s pretty self-explanatory.
Water makes up about 60 percent of our bodies — which means we need a lot! While you don’t need to haul around jugs of water with you everywhere you go, making a point to drink more water when you’re thirsty can help your body do its job. You don’t need anything fancy like expensive cleanses or fancy vitamin water — plain, clean water does the trick just fine.
Another Perspective
It’s easy to take a lot of things for granted — water is a big one. When we talk about the necessities of water in our life, it’s important to keep in mind populations who are unable to have access to clean water. The Flint water crisis is a tragic example in the United States, where residents not only lack access to clean water but are being forced to pay for their poisoned water.
Outside of the U.S.there are many countries dealing with water shortages such as Libya and Cambodia. The thought of turning on the faucet to get a drink of water hardly requires a second thought for most of us. However, many can’t say the same. With all of that in mind, not only is it important to drink plenty of water each day, but also be thankful for the accessibility your home and community has.
Water and the Work Grind
Work burnout has become a popular discussion these days — especially as more and more millennials enter into jobs with long hours and only modest pay. The problem with burnout is pretty obvious: It can seriously harm your mental and physical health. While water might not be the magic potion to solve all your problem, there have been studies that show drinking water throughout the day keeps people energized and can help you have a better night’s sleep.
Whether you’re trying to survive long hours or the night shift, incorporating more water into your routine can help your body recover during the times you do have off. It’s also important to keep a full water bottle handy throughout your shift if you can. While it might not ever be ideal working the graveyard shift or 10 hours each work day, sometimes it’s inevitable. However, it also means it’s essential that you pay your body back with a good diet, enough sleep, and plenty of water.
Of course, living the perfect healthy lifestyle on top of your crazy work schedule is not always possible — it sounds easy enough on paper, but putting all of it into practice is a whole new obstacle. Still, with that being said, water is a super easy addition to your diet and overall lifestyle. If you want, invest in a nice insulated water bottle and encourage yourself to drink just a bit more each day. If plain old water isn’t your favorite, then try decaffeinated teas or even coconut water — you still reap all the great benefits!
Just remember, at the end of the day, our bodies have certain needs, and it’s always worth it to spend the time and the effort necessary to take care of our health however we can.
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